halfgeek asks:
"I was just considering how keyboard-centric I've managed to make my setup, even under the mouse-hungry Windows GUI (no shouting; I regularly SSH to my Linux routing box for experiments, bring up VMWare when I need some X, and can't live without Cygwin). Almost everything I would want to do can be done without moving a hand to the mouse. I can open up an SSH to my server with Win+Shift+V, bring up a calculator with Win+C, run a one-shot console command with Win+0, open up the MW dictionary website to a highlighted word by hitting Ctrl+C (to copy) and then Win+Enter (to look up the contents of the clipboard). (Much of this is implemented with Perl programs and WinKey.) I also make frequent use of the volume knob and mute button built into my Logitech keyboard. If there is any good route to finding the keyboard I want with all the features I'm thinking of at a justifiable price, whether prefabricated or a wicked mod, I would just love to know about it." There are quite a few options the submitter is looking for, but it basically boils down to is this: the more keys, the better. What keyboards have you found, in your browsing travels, that have been stuffed full of useful features?
"I'm aggravated over having the mouse still so separate from the keyboard, and I've been looking through the available options along the lines of keyboards with built-in touchpads. The closest I've found to what I want seems to be the Adesso WKB-120, but this is by no means the ideal choice. It does have three basic properties I want: One, it doesn't have the ergo-split form I so despise. Two, its touchpad is situated in the right place, just below the space bar. Three, it's all one piece, so I can keep the board off the desk and on my knees, where it belongs, eh. But it also appears to have those three intensely undesirable and horribly misplaced power management keys, and lacks the volume knob, mute button, and media controls. An illuminated keyboard would also be cool, but I'd take standard beige; it's just that my current black keyboard is hard to see in the dark."
Woohoo (Score:1)
IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:4, Interesting)
I lament how trackpoints are disappearing off laptop keyboards these days.
Loss of trackpoints (Score:2)
I recall seeing the first "touchpads" appearing after being used to all kinds of Toshiba's and Thinkpad's with little rubber eraser trackpoints.
I was told that Toshiba owned the trackpoint technology, and charged a lot for it, so it was cheaper to put touchpads in laptops.
Touchpads would not be so bad if not for the "missfire glitch" where bumping the pad with your thumb acts like a mouse click. I've lost many lines of text due to
Re:Loss of trackpoints (Score:2)
Actually, IBM holds the patent [uspto.gov]. They also hold the trademark on "Trackpoint" [ibm.com].
Touchpad clicking (Score:2)
I think it is more a situation of the hardware driver for the pad itself than the actual OS. In any case, no need to go Mac just to avoid the problem: most Wintel/LinAMD/whatever laptops and notebooks allow you to turn it off these days.
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:5, Funny)
It is a not-so-accidental abbreviation of "cute little thumb mouse".
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:2)
I can't second that, I hate those things. Maybe they are better when you get used to them, but I have had to spend zero amount of time learning to use the alternative, the trackpad. That is, IF the trackpad is a good one (most seem to be). I used one that was supposedly based on heat sensing on a friend's Dell laptop, and it was the most utterly unresponsive thing ever.
Brushing aside this isolated experience, I would like to ma
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:1)
I can't second that, I hate those things. Maybe they are better when you get used to them, but I have had to spend zero amount of time learning to use the alternative, the trackpad.
Actually, my Toshiba laptop has one of those things, and I absolutely hate it. Don't think I haven't tried getting used to it, because i've had it for over 2 years, and never could learn to like it. I have to hook up a regular mouse to be productiv
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:5, Informative)
I know there are others, but it's 2:30, and that's all I can think of for now.
I find most people who have trouble with trackpoints have problems for two reasons. Number one, they don't realize that the harder you push, the faster the pointer moves. Slow pushes give you great precision. Hard pushes zoom the thing across the screen. Number two, most people aren't used to pushing on something that doesn't move and getting a response. The stalk isn't supposed to move, but it will record even the slightest brush of your fingertips.
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:1)
I think a combination of point and pad works best, actually. I have a "dualpoint" Dell with both trackpoint and touchpad and I use the pad for scrolling (slide the thumb along the edge of the pad). You can also map things like "minimize window" etc. to the corners of the pad. Very convenient.
(Yes, Emil. It really is!)
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:1)
Which reminds me - I have an IBM mouse with the Thinkpad that I use at the replicator strip and it has three buttons in the standard arrangement, and a scroll nub - countoured and larger than the trackpoint so it is useful and not
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:2)
"4. The touchpad is under my thumbs. Who in the world thought this was a good idea? OK, yes, I know that you can set it to turn off the touchpad when you're typing -- but it's still a hack, and you shouldn't have to do it. Even when it's 'turned off', it's still possible to do actions you didn't intend, particularly if you pause for a second to study your code. It's just another imperfection of the touchpad."
What are you talking about? My thumbs go on the spacebar... Do you have giant thumbs? ;) You
Re:IBM trackpoint keyboards. (Score:2)
I started using the clit mouse on an IBM Thinkpad but liked it so much that I bought similar but full-sized keyboards for my desktop. It might not be hard to track down an old-skoool IBM keyboard WITH a trackpoint built in. It's really nice to be able to keep my hands in one place.
One problem I found. During extended coding/work sessions my wrists would
Re: trackballs? (Score:1)
perhaps a nice spinnable optical one on the left or right swappable would be nice
The most useful keyboard for me. (Score:4, Insightful)
Nice standard wide space bar, without the never-used Windows keys
Backslash above a regular-height enter key (no double-high enter key with the backslash in any of 5 other locations).
Standard layout, not the "think before you hit every key" (un)natural keyboard.
The superior tactile click of the IBM keyboard from the PC-AT era. I don't think these are around any more, and nothing still even comes close.
If there is one thing that should be standard, it is a keyboard layout. Extras are fine, as long as they are outside of the regular key area, which should be left alone. It is pretty unreasonable to have to learn different touch typing for different keyboards: the basics should stay the same. Nothing more frustrating than trying to hit the blackslash and then realizing it is one of those perverse Logitech or E-One keyboards that has "more enter key" where the backslash is.
Re:The most useful keyboard for me. (Score:2)
A detailed article on the old IBM keyboards can be found here [dansdata.com]
Re:The most useful keyboard for me. (Score:1)
Re:The most useful keyboard for me. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The most useful keyboard for me. (Score:2)
Vegetarians eat Vegetables, BEWARE the man who claims to be a Humanitarian.
Why? Because he would eat Humanitables?
Re:The most useful keyboard for me. (Score:2)
Since others have already pointed out current sources for this keyboard, and I can't really comment on that since I haven't ordered anything from them, I guess it's up to me to just point you to The Article [dansdata.com], in case you hadn't read it. Whoa, that became a very long sentence.
Re:The most useful keyboard for me. (Score:2)
There's only one answer, no need for a thread: (Score:5, Informative)
They also have myriad options and some extremely programmable/configurable keyboards.
Re:There's only one answer, no need for a thread: (Score:2)
It's clicky as hell, costs me $99, and I could bludgeon someone to death with it.
Best. Keyboard. Ever.
Re:There's only one answer, no need for a thread: (Score:3, Informative)
My co-workers hate me, BTW. They claim the noise is deafening, but an average of 100 words per minute can't be wrong!
split IBM keyboard (Score:1)
Re:split IBM keyboard (Score:2)
Focus Electronic (Score:5, Informative)
I sincerly regret not waiting for the FK-9200 [focustaipei.com] to become available, since it has a trackball in the center of the keyboard.
This keyboard is great.. it has a built in calculator, a clock with batteries for when the machine is off, and 12 macro keys that can be mapped to just about anything..
Re:Focus Electronic (Score:1)
Nothing beats this Packbell keyboard (model 5131C) I've been using for the last 10 years, on 5 machines, though. I hope to find a couple new ones sometime, as this one is starting to get flaky. I don't f
Re:Focus Electronic (Score:1)
Re:Focus Electronic (Score:2)
The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Repeat after me: Model M - the one true keyboard. All hail Model M.
Model M [modelm.org]
If you turn over your keyboard and find that it does not say Model M on the bottom, you are not a true human being.
It's not hard to find your own. Ebay lists them all the time. I pulled 12 of them out of an insurance company dumpster last year.
Model M!
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Sean.
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
I did glance around the site and didn't notice the keyboard you mention -- it's hard, though, to justify spending much more than about $20 on a keyboard, since, as you say, keyboards can be mapped.
Sean.
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
There are two layout variations - as to whether you buy or remap, that's your choice of course.
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Just left of the 'a' key? That's where the escape key goes. ctrl goes in the lower-left where you can hit it with the edge of your palm without moving your hands off the home row.
I bet you use emacs, too.
Sumner
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Sean.
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Sumner
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
i refuse to use any cheap-o plastic pansy ass keyboard when i can use my tuff-as-nails steel ibm clicky to beat the hell out of anybody who dares enter my cave...
cheap, indestructable, and the keys come off real easy to throw in the dishwasher occasionally.
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
I use them at work and have three new ones at home, bought from a second hand computer store here in town. I figure I'm set to about 2015 or so - assuming the PC doesn't transmogrify into a mind-controlled device or something like that.
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
With that said, there are a few drawbacks which are very unfortunate:
I would die for a black, wireless, usb IBM model M. Maybe I should hack one. I suppose the USB problem could be solved via an adapter.
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:2)
Not only is it black, but having a mouse built-in would make it the perfect canidate for adaption to wireless
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:1)
I have read the Model M postings with great interest, having used nothing else for over 5 years now. I used to go through keyboards like toilet paper - coffee spills, drops, and just plain cheap quality would insure it! No more - I found 3 Model M keyboards (including 2 half size models without the numeric keypad - Excellent!) in thrift stores, and I have NEVER looked back. Hail to the ruler - the undisputed champion of the keyboard gladiatorial arena! Model M! Model M! Model M!
Model M is KING !!!!!! (Score:1)
I have read the Model M postings with great interest, having used nothing else for over 5 years now. I used to go through keyboards like toilet paper - coffee spills, drops, and just plain cheap quality would insure it! No more - I found 3 Model M keyboards (including 2 half size models without the numeric keypad - Excellent!) in thrift stores, and I have NEVER looked back. These things were made in an era when QUALITY, DURABILITY, and RELIABILITY actually meant something - not jus
The Northgate OmniKey is the Holy Grail (Score:3, Interesting)
Sorry, as nice as the 'M' is, there is no comparison to a Northgate Omnikey, especially the Ultra [northgate-...repair.com].
I still have one. It weighs over 10 pounds, so it doesn't move. The feel of the keys is heavenly - perfect amount of force to depress, and a wonderful click when you do. All the keys are where they should be, including a superior diamond pattern for the cursor keys.
If you haven't used one, you don't know what you're missing. Northgates are still the golden standard for anyone who knows.
jonathan
Re:The Model M is The One True Keyboard (Score:1)
Aren't the combo keys better? (Score:2, Interesting)
I like the ideas---I, too, have a Logitech keyboard (specifically, the Cordless Elite Duo [logitech.com]) with volume, mute, etc. keys built in, and several shortcuts set up in (at least) a similar way.
Other than the volume and mute, and the wheel on the left side, though, I find the many additional buttons along the top almost as distracting as a mouse. Right now, they're essentially all mapped to different websites, and I still have to look at them and pick out the right one before hitting it.
Maybe it's because of to
Keyboard Hall of Shame (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's a couple to start with:
The first Macintosh [bott.org]. I think Apple was so awestruck with the new idea of the GUI that it looks like the keyboard was a mere afterthought with the the first Mac. What they ended up including was designed to encourage mouse-usage; with its heavy-force keystroke requirements and its almost rudimentary nature.
the Atari 400 [heydon.org]
Anyone remember saving $400 over the price of the full-keyboard Atari 800 by getting one of these things? It spawned a cottage industry of replacement keyboards.
TRS-80 Color Computer [aceadvanced.org]. The keyboard on the "ColorTRaSh" was eventually improved, but the earlier models had Fisher-Price written all over.
Re:Keyboard Hall of Shame (Score:2)
The Commodore Pet (Score:2, Interesting)
The later versions of the Pet had standard keyboards - it made the Pet into a good, usable computer.
Re:Keyboard Hall of Shame (Score:1)
I wasted a few years of my childhood with one of those blasted things. Any wonder I could never touch-type until I replaced it with an IBM XT with the Model M keyboard. Been using the Model M ever since. :)
Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you insane? I don't care for Windows, but it is the most advanced mouseless UI there is. You can do everything without even having a mouse plugged in at all. The same cannot be said for gnome/kde or X in general. Granted, Windows is decidedly not a CLI, like your ssh sessions, but it's still the best there is if you don't like to use a mouse.
I recall reading something about how some beta of windows 95 or NT 3.x failed a DOD acceptance test because a lot of it depended on the mouse, so Microsoft spent considerable time making it work fine in case of mouse failure.
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:3, Interesting)
just FYI
It's basically the 'killer app' that's keeping me on linux... I can run Xchat, Gaim, Phoenix (or whatever it's called now), ZINF, etc, ad nausium. Putty is actually a better terminal than many of the linux ones, and I can do most of my development on a shell into another box. Windows is Free, and so is Linux. The only differences are (a) Xwin32 is much harder to crack than Xfree86 and (b) windows's Window Managment SUCKS.
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:1)
And so far, I haven't found a decent file manager which clones Windows Explorer. All they do is add more and more useless features. (But that's personal taste).
Re:Windows Explorer....decent? (Score:1)
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:2)
I suspect it's because originally, Windows was an on-the-shelf software product which ran on DOS. People would have to make a deliberate choice to get Windows. Lots of PC owners didn't have mice, so requiring one would probably have made Windows less appealing.
Contrast with the X W
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:3, Interesting)
My Dell laptop's touchpad is knackered to the extent I have to turn it off permanently, so I have plenty of experience of using windows without a mouse (in the office I use a trackball). While quite a lot of features are available without the mouse, it isn't particularly easy to use and in general 'skinnable' apps (ie anything that isn't using standard windows widgets, increasingly common) suck bigtime.
I find the
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:1)
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:2)
Yes it can. I do everything using the keyboard, including moving and resizing windows under X (with sawfish.) I kid you not! Care to show me how to do that in windows? Of course, gnome's philosophy from gnome2 onwards is "you can do only what we let you to, because we know better than you",
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:5, Informative)
With pleasure.
Use the ALT-space key combination. This will bring up that window's control menu, including options to Restore (switch between full screen or windowed view), Minimize, Maximize, Close...and Size or Move. If you select Size or Move, you can then resize the window or move the window around the screen using the arrow keys. When done, press the Enter key. Presto -- all without a mouse.
You're welcome.
Re:Windows is the best mouseless UI there is (Score:1)
I don't care for Windows, but it is the most advanced mouseless UI there is. You can do everything without even having a mouse plugged in at all.
Hmm, I wonder if this has anything to do with the mysterious two keys on my keyboard that look suspicously like the Windows logo...
Getting back on topic, I don't really care for advanced features. My keyboard just has to be full sized. I hate keyboards that cut the shift, backspace, or even the enter key to make their design fit in a smaller space, or to make ro
roundup (Score:4, Informative)
Re:roundup (Score:1)
This article seems to have been passed over without much viewing. All of the keyboards are really interesting designs, but I would like to point out one in particular. The TouchStream ST [fingerworks.com]. Granted, it does have a pretty heavy price tag, ~$300, but if I had the money this is what I would buy. It completely gits rid of the need for a mouse, and it has a wealth of gestures [fingerworks.com] that make your life a lot easier.
Here is the link for the portion of the article about this awesome keyboard. [extremetech.com]
Re:roundup (Score:1)
Build it yourself (Score:2)
Re:Build it yourself (Score:1)
Get over yourself the world is bigger than programming and that trusy old IBM keyboard yo
Re:Build it yourself (Score:1)
Hey, duder. (Score:1)
I love your biting sarcasm, SMARTEY MAN.
You make it sound as if this is a productivity issue. It really isn't. It might be someday, when I'm out of college and unemployed with my useless CS degree, frantically tweaking resumes. It's really more of a combination between the "I like inventing shiny toys" problem and the "I don't feel like leaning forward to mess with my speakers" problem. I can touch type, but some of my less frequently used Winkey shortcuts haven't exactly been committed to muscle memo
Re:Hey, duder. (Score:2)
Yeah, I think once you spend a certain amount of time on slashdot, you eventually turn into a troll. This descent into trollness is followed by your being driven from the site, and eventually suicide in the manner of the WIPO Troll [50megs.com]. Seriously, I laid into you so hard because I am guilty of the same silliness to a great degree. I just made a couple of new shell functions today (these are going to save me some real time though). But, worse, I am dvorak typist. Observe my advocacy of that strategy elsewhe
extremetech has an article about this (Score:1)
New is also this article [extremetech.com] about a keyboard without a keyboard.
Re:extremetech has an article about this (Score:1)
Re:extremetech has an article about this (Score:1)
Magic Keyboard? (Score:1)
For my SSH / Command / Calculator I use any of the following,
Win, R, Enter, Then one of the following
putty -ssh
calc
command
I can even start up winamp using a shortcut placed in the windows dir pointing to the exe, named winamp. Also for putty, I just copied the exe to the win dir as well.
For mousing I use the built in Mouse key's, converting the num-pad to mouse directions. 2k
Re:Magic Keyboard? (Score:1)
keyboards (Score:1)
Speaking of keyboards (Score:2)
Re:Speaking of keyboards (Score:1)
Re:Speaking of keyboards (Score:2)
PI Engineering's X-Keys (Score:3, Informative)
Re:PI Engineering's X-Keys (Score:2)
Re:PI Engineering's X-Keys (Score:1)
Well, let's see here...
Let's assume that you've already found a circuit board layout so you don't have to do much if any planning. Parts for the whole thing -- electronic components, buttons, case, etc. -- you find a great deal on and pay no more than $10.
Now let's say you're good with your hands and are able to put the thing together in two hours. I'm not talking about a half-assed job with the buttons
Re:PI Engineering's X-Keys (Score:2)
Re:PI Engineering's X-Keys (Score:2)
You've already got it (Score:1)
Trackballs (Score:1)
'nuf said.
Touchstream Keyboards (Score:2, Informative)
Sun Type 5 USB keyboard (Score:1)
Also, they have Super/Hyper/Meta modifier keys, so you'll have a load more keys you can use for your bindings that way too (no windows keys though, but I'm sure you could use one of the extra modifier keys as such if you
X and windows (Score:2)
There's a few nuance/quirks, but far less than VMware
No Caps Lock (Score:1)
Re:No Caps Lock (Score:1)
features? how about a whole personal computer? (Score:2)
No one has brought up those awful power buttons... (Score:2)
Anyways....
On the upper rt corner is a key marked 'sleep'.
Should have been marked 'Blue Screen of Death' cause that is what it caused.
At the time I had an awful computer desk and the only way I could really get things done was with the keyboard on my lap. I can not tell you how many times the upper right corner would find it's way underneath the desk and then
Re:No one has brought up those awful power buttons (Score:2)
The controls are in the Power control panel. Under "When I press the sleep button". Also, the BSoD problem is probably your OS and not the keyboard itself.
music notation keyboard (Score:1)
I can not for the life of me remember its name.
It was in a pawn shop. I guess the original musician that owned it must have realised
Unbeatable MultiKeyboard... (Score:1)
I cant belive no one has linked to this yet.... (Score:2)
Gateway Anykey, if you can still find them. (Score:2)
Re:Good program to use the extra buttons on a USB (Score:1)