Das Keyboard vs. Unicomp Customizer?

[typo]

as usual ripster, you are too funny.

you know what? i tend to wear out dye sub faster than good laser. i don't think it is so much my funky hands as abrasion that wears them out. then of course the laser would last longer. since you have to wear down the whole key past the grrove to wipe out the legends. yeah, they put some on top outside of the groove to make the contrast higher. i wear that off in a couple of weeks. my dye subs just rub off whereas the lasers fade but retain the complete legend.

i guess different strokes for different folks then. i do maintain i prefer blue cherrys though. so the das quickly wen't back on my tray. buckling springs and topre's are not really mechanical switches which i just seem to prefer.

as for the cherry's getting full of hair. there are a lot of cat's around here and i am my own serviceman as well. the cherry's are very serviceable and individually replaceable. as are the keycaps of course. overall, with work a mx board can stay in service much longer than a ibm/unicomp or topre imo. when one key fails on the other boards afaik ,game over. this is important to me because i use these boards like a monkey eats bananas. please, no monkey joke ripster!

[msiegel]

model m was the first ibm keyboard where individual switches were non-serviceable, if i'm remembering the ibm wiki correctly. unfortunately this was inherited by the unicomp versions.

btw, what kind of desk/chair/tray/monitor setup do you have? since you type so much, i'm curious if it's unusual

[bladamson]

I superglue sandpaper to my fingertips when I type.  It helps me grip the keys better.



Sorry.  I couldn't resist being snarky.  It's all in good fun. ;P

[bladamson]

I type so hard that I break each of my fingers off at the second joint, leaving only bloody stumps with which I flail at the keys ineffectually in a blind rage-haze of pain.

...

...

Thank goodness for Lexmark-era drainage channels.

[bladamson]

*cues up the Cure and types hard*

[woody]

Not related to key wear, but in a thread (maybe old) I saw a photo of a guy's bent pinky, supposedly Emacs fan. Then I looked at my pinkies and .... my right one is slightly bent. ZOMG.

EDIT: I'm not Emacs user, to begin with. Damn.

[bladamson]

I hear that proximity to Emacs users can cause sympathetic finger-bending.

[woody]

Computers lead to mutations, I tell you!

[woody]

Yep, that picture.

Mine is not bent that much, but still differs from the seemingly straight left pinky when compared.
Have you compared yours?

[bladamson]

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Favorite.  Dilbert.  Evar.

[woody]

Here's a cocktail for you:

[YOUTUBE]WI5P9REpiPM[/YOUTUBE]

[typo]

come on guys. i don't type hard at all. i just type a lot.

to the person that asked. a hon desk and a herman miller chair. not that intresting. i do not use arm or wrist rests.

i like the das best and it has worn similar to every other keyboard i lay my hands upon. if you use anything a lot it will wear out faster. you should see what i do to professional vacuums!

i hope the troll statement was not in regards to me, i did not mean to be.

the op states he wore out dye subs rather quickly as well.

besides that i was just mentioning my personal preference. having both the das pro s and space saver.

i was going to take a picture of a dye sub "a" that is now nearly otaku but i painted the legend back on lol. i'll look for some others though.

[theferenc]

Emacs Pinky!!!

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It's kinda like Unix Beards!!!

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Hmmm, I bet this wouldn't happen with proper control key placement. Put it where god intended, and there is no need to curl your pinky under in distressing ways.

Also, I love that dilbert comic. I forgot about the suspender aspect of being a UNIX beard. I thought that was just my personal idiosyncrasy.

[bladamson]

i hope the troll statement was not in regards to me, i did not mean to be.

Nawww, I was just joshin' ya.  Trolling at myself more than anything.

[microsoft windows]

It's kinda like Unix Beards!!!

My career was strictly UNIX administration for a long time (AIX, Solaris, UNICOS, HP/UX, etc).  If it was a UNIX variant, I likely dealt with it at some time or another.

[/URL]


Now wait a minute... Is it time for another poll?

[msiegel]

quick, check for suspenders

[bladamson]

The helmet must be to help fend off the angry hordes of lusers.

Ahhhh, sysadminning, I do not miss you at all...

As a joke (taking a cue from BOFH), I once wired a 120v power plug to an ethernet cable and hung it on my door.  Nobody got it. And then the cable disappeared.  I hope nobody tried to use it.  D:=

[iMav]

Emacs Pinky!!!

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Emacs?  You should see what GEEKHACK does to your fingers!

[eherzog]

Has my freakish handicap scared everyone away from this thread?  It's ok.  I'm comfortable with my extremely short, crooked fingers.  You can come out of the woodwork.  iMav, it's too bad that I can't simply wave my deformed hands in front of the kids and get them to quiet down like this!

[msiegel]

but i'm pretty sure...

it's from too many mac keyboard shortcuts!

command option shift 4!!

[microsoft windows]

Emacs?  You should see what GEEKHACK does to your fingers!

Has my freakish handicap scared everyone away from this thread?  It's ok.  I'm comfortable with my extremely short, crooked fingers.  You can come out of the woodwork.  iMav, it's too bad that I can't simply wave my deformed hands in front of the kids and get them to quiet down like this!

Did you injure your hand or have arthritis?

[bladamson]

Woah, I figured it was photoshopped. :3

[typo]

guys, i have a serious question though.

for most people does abs get shiny well before pbt? i have not kept actual tabs on wich lasts me longer. i am not talking about the legends wearing but the pebble grain getting smooth.

i just thought this question was useful since the unicomps are pbt and the das is abs.

thanks

[jpc]

New Unicomp keys should have a lifetime measured by geological time period.

I have a Model M from 03AUG87. Mine since 1996. I've used it on and off over the years. The key caps still have most of their texture.

I've seen Model M's with shiny key caps. Lord knows what happened to them. They must have been employed in some ****ensian data-entry mill.

[typo]

i have worn m,f,topre,unicomp. i think it did take longer though.

you can obviously get the idea from those pics. they are worn. he said it didn't take that long either if i remember correctly. ripster, why only your spacebar? i tend to always wear out the wasd first and i don't game. my spacebar is the one key that doesn't get shiny! that is strange.

i can see what keys i use the most but it does not make sense to me. maybe i type too hard afterall plus i have nails but they certainly are not long. i do feel myself hitting the keys with my nails. maybe that is the whole problem i am having with every board.

i am certainly not the best typist by any means but i just type a lot.

if it helps explain this any i also wear out the finish on decent mice. plus i just noticed my business phone handset i use a lot is shiny and that is my palm! i just don't get this. obviously it is me but i don't know what i am doing wrong. before you joke my hands and the rest of me are kept clean. so thats not it. i rarely use lotion or cologne either.

confused (:

[microsoft windows]

Do you have long fingernails? People with fingernails wreak havoc on keyboards.

[typo]

i don't know how to explain the length of my fingernails. i do feel that is what is hitting the keys first. a standard clipper will not cut shorter without pain. i refuse to bite them lol.

if this was my problem all these years.....damn!

i don't know what other kind of clipper there is and i can't really see them being shorter. i guess they are flush with the top of the rounded part of the skin on my fingers. maybe a a 50th of an inch beyond. the fact remains they are hitting every key every time. darnit!

as for the phone i think that just got shiny because it has been in heavy use since the 80's. that probably has nothing to do with what is happening to the keyboards i use. afaik, my hands do not sweat at all in the office. i do have rough skin. i figured that would cause less damage than lotion to the keys.

i am seriously looking to you guys to figure this out. i have no problem otaku but i like the look of the fonts. there is some reason i have wrecked all these boards. i got a model f at goodwill about 2 years ago. i am sure it saw a ton of use due to it's age. it looked darn good when i got it and cleaned it up. i wore it down in 4 months!

so, is it the rough skin and fingernails? i don't know of a different nail clipper and i figured lotion would damage keys worse. what to do?

thanks

[woody]

Do you have Aliens among your ancestors?

[bladamson]

Do you have long fingernails? People with fingernails wreak havoc on keyboards.

Not anymore.  When I moved back to this one-horse town, I had to start dressing like a normal person.

Now I bet you're wondering if I'm kiddinig or not, huh?  You'll never know, mua ha ha.

[bladamson]

Try 12" FROM WEBCAM DOOOOOD!

I'm getting to it!

I inherited a crappy webcam a couple of hours ago, so I'm going to see if I can get it working as soon as I get all my forums surfed and spam^H^H^H^Hemail responded to...