What keyboard are you using right now?

[Bluemercury]

no, it only looks like a white alps.  you can't actually read the 'alps' stamped on the switch.

humm, i still need to get one with alps whites......

[Bluemercury]

no, it only looks like a white alps.  you can't actually read the 'alps' stamped on the switch.

Well i cant really see anything.....your eyes are in HD mode....

[Astra Diesel]

thanks for clarifying, alpslover.

I was referring more to the fake blue alps switches on the japanese website, though it was my mistake not to scroll down the ebay listing to see the so-called genuine white alps switch.

[Astra Diesel]

also, something else to keep in mind is that the information on those keyboard enthusiast web sites isn't complete.  they might take apart one, maybe two, keyboards of a particular make and model, but keyboard manufacturers sometimes make changes to the internals of a particular model without making it obvious from the outside.

True, I'm surprised at how many different models of Focus 2001 keyboards Focus Electronics manufactured without noting what changes each different batch of keyboards underwent.

[Bluemercury]

So should i risk getting this focus one ?

Edit: Here's the images of my cherry keyswitch keyboards:

[Astra Diesel]

Take a risk, but if your cherry blues are satisfactory, you probably wouldn't need alps switches.

[Bluemercury]

Take a risk, but if your cherry blues are satisfactory, you probably wouldn't need alps switches.

I was actually searching a new white alps switche keyboard.

[xsphat]

I'm back on the HHKB Pro 2 full time now. No matter what I buy, I keep coming back to this one.

The Filco rocks and I love it, but my keyboard tray is too small to have the keyboard where I like it and still leave enough room for the mouse (I screen span, so I need a bit of space for side to side motion).

[bigpook]

I have a Customizer 101! It's black.


From memory, the key switches on the original Happy Hacking Keyboard are different from the HHKB Pro/Pro2. But I can't find a reference for it right now. I think the electricial capacitance switches were only introduced with the pro series.

Are the capacitance switches clicky?
I really like the tactile feel and sound of the buckling spring keyboards.

I have a HHKB lite and really liked it. After going through my mouse phase( the kensington expert mouse is the one true mouse for me, as of right now : )) I focused my attention on clicky keyboards. I have a unicomp board, a model m and model m spacesaver.

Having said that, what other boards fall into the clicky/noisy category?

[xsphat]

HHKB Pro2 are not clicky at all.

[bigpook]

I have the HHKB lite and even though it is rubber dome it is still a nice keyboard. The form factor is nearly ideal. I am liking the buckling spring boards now, and am now using the full size model m. What I want is something in the small form factor of the HHKB with the buckling spring technology of the model m.
I read that unicomp may release the mighty mouse with buckling springs, if so, then that may be the board for me...heres to hoping.

[xsphat]

I like to keep many keyboards with different switches around. For clicky, I have a Model M and the Macalley with white Alps switches, and for other times, I have the HHKB Pro 2 which has a feeling that is similar to but different than the Cherry brown switches. These last two are light touch but the HHKB Pro 2 has more resistance than the browns.

[karlito]

using my filco... the numpad is really starting to get on my nerves. it's invading my mousing real estate

[xsphat]

using my filco... the numpad is really starting to get on my nerves. it's invading my mousing real estate

I know the feeling, my friend. I guess iMav was right all along. Think how I feel -- my keyboard tray is smaller than yours.

The browns rock though, don't they?

[sashomasho]

i wish the hhkb pro had different keyswitch options... brown or blue cherries, but i want to keep and the current one, i really like the topre switches, just i wish i had different options for a second one eventually

[iMav]

using my filco... the numpad is really starting to get on my nerves. it's invading my mousing real estate

I think you should buy a mouse bridge and then let us know how you like it...  

[Bluemercury]

Are all filcos with the same cherry switches?

[Ulysses31]

I've seen brown, black and blue switches on the Filcos and what look like white alps, though you might have to ask xsphat.  I'm very new to these things.

[xsphat]

You are correct sir!

The only other switches I've seen on Filcos are their scissors / membrane hybrid, plain  membrane and white Cherry switches on some old old ones.

[xsphat]

It's crunch time on this f#$%^g assignment for a class I don't really like at all so I had to bust out the MacAlly with true white Alps clickiness.

[Korbin]

Is filco the only keyboards that have the brown stemmed cherry switches?

[xsphat]

Is filco the only keyboards that have the brown stemmed cherry switches?

I hear the answer to that is no, but I defy you to find one brand new with a US layout. without getting it from Asia.

[rnak92a]

All this Filco chatter piques my curiosity.  What's so great about a Filco?

As to what I'm using right now, the keyboard someone will have to pry from my cold, dead hands:

an IBM Model M keyboard. Part #: 1391401; ID #: 2055523; date of manufacture: February 4, 1988.  Repaired by Unicomp, Inc. December 2007:  replaced backspace buckling spring assembly

[Korbin]

The Filco really has me curious as well. I recently started to love mechanical switches when I bought my Das II keybaord (brings back memories from college) which i use for programming, and I have a Deck and a SteelSeries 7G that I love to use when i play games (the click feels like it slows me down on fast repetitive keystrokes).

Unfortunately, using a clicky mechanical keyboard at work would probably have my co-workers wanting to punch me in the nose so i'm wondering if the brown stemmed switch would be quiet "enough" to use on the job.

I wish i had known about these boards 3 years ago, I would have picked one up when i was in Akiabura (sp?) when i visited japan. Might have to get my brother to try to get one for me. Unless you guys know someplace online i can order one?

[xsphat]

I work in an open office, and I regularly use the Filco with browns and the HHKB Pro2 with no complaints about noise.

And the Filco is built like a tank - it feels more solid than any in my collection - and the browns are so light they couldn't be called tactile by anyone other than Webster ... and yes, I have a Model M to compare it to.

[Bluemercury]

Im using my das keyboard AND my IBM model M5-2 at the same time one is in the usb port and the other in the ps/2 one, still, i just noticed that the ibm is slower at holding pressed the key than the das keyboard for some reason. For example if i press and hold space, it is much slower than the das keyboard....

[xsphat]

Another thing about the Filco I really am into is the key caps they make. They have a little texture on them that make typing even mor comfortable.

[Ulysses31]

Does this texture wear off much?  I've seen some Filcos where the edges of the key-caps look shiny, as if they've had heavy use.  I've also seen some that appear to lack that frosted effect completely.  The separate Filco numpad doesn't have that matt look.

[xsphat]

I've only had mine for couple months (I think), and I haven't used it straight, so really I can't answer that. But to me is feels like would only after years and years of steady hammering to wear down.

All this written about the filco, on the Macally's white Alps ...

[Bluemercury]

Aparentely it was the fact i had the two keyboards connected that caused the slowness of holding the keys pressed, strange.