So, I really don't remember what my first keyboard is... at all. I was apparently using computers by the age of 3, and we didn't have any cool old school keyboards when I was growing up, so nothing was kept.
What I do remember is my first "mechanical" keyboard, a Das v1 Ultimate (I know now it was just rubber dome, but I thought it was mechanical back then). It was given to me like 6 years ago, by now. A friend of mine got it from his uncle, who said he couldn't use it because the keys were blank, so my friend tried to use it, and he also found it wasn't for him. Knowing I loved computers and was a skilled typist in CompSci, he gave it to me. I thought it was a cool novelty for a little while, but just ignored it and continued to use my obnoxious Logitech G15 keyboard with full color LCD screen and 18 macro keys. But then one day I started having issues with Windows. Thinking the Logitech drivers might be at fault, I decided to try the Das out... and fell in love. I remember it being very enjoyable to type on and a badass keyboard, in general. After that experience, I never stopped using it. One day, I accidentally got some water into the board though, and it was broken permanently. Some small drop got through (I did as thorough a cleaning job as I could) and it started giving out ghost keypresses like crazy, so I had to throw it away
. This was before I got into mechs or knew about hardware.
But, what this story did lead to was me getting my first
real mechanical at my current job. When I was starting here, I was asked what equipment I wanted. I had normally worked remote, so this was new, but I knew I loved using a Das, so I demanded a Das Keyboard, at least one with Browns! My boss obliged and got me an Ultimate with Browns, v3 (incidentally, after my board arrived, he and a coworker tried it out, instantly fell in love, and he ordered a board for each of them
)). Eventually, that lead me to /r/mk and custom sets, then artisans, then to GH... and here I am today. With far too many input devices for my PC's... but only keyboards, heaven forbid I buy a mouse
...
Anyway, here's a pic of a Das v1, the thing that got me started:
Thanks for putting together such an awesome giveaway martin. The new designs are really awesome!!!