Have you preordered a Das Keyboard III?

[003]

Out of curiosity, have you ever used one of the CVT keyboards? I have never used one so I don't claim to be a god, but I called and spoke with a very friendly man over at CVT. He was patient and readily gave me information, and then he confirmed what he told me with their engineer via forwarding me an e-mail. I was told that the Avant Prime and Avant Stellar keyboards both support only 3 keys being pressed simultaneously, and I could hear the keys as they confirmed by testing for me over the phone.

"n-key rollover" technically would not be incorrect to label as a feature of the Avant keyboards, as the variable "n" only stands for an integer. It could only support "1-key rollover", and saying it had "n-key rollover" would not be incorrect.

And I was told quite conclusively that the lettering will eventually wear off, as they are printed on via some kind of glorified sticker. I forgot the actual term they used, it may have been silkscreening, though I think I am forgetting. But they said that when they wear off you can just get new keyboard stickers at any computer store.

I'm not trying to say you're wrong, I'm just saying that this is what I was told when I called up CVT and spoke to them about the keyboards. And again, the guy I spoke to was very friendly and patient, and did not sound irritated or annoyed.

Now I'd really like to get to the bottom of what is correct here. How do they do the lettering? How many keys can be pressed simultaneously?

The games I play are UT3, CoD 4, Alone In The Dark (the new one), Devil May Cry 4, Crysis, Assassins Creed and Company Of Heroes. There are probably a few I'm forgetting as well.

[003]

Hey I just thought of something! If I get the Deck Legend, and I don't like the black cherries, wouldn't I be able to disassemble the keyboard and replace them with blue cherries from another keyboard? Because aren't all the cherry switches [at least the ones we speak of] all the same shape and size? It might involve soldering, but how complex can they be?

[iMav]

Hey I just thought of something! If I get the Deck Legend, and I don't like the black cherries, wouldn't I be able to disassemble the keyboard and replace them with blue cherries from another keyboard? Because aren't all the cherry switches [at least the ones we speak of] all the same shape and size? It might involve soldering, but how complex can they be?

Absolutely.  It's been done by at least a few members here.

[003]

SWEEET!!! And Deck even encourages you to mod their keyboards! Do you know, is soldering involved? Possibly links to threads where this operation has been performed?

Also, where is a good source for new blue cherries on the cheap?

Finally, whats the difference between the following cherries:

White =
Blue = Tactile; clicky
Black = Non tactile; linear
Brown =

Any others?

[xsphat]

I think I'm going to buy an Avant Prime with my student loans, and though I don't have a PS/2 port, I can still test if it has more than three key rollover. Now you have me all curious, and I could always return the thing if it's not what they say it is.

And IIRC, there is a thread on Deck's forum about switching the switches. I think they said it's possable but the LEDs make it a little tricky somehow. A quick search should find that one for you.

And how is the new Alone in the Dark? I loved the last one, A new Nightmare, and the videos I've seen of the game look fantastic. I didn't even know it was out yet. I'm way more into survival horror than FPS, but they are fun as well.

I hate talking to reps because, if you would have been around here a number of months back, a few of us on this forum went round and round with people at Cherry and their distributors and the conclusion I came up with is that until you buy and receive a Cherry keyboard, there is really no way of knowing what you'll get because everyone's info has the possibility of being bad. I only trust Karl at DSI and Jim Owens at Unicomp over the phone. Those two have always done right by me.

[003]

The new AITD is a good game, however, it can be a bit confusing to control, at least on the PC anyway.

[ashort]

SWEEET!!! And Deck even encourages you to mod their keyboards! Do you know, is soldering involved? Possibly links to threads where this operation has been performed?

http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=609

This post in the keyboard mods section does a pretty good job of describing swapping out switches via soldering.  Whether or not you need to solder depends on how the switches are mounted on the board.  If you can get to the underside of the switch, you can mutilate a fork to make a tool that will allow you to pop the top of the switch off.  The top is what differentiates the different MX switches.  Replace the top with the cherry mx switch color of choice, and snap it back in.

[itlnstln]

Has anyone here replaced a Model M with an Avant or a Filco and been happy with the change?

I have been very happy with the change.  I went from a Model M to a Northgate Evolution (see avatar).  It feels very similar (but certainly not the same; the Alps keys feel a little lighter, sharper and snappier) to the Model M.  There is a change in sound and feel, but not in a bad way.  I can go back and forth from one to the other without a problem.  I think if you went Alps (Avant or otherwise) you will be pleased.

[bigpook]

I got my dasIII a few days ago and was wondering if anybody else has one. If so, look at the picture here http://www.daskeyboard.com/

You will notice that it looks like it slopes down, physically, around the arrow keys. On the far left it starts to slope at the caps lock key. My dasIII, does not have this feature(?).
Does yours?

Never mind, I think its the picture, the lighting or something, that is causing it to look like that.

[Ulysses31]

Yeah, it's just a reflection.

[sugar]

Now it's been about a week of use, I have noticed a couple things:

- for the one at work, the [BACKSPACE] key feels a bit "obstructed." I can hear a couple extra faint "clicking" sounds. I don't know what's under those mid-width keys but either something came loose or it needs re-seating, hopefully nothing's broken. This one is fairly new and the problem might just go away by itself after a few days of typing.

- for the one at home, the [W] key got stuck for a few times when I pressed it at an angle. It got stuck at about 2/3 of the way up but that was enough for it to not make a signal contact. HOWEVER, I can no longer reproduce the problem. I guess it was just a fresh-out-of-factory "friction" issue and disappeared after some use...

Other than the backspace key that might need some inspection, overall I have no complaint against this keyboard.

[bigpook]

I have had mine for a few days now, and its taking me a bit to get used to it. I haven't had any issues with the keys sticking. I pulled some of the keys off to see what was going on underneath. Not a whole lot : )  The keys seem to be solid, they don't flex or anything and they rest straight away on the stem of the keyswitch.

The action is so light compared to the BS keyboards I have. I can see where people can fly as they type on this kind of keyboard.  Hopefully it will all smooth out in a week or so.

I read some reviews that said this board was loud. Its no where near as loud as my BS keyboards. The click is audible but subdued. All in all, its not so bad.

[sugar]

Now it's been about a week of use, I have noticed a couple things:

- for the one at work, the [BACKSPACE] key feels a bit "obstructed." I can hear a couple extra faint "clicking" sounds. I don't know what's under those mid-width keys but either something came loose or it needs re-seating, hopefully nothing's broken. This one is fairly new and the problem might just go away by itself after a few days of typing.

- for the one at home, the [W] key got stuck for a few times when I pressed it at an angle. It got stuck at about 2/3 of the way up but that was enough for it to not make a signal contact. HOWEVER, I can no longer reproduce the problem. I guess it was just a fresh-out-of-factory "friction" issue and disappeared after some use...

Other than the backspace key that might need some inspection, overall I have no complaint against this keyboard.

now both keys are normal

... although the long space bar feels kinda hollow when pressing at the two far side edges. I guess that's just what a 104 key layout brings...

[003]

I just shipped mine back today. Speak of cheap feeling keys ... try pressing the right shift key near its far sides

In the mean time, typing on this Deck Legend with black cherries feels like absolute crap. But with a bit of modding, black is going to turn blue

[bigpook]

I am back on my model m spacesaver. I just couldn't get used to the dasIII. I let my wife give it a try and she said she liked it,so its on her desk now.