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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: xsphat on Sun, 03 February 2008, 02:12:07

Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 03 February 2008, 02:12:07
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2219/2237977625_cf8cd2d092.jpg)

I bought a Datalux Muruc desk model keyboard off eBay. It just came today, so here are the initial thoughts and facts about it.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2271/2237977523_85e303a6da.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2280/2238767688_df5de1252e.jpg)

It has Cherry ML switches on weird key caps that are full width but 3/4 length.
From the left: Model M, Cherry ML4100, Datalux.
 
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2021/2238767976_daa8a4c176.jpg)

And it has full n key rollover.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2006/2237977257_9232992e12.jpg)

This layout will take a little getting used to but all said, it works pretty well.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2088/2237977739_9fd007f4f5.jpg)

Most of us have typed on MLs before, so you guys know what it's like. It's been only a matter of hours, but I am already typing quite fast with few errors. This keyboard is made for typing prose, coders will hate the layout.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2024/2238768418_8e396c5728.jpg)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2258/2237977943_7a67727669.jpg)

I'll post a review after a few weeks with this board.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 03 February 2008, 03:24:14
BTW, it came with a USB to PS/2 converter.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: iMav on Sun, 03 February 2008, 03:37:37
Quote from: xsphat
This keyboard is made for typing prose, coders will hate the layout.
Is there something about this keyboard that makes it unsuitable for other literary genres?  Why  prose and not, for example, poetry?

 ;)
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 03 February 2008, 03:41:54
Poetry isn't writing.

I said prose to separate the kind of writing I do and the kind that you do.

Smart ass.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: pex on Sun, 03 February 2008, 04:51:13
Programmers are writing beautiful stories, too.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: zillidot on Sun, 03 February 2008, 05:17:34
Quote from: xsphat;2752
coders will hate the layout.

Not all coders - I'm sure vi users will have no problems with it. :)
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: iMav on Sun, 03 February 2008, 05:30:49
Quote from: zillidot;2761
Not all coders - I'm sure vi users will have no problems with it. :)

Not without some remapping.  Did you SEE where the ESC key is!?!?!?!
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: pex on Sun, 03 February 2008, 06:42:11
Quote
Got a new keyobard today

I see you used your new keyboard to type this thread.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 03 February 2008, 10:32:37
Quote from: pex;2764
I see you used your new keyboard to type this thread.


Good catch.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Sun, 03 February 2008, 11:09:41
Quote from: pex;2758
Programmers are writing beautiful stories, too.


I'm not dissing coders or any kind of writers (except poets). I have a lot of respect for programmers, I spend all day using their work, after all.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: zillidot on Sun, 03 February 2008, 17:37:06
Quote from: iMav;2762
Not without some remapping.  Did you SEE where the ESC key is!?!?!?!

Oops. Okay, yes, that might be a problem. :)
The weird arrow key location shouldn't be a problem though.
Title: For Instance:
Post by: StevieC on Thu, 27 March 2008, 18:53:10
Quote from: pex;2758
Programmers are writing beautiful stories, too.


It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: IBI on Thu, 27 March 2008, 19:19:54
Quote from: StevieC;3795
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.


Quick, escape through the maze of twisty passages, all alike!

Quote from: xsphat;2766
I'm not dissing coders or any kind of writers (except poets).


I can understand not being particulaly interested in lonely clouds and daffodils but have you never read The Raven (http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html)?
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Thu, 27 March 2008, 23:49:57
Quote from: IBI;3799
I can understand not being particulaly interested in lonely clouds and daffodils but have you never read The Raven (http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html)?


With poetry, the writer usually has some superiority complex they are trying to showcase. Horror is my genre, but even if you fade out every butterfly and replace them all with objects of the macabre, there is still some underlying desperation. It's like the poet thinks  only those who read the piece so many times they've memorized it can, like, truly understand them, and that's just self-indulgent crap. I'd rather play sudoku than put myself in the face of that monster.

So no, I don't like the raven or lenore or any of Poe's other poems, but I've read all of them because I went through a Poe / Lovecraft phase near the end of high school, right around the time everyone did.

By the same token, song lyrics are poetry set to music, rap especially so, but that's a different animal. See, musicians do it to get laid, and they do, so let sleeping dogs lie.  

I've been a writer for 21 years, a professional now for 5 years, and I've been a reader since I learned how. So my dislike of poetry is an opinion, and I don't mean to offend, and there are poems I like, but they are few and far far between.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: zerogravitas on Fri, 28 March 2008, 00:08:41
I have one of those dictionaries inspired by Bierce's Devils Dictionary (I think it was called the American Heretics Dictionary or something). Anyway,  my favorites entry from it describes poetry as being the "French Poodle of the arts".
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Fri, 28 March 2008, 01:24:23
I like ot, that's grand.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: IBI on Fri, 28 March 2008, 08:40:22
Quote from: xsphat;3807
With poetry, the writer usually has some superiority complex they are trying to showcase. Horror is my genre, but even if you fade out every butterfly and replace them all with objects of the macabre, there is still some underlying desperation. It's like the poet thinks  only those who read the piece so many times they've memorized it can, like, truly understand them, and that's just self-indulgent crap.

...

there are poems I like, but they are few and far far between.


Fair enough, I've never met any poets myself so I don't know what their motives may be.

I don't read much poetry either, but when I come across poems like The Raven I find the command of english amazing. I'm a programmer, not a writer, but I'd be happy if my code was as lucid as that.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: xsphat on Fri, 28 March 2008, 10:17:19
I go to a school with a very rich art department, and since writing is not seen as an art unless you ONLY write poetry, and all the art students get an extra $2000 to $4000 in scholarships and a trip to Europe every year and the rest of us get nothing, my hate for the poets is renewed and rejuvenated each day. These poets are in Europe for free and since they are poets, they are better than me (just like the artists).

The thing is, I have been published so often I loose track of what I have where. I've written novels and screenplays, but still, I'll never be as good as the person who has never written anything longer than a page or with more than one idea, never had anything published and wears all black to accentuate his hate for his dad (which is a mask because he wants his approval).

I'm just sick of poets getting everything handed to them because they must be in pain.

So there you have it, and I'm done now.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: wellington1869 on Mon, 27 October 2008, 18:17:30
Quote from: StevieC;3795
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

boy that takes me back.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: secularzarathustra on Mon, 27 October 2008, 18:26:11
Wow...that's a nice board...and the ctl is in the RIGHT spot!

Is it clicky and tactile?
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: secularzarathustra on Wed, 12 November 2008, 17:06:48
Bump since xsphat is posting again...

Do you have any further thoughts on this board...

How tactile is it, and how does it compare with topres?
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: Chloe on Wed, 12 November 2008, 18:11:53
I have one of these, with white MEI switches instead of Cherry MLs. The white MEI are linear and non-clicky. The Cherry MLs linear with a small bump.
Title: Got a new keyobard today
Post by: zwmalone on Wed, 12 November 2008, 19:14:14
Quote from: Chloe;10900
I have one of these, with white MEI switches instead of Cherry MLs. The white MEI are linear and non-clicky. The Cherry MLs linear with a small bump.
That's what my datalux has... I really don't like linear switches... They are clacky though... but that's probably me just not being used to the almost non-existent travel...
(http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9572/dataluxmodelmiu6.jpg)