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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Architect on Wed, 04 September 2013, 17:31:31

Title: Whats the longest you've ever typed on a Mechanical?
Post by: Architect on Wed, 04 September 2013, 17:31:31
And what type of switch?

I've been typing on mechanical keyboards for approximately ...


My streak was broken last week when I traded the Kinesis at work for a TECK, which is what I've been using at home the past few years. I'm still typing on Cherry Browns though! During that time I've had a few of the Kinesis break on me, and one of them wear out (I think the switches were still OK, it was the case and keycaps)

I did expand out a bit, since the TECK has a Cherry Red option I tried it for gaming and I really like it for that application only. There's so much button mashing going on that the light linear touch of the Red is perfect.
Title: Re: Whats the longest you've ever typed on a Mechanical?
Post by: rootwyrm on Wed, 04 September 2013, 17:56:39
It's 2013 so... 26 years roughly? Obviously including a typewriter or two with mechanical switches. Buckling springs almost exclusively since 1990 give or take a bit, with some Alps Complicated, Cherry, SMK mixed in depending on system/location/etc, plus a fair bit of Alps Salmon on an Apple IIgs with a 21" CRT. (You may be jelly - had M0115, M0312 and M3501 all in one place.)
Title: Re: Whats the longest you've ever typed on a Mechanical?
Post by: hashbaz on Wed, 04 September 2013, 18:02:53
My longest daily use streak is probably 2-3 years on a Kinesis with browns.  This was before I was "into keyboards".

Nowadays I hop around a lot on different boards and switch types.
Title: Re: Whats the longest you've ever typed on a Mechanical?
Post by: mapple on Thu, 05 September 2013, 14:35:18
then i didn't even had knowledge what i'm using, but i had my first x86 in age of 6, it came with ibm model m keyboard, i was using this keyboard since i was 12 (obviously for that time pc itself changed) but keyboard last with me........
Title: Re: Whats the longest you've ever typed on a Mechanical?
Post by: davkol on Thu, 05 September 2013, 14:45:48
I just trashed my dad's old home PC (Pentium MMX, 64MiB RAM,...) with an mitsumi keyboard made in '95. I'd used it every now and then for whole 18 years. Its tactile mitsumi hybrid switches (basically reverse rubber dome) were still going strong (actually, they still are, I might ship the board to a DT member).
Title: Re: Whats the longest you've ever typed on a Mechanical?
Post by: Hellmark on Thu, 05 September 2013, 16:24:39
I still have my keyboard from my 386, that I got in '91. I had a keyboard from the machine I got in '95 last for about 5 years (rubber dome). the machine I got in '99, rubber dome keyboard came with it, and I went through a keyboard a year, for about 3 years.

'03 swapped back to a Model M after years of not having one. The spring retainer for the spacebar broke in '09 (reason I initially joined). Got a second model M, and used that until it gave up the ghost. I just took it apart this week, and I see some stuff on the bottom on the steel plate in a manner that makes me wonder if someone spilled something on it without telling me. Still if it did, it looks like it dripped down into the middle with the membrane, and out a hole on the bottom (so much for Lexmark's drainage channels). That's part of why I want to go cherry, since I can replace a dead switch easier than I can tear apart and replace damaged internals on a model M (now if someone made a modular buckling spring switch, that'd be freaking awesome).