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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: roaduck on Sat, 26 September 2009, 16:54:10

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 26 September 2009, 16:54:10

What colour keyboards do you use and why ?


Personally, I have always prefered using a cream,beige or light grey keyboard.

             The light beige/light grey on this 1391406 is a good compromise for me - it is easy to view in bright sunshine without glare unlike a white one and a black keyboard with shiny keys is hard for me to distinguish in very low lighting conditions.

I have a black Dell L100 which is practical as regards hiding fingermarks but typing on it feels like typing on a balloon whilst wearing boxing gloves.It's going in the cupboard but it'll never be needed because my two model M's will probably last me for the rest of my natural.

Are the new shiny-keyed black keyboards just a fashion like the endless swap of colours on electronics - silver - black - back to silver again etc?

I'm sure the colour swaps are mainly to do with economy.Keyboard plastics are made from refined crude oil or maybe recycled plastic.Perhaps black is easier to manufacture; I don't know.I'd love to ask a petrochemical chemist or engineer how different grades and colours of plastic are made.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 26 September 2009, 17:20:05

Apparently plastic keyboards are made from "nurdles" - What is a "nurdle" you may ask?

Nurdles are the raw material for almost every plastic product on Earth, from the keys on your keyboard to the juice jug in your fridge. They are sometimes known as pre-production plastic pellets, referencing the fact that they are a raw material, or “plastic resin pellets.” As these alternate names imply, nurdles are tiny pellets of plastic which can be melted down and formed into new shapes.

It is estimated that over 250 billion pounds (113 billion kilograms) of nurdles are manufactured and shipped globally every year. Nurdles are typically shipped via tanker truck, with each tanker being loaded to the brim with nurdles. The advantage of using tankers is that they can easily be loaded onto container ships, making them easy to move across the ocean and to drop onto trains and shipping trucks for transit inland.

To use nurdles, manufacturers feed the plastic pellets into hoppers which melt them down, allowing the manufacturer to make plastic products. Nurdles can be melted and injected into molds, extruded by machines, or pressed in specialized presses which are designed to make specific products, among other things. Nurdles come in a variety of types, allowing people to make a range of plastic products, and they can be clear or colored, allowing people to color their own plastics or utilize pre-mixed colors for their products.

Studies on marine pollution suggest that nurdles may be one of the leading constituents of marine debris. They are manufactured in such high volume annually that it is almost inevitable to find nurdles being spilled at every step of the way. As they spill, they work their way into waterways, eventually reaching the ocean, where they can wreak havoc. Nurdles can carry harmful chemicals which hurt marine organisms, they can choke small animals, and they appear to be able to act as sponges to concentrate pollutants released into the marine environment.

The amount of nurdles currently bobbing in the world's oceans is impossible to estimate, but beach clean-up groups and researchers routinely collect nurdles by the bucket from beaches and areas like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, suggesting that they may be an endemic problem. Because plastics take thousands of years to break down, nurdles could potentially endure in the natural environment for generations, leading many people to encourage tighter control of nurdles, in an attempt to ensure that less of them make their way out into the world.


http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-nurdles.htm

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: AndrewZorn on Sat, 26 September 2009, 17:26:26

sounds more like a distribution method, not an actual material, so you may still be right,

but that brings up a good point, it might be neat to see a 'natural' (or 'whatever') color without dye, like how natural-colored anodizing has its appeal
(of course though they'd find a way to charge more for this)

Title: What are keyboards made from?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 26 September 2009, 17:35:19

Well it all comes from crude oil

Here is a little flowchart to show how plastics are made



http://www.petrochemistry.net/flowchart/flowchart.htm
_________________________________________________________________

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 26 September 2009, 17:44:40

from AndrewZorn

"sounds more like a distribution method, not an actual material, so you may still be right,

but that brings up a good point, it might be neat to see a 'natural' (or 'whatever') color without dye, like how natural-colored anodizing has its appeal
(of course though they'd find a way to charge more for this)"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------





I may be wrong but I think recycled plastic initially looks like different coloured plasticine that has been mixed together, like a horrible dirty green colour and this is mostly suitable for making black plastics.

As far as I know natural dyes do not "fix" into the substate as well as synthetic dyes.I will have to do some more research Andrew.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 26 September 2009, 18:30:02

Old Apple keyboards seem to be particularly prone to that kind of 'tan line' effect...

I have two black keyboards, and one white one. There's a link to pics in my sig.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: AndrewZorn on Sat, 26 September 2009, 18:32:54

yeah, i prefer black very much... i hope the white hhkb i got (only because of the price is it white) wont get yellow

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: timw4mail on Sat, 26 September 2009, 18:55:29

Hopefully whatever flame retardants they use now don't break down like the ones that caused all the beige of yesterday to yellow...

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: roaduck on Sat, 26 September 2009, 19:27:05

I seem to remember talking to guy at the Heathrow Hi-fi show a couple of years ago and I asked him why there was a fashion for black plastics and he said there was a growing trend of using organic dyes and pigments in plastics manufacture.He said the main pigment used is "carbon black" which is cheap and biodegradeable.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 29 September 2009, 15:59:13

My keyboards are tan and gray, with the only exception being my M5-2 trackball keyboard, since its trackball is bright yellow.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 29 September 2009, 16:04:28

My Model Ms and Dell AT-101Ws are beige.  Everything else is black.  I would like to have stuff in a "gunmetal" gray like my MS blah blah blah Natural 6000 mouse.  I think black shows too much dust.  That, and some black components look cheap, IMO.  The Filcos look nice, but the Cherrys are a little cheap-looking.  I would rather have a grey Cherry 'board than the black version.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 29 September 2009, 16:06:17

Now that I think about it, things that are a deep, true black look better, IMO, than those that are a little grayish or have a bluish tinge to them.  To me, that makes black parts look cheap.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 29 September 2009, 16:15:18

I really like the charcoal grey of the HHKB and the Realforce series. This (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=23-109-156-01.jpg&Image=23-109-156-01.jpg%2c23-109-156-02.jpg%2c23-109-156-03.jpg%2c23-109-156-04.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&WaterMark=1&Item=N82E16823109156&Depa=1&Description=Microsoft%20Comfort%20Curve%202000%20Black%20Keyboard%20and%20Mouse) is what I'm talking about (particularly the mouse).

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: timw4mail on Tue, 29 September 2009, 16:26:31

Bah plastics...I want more aluminum in my keyboards!

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: ironcoder on Wed, 30 September 2009, 06:40:38

I like the IBM color (grey/white). It's always been the standard for me of what a keyboard should look like. I have a black one but I don't really like it.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 30 September 2009, 10:14:26

Quote from: ripster;121657

Anybody know the history of IBM "Ivory"? I did a google search and came up empty. IBM's dull white color dominated the industry for so long I'm curious how they picked it.

I swear someone here mentioned why before, but for the life of me, I can't remember who and what the reason was.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: wellington1869 on Wed, 30 September 2009, 10:16:27

i'm probably weird in this but I actually prefer plain vanilla white for my keys and keyboards. Isnt that weird?

That said all my keyboards right now are black - but only because plain white or beige are actually harder to come by these days. Everyone seems to be making black.

The tvs was black (dont know if there is even a white version avail); the endurapro is black/gray, the filco zero was black (no white version).  The m10 that i have coming is black (no white version).

I'd have preferred a white version of any of those.

The tp3 will hopefully be white but who knows when that will come out.  I should have gotten the white version of the endurapro.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: ironcoder on Wed, 30 September 2009, 10:18:16

If I had to guess it was just a good match for their terminal housings (same color, more or less) and had a nice hammer-tone texture that hid coffee spills remarkably well until you had a chance to clean them off.

Damn this is a busy forum! I had 2 guys jump in between in one minute while I was trying to answer ripster!

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: o2dazone on Thu, 01 October 2009, 22:01:38

(http://kb.o2dazone.com/hhkbredesc04.jpg)

(http://kb.o2dazone.com/hhkbredesc01.jpg)

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: Hak Foo on Thu, 01 October 2009, 23:36:25

Quote from: ironcoder;121671

If I had to guess it was just a good match for their terminal housings (same color, more or less) and had a nice hammer-tone texture that hid coffee spills remarkably well until you had a chance to clean them off.

Damn this is a busy forum! I had 2 guys jump in between in one minute while I was trying to answer ripster!

My theory was that the rough pattern of computer plastics was to disguise moulding problems.  Even old Unicomp mould work doesn't look awful, but consider a Das-style shiny mold after a few years

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: ironcoder on Fri, 02 October 2009, 02:53:59

As much as the IBM hardware costs I wouldn't expect crappy moulding but who knows, I honestly don't remember and I don't have any vintage stuff around to check.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: lowpoly on Fri, 02 October 2009, 03:24:18

Great pics, o2.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: o2dazone on Fri, 02 October 2009, 20:12:18

thanks m8 :)

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: timw4mail on Fri, 02 October 2009, 20:15:32

Man, my parents would kill me if I bought one of those...not to mention, I probably wouldn't like the amount it would take out of my bank account, either.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: chuckading on Sat, 03 October 2009, 03:52:24

I have a macbook w/ a black keyboard and the shiny spot on the spacebar ****** me off.  I have the white version of that same keyboard with wear... but the shiny spot is not at all noticeable... only by touch.

Quote from: roaduck;120809

What colour keyboards do you use and why ?

Knowing about my thumb and what it can do to a keyboard, I ordered the white/gray version of the HHKB.  I also like the minimalist look, and the mixup of input/function white/gray order to the keys.

My right thumb must be a super tough grinding mofo, because in less than one week of ownership, my HHKB pro 2 has wear.... a somewhat shiny spot on the right side of the spacebar.

Fortunately, I can only see this wear if I look for it, and have just the right angle and lighting thanks to the white keys!

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: AndrewZorn on Sat, 03 October 2009, 22:15:41

yes, i am afraid to type on my NOW PRESENT hhkb because i worry about the inevitable wear..

also, how does one safely remove the spacebar?  i want to turn it around, as some have done, to get the angle right.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: rdh on Sun, 04 October 2009, 02:22:43

Quote from: AndrewZorn;122761

yes, i am afraid to type on my NOW PRESENT hhkb because i worry about the inevitable wear..

I actually kinda like it when my key caps start showing wear.  
Might be I'd like it less if it started showing in the first month or two, but I haven't had that problem with the HHKB (or anything else).

Quote from: AndrewZorn;122761

also, how does one safely remove the spacebar?  i want to turn it around, as some have done, to get the angle right.

The instructions that come with the key cap sets suggest using a puller on one end of the space bar to loosen it from the stabilizer, then on the other end for the other stabilizer, then in the middle to release it from the switch.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: AndrewZorn on Sun, 04 October 2009, 02:58:31

the more i think about it i wonder if id also do the rest of the bottom row
its not that bad, just seems like it could be improved
like why is my pinky responsible for all four arrows
while my index finger gets 4 keys that are already elsewhere, if not possible with only ONE key, /-+*...

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: keyb_gr on Tue, 06 October 2009, 05:39:59

Virtually all of my boards are beige or a variation thereof, only a few are light grey. Light beige is just about perfect for keys, it makes for good lettering contrast and hides wear well while still being easy on the eyes. (The nod for best readability would probably have to go to old G81 keys, which are more white than beige. It's a very close call though. In any case all of my two-shot molded and dye sublimated keys are miles ahead of those with other types of lettering.) The current Cherry light grey is not light enough IMO.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 06 October 2009, 13:13:01

They are not evenly matched.  One has all their keys.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Tue, 06 October 2009, 13:18:36

Wow, I didn't know Legos had a*sholes.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: o2dazone on Tue, 06 October 2009, 18:55:16

looks like that lego ass has some unicrud on it

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 07 October 2009, 07:24:29

That poor kid at the top looks like he's a little constipated, and, uh, I didn't know apples pooped.  Guess what I'm not eating anymore.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 07 October 2009, 10:01:49

Do you mind loaning it to me?  I think I need a refresher.  Do they have it in an audiobook?

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: AndrewZorn on Wed, 07 October 2009, 18:28:39

Bob Rehahn (http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Bob_Rehahn) might be able to help you out on that one
it's just for fun though

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: pfink on Wed, 07 October 2009, 19:15:46

Quote from: roaduck;120809

What colour keyboards do you use and why?

I've pretty much settled on the Model M Space Saver as my main keyboard but the beige was getting pretty old, so:

Model M Space Saver - Black

(http://www.soybomb.com/ratpfink/keyboards/SpaceSaverBlack-800.jpg)

Model M Space Saver - Camo

(http://www.soybomb.com/ratpfink/keyboards/SpaceSaverCamo-800.jpg)

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: itlnstln on Thu, 08 October 2009, 07:43:52

Both of those are insane, pfink.  How did you paint the cases like that?

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: pfink on Thu, 08 October 2009, 08:16:33

Quote from: itlnstln;123854

Both of those are insane, pfink.  How did you paint the cases like that?

The details on the black one are here:

Model M Space Saver Makeover (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:6759)

The camo started out as this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260477208501

I picked it up cheap because it was filthy, had missing keys and had been written on with a Sharpie. It cleaned up nicely and I was able to scrounge up the missing keys and decided to paint the case to cover up the Sharpie markings.

This time I used Krylon Camouflage with Fusion instead of Dupli-Color Vinyl Coating:

http://www.krylon.com/products/camouflage_paint_with_fusion_technology/

Originally it was entirely olive drab, as I was going for a Model M Industrial look, however the color wasn't quite right so I decided to go full camo. I just drew a pattern on paper and then masked off the case with gentle painters tape between each color. The Krylon dries pretty quickly so you only need to wait an hour or so between colors.

Title: What Colour are your keyboards?
Post by: JaccoW on Thu, 08 October 2009, 17:17:45

My current keyboard is a G15 v1, so black with a silver plate.
I would have liked to spray that black, but since the keyboard is slowly failing I am looking for something different.

btw pfink, that Model M with the beige keys and black case looks pretty good too:

Quote

Show Image

(http://www.soybomb.com/ratpfink/keyboards/BlackSpaceSaver1-sm.jpg)