geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: ocdonkb on Fri, 16 October 2009, 01:07:34
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I've been on my Filco brown for some time now, loving it. However I find myself bottoming out almost all the time - this is my first mechnical kb, so I think it's because I've gotten so used to rubber-dome's, and it's just how I type.
So my question is, how can I train myself to not bottom out? If anyone's got specific tips I'd love to hear it... I've been train to hit the keys lighter but it's very tiring because you're constantly trying to hold yourself back.
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i have a very similar issue with the browns. i'm a naturally heavy-handed typist. i spent about 3 weeks trying to adjust, but i still plow right through the tactile point and all the way to the bottom.
i grew up on much heavier alps switches, and more recently used the ibm model m. i love strong tactile feedback... it's possible i'm just too deeply connected to that idea, to quickly learn a new habit.
not that any of that helps, but at least you have company :)
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I actually used my Filco for a while there, w/o realizing there is a tactile point.... then I saw a few Cherry force charts on here and was quite surprised the key actuated about 1/2 to 2/3 way on the down stroke. that's when i realized that i wasn't using my Filco as efficiently as possible.
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there have been a few times when i've had a real sense of the tactile point, and have been able to use it...
for me, it feels *very* close to the top of the stroke, just a tiny bit of resistance like i'm typing on the surface of water, barely breaking the surface tension before gently pulling my fingers back out.
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IMO, you just have to let it happen. The key is not to try to not bottom out*, per se, it's more about learning to type lighter. As your touch gets lighter, you start to naturally not bottom out. I still bottom out from time to time, but it's not very often, and when I do, it's not very hard.
*Trying to not bottom out was very fatiguing for me and caused me wrist pain.
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It's a delicate balancing act of applying enough, but not too much force, and each kind of switch is different.
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It's a delicate balancing act of applying enough, but not too much force, and each kind of switch is different.
This. What I have found, though, is that the lighter I get, the harder it is for me to use heavier switches.
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Most people get heavier as they get older.
hahaha... sadly this is true, in many respects. :)
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This. What I have found, though, is that the lighter I get, the harder it is for me to use heavier switches.
Once one has acclimated to a lighter switch, one cannot but post higher speeds on it than on a heavier switch that one was previously acclimated to, assuming one is putting out the same wattage on both switches. Fair statement?
If so, that would explain why the best endorsement I've seen of blue Cherrys vis-a-vis browns is that they are "fun" or "a blast", never that they are faster.
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IMO, you just have to let it happen. The key is not to try to not bottom out*, per se, it's more about learning to type lighter. As your touch gets lighter, you start to naturally not bottom out. I still bottom out from time to time, but it's not very often, and when I do, it's not very hard.
*Trying to not bottom out was very fatiguing for me and caused me wrist pain.
What he said. Don't aim to stop bottoming out. Just stop aiming to bottom out.
I suspect this (http://mykeyboard.co.uk/keyswitches/) guy is right too:
I hypothesize that direct spinal circuits can be formed to deal with relaxing upon encountering tactile feedback - based on existing withdraw-on-finger-prick circuitry.
Don't copy Bart.
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Someone said here that many of the fastest typists these days do so on scissor switch 'boards as they have a shorter throw. I wouldn't know, because I neither type fast nor accurately.
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They are faster. Much, much, much faster. I typed that all in 150WPM.
You couldn't have typed that fast. All your letters came out in the correct order.
Liar.
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Lair.
That I am.
Wait, what?
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If I make you laugh out loud at work someday can I get you fired?
Fortunately, no. I work for one of the only "liberal" companies I know of, at least in retail (CostCo being another). This is especially weird in TX. It takes a lot to get canned around here. Sometimes, this is rather unfortunate.
Of course I'm easily amused. I even find the title of this post funny - sounds like a Health Department Warning.
I was thinking the same thing, but I try to keep it mature in pubic.
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Someone said here that many of the fastest typists these days do so on scissor switch 'boards as they have a shorter throw.
I think this is unfortunately true. I am not a speedy gonzales by any means (~70 with delusions of 85), but I type several shades faster on my Macbook than on the SMK-88. I am consistently at least 5wpm slower on the mechanical keyboard. Yes, I am mortified by this -- I want the mechanical to be faster as I enjoy its feel more, but the numbers don't lie.
Oh well, the mechanical is probably more healthy. I don't know if brown Cherrys will let me pull even with the Macbook, but if it does so at the cost of feeling exactly like the Macbook, then I will stick to the slower speed of the blues.
(Similar observations hold in other arenas -- like bicycles. There is a strong and knowledgeable "steel is real" contingent, even though everyone knows in their heart that steel bikes can never be as fast as aluminum, let alone titanium or carbon. There hasn't been a single steel bike on the Tour de France for many years now.)
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Don't worry, the browns will feel nothing like your MacBook. In fact, in my limited testing, I found the browns to feel very simiar to the blues. The blues were a little stiffer and had a slightly different tactile feel, but for all intents and purposes, the blues were just like the browns but with a click.
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Don't worry, the browns will feel nothing like your MacBook. In fact, in my limited testing, I found the browns to feel very simiar to the blues. The blues were a little stiffer and had a slightly different tactile feel, but for all intents and purposes, the blues were just like the browns but with a click.
I find the downward movement of the click-slider to add to the tactility of the blues, but I don't mind typing on the browns much either.
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IMO, you just have to let it happen. The key is not to try to not bottom out*, per se, it's more about learning to type lighter. As your touch gets lighter, you start to naturally not bottom out. I still bottom out from time to time, but it's not very often, and when I do, it's not very hard.
*Trying to not bottom out was very fatiguing for me and caused me wrist pain.
I agree with this completely. But I had a hard time letting it happen on the Browns it took typing on a Topre before it finally happened for me.
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IMO, you just have to let it happen. The key is not to try to not bottom out*, per se, it's more about learning to type lighter. As your touch gets lighter, you start to naturally not bottom out. I still bottom out from time to time, but it's not very often, and when I do, it's not very hard.
*Trying to not bottom out was very fatiguing for me and caused me wrist pain.
Very true. If it happens it happens. If you bottomed out, it's not the end of the world. Keep in mind that switching keyboard may take some time go back to not bottoming out on the other keyboard. I've said it in the past, while I'm getting better, it does not mean that I don't bottom out at all. During the same typing session, some keys will be bottomed out whereas others won't. The trick is to learn how not to bottom out with huge force when you do bottom out. But don't sweat on it.
Not bottoming out is the hardest on buckling spring for me.
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I agree with this completely. But I had a hard time letting it happen on the Browns it took typing on a Topre before it finally happened for me.
The brown may take some time getting used to. I got better because I gradually moved to lighter keys. That said, maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, telling me that I am getting better at not bottom out :-)
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I hypothesize that direct spinal circuits can be formed to deal with relaxing upon encountering tactile feedback - based on existing withdraw-on-finger-prick circuitry.
Indeed that would be the only way that could possibly happen unless you were a very slow typist. The round trip from your finger tips to the brain and back is not fast enough to account for a quick reaction at your fingertips in response to stimuli.
Well, actually there is another way and that's to simply adapt to making a shorter stroke so that you don't need to rely on a reflex each time to produce the correct stroke length.
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Someone said here that many of the fastest typists these days do so on scissor switch 'boards as they have a shorter throw. I wouldn't know, because I neither type fast nor accurately.
I'd have to say this is true for me personally. Typing notes in class on a laptop I can consistently type 120wpm+, but on a real keyboard I generally top out around 100wpm or so before I start having typos.
As an aside, I found myself to be equally fast on Cherry Blues as Cherry Browns. Thought I'd be faster on the Browns (it certainly FEELS faster). Your mileage may vary, obviously.
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Seriously, there have been multiple posts here about Blue Cherries at least feeling faster because it's easy to get in a rhythm while typing and then you can fly (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=7472). Of course there are just as many posts saying Browns are faster, or Topres are faster, or Buckling Springs results in fewer errors (which is just as important).
I can see wisdom to all of those. One problem I've developed now that I'm typing on Cherry Browns is I have increased key transposition errors. It's not from the board screwing up. If I'm really tired, I have a hard time keeping focused enough to type in the correct order because I make a lot of accidental keystrokes. I sometimes know I'm about to reach for the wrong key right as I reach for it, but I can't stop in time before a keystroke is registered.
With a good night's sleep and rested hands, I don't have this problem. I'm curious if a slightly heavier switch might actually improve my overall accuracy.
That said, the only way I can use the significantly heavier switches I was using now is by conciously bottoming out or my fingers sort of bounce off of the key. :(
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One problem I've developed now that I'm typing on Cherry Browns is I have increased key transposition errors. It's not from the board screwing up. If I'm really tired, I have a hard time keeping focused enough to type in the correct order because I make a lot of accidental keystrokes. I sometimes know I'm about to reach for the wrong key right as I reach for it, but I can't stop in time before a keystroke is registered.
I can relate to this. Happens to me too on typeracer.com on my Cherry Brown. Those "accidental" strokes don't register as often on my mushy MS Natural kb... where as the smooth Brown catches them fairly easily.
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Wow, Ron Mingo's amazing! How well I remember typing on a manual typewriter and I too used rhythym; in fact I can proudly say I competed at state and took speed @ 120 WPM. There at times I'd rather use a manual or a selectric considering my options.
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Wow, Ron Mingo's amazing! How well I remember typing on a manual typewriter and I too used rhythym; in fact I can proudly say I competed at state and took speed @ 120 WPM. There at times I'd rather use a manual or a selectric considering my options.
There's something that's extremely satisfying about feeling the typeplate thud against paper.
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I can see wisdom to all of those. One problem I've developed now that I'm typing on Cherry Browns is I have increased key transposition errors. It's not from the board screwing up. If I'm really tired, I have a hard time keeping focused enough to type in the correct order because I make a lot of accidental keystrokes. I sometimes know I'm about to reach for the wrong key right as I reach for it, but I can't stop in time before a keystroke is registered.
This happens a lot to me. My accuracy sucks. I think faster than I type, so I end up typing one word before I finish the previous one. That, and I also have a bad habit of going "dyslexic" on my keystrokes.
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I can see wisdom to all of those. One problem I've developed now that I'm typing on Cherry Browns is I have increased key transposition errors. It's not from the board screwing up. If I'm really tired, I have a hard time keeping focused enough to type in the correct order because I make a lot of accidental keystrokes. I sometimes know I'm about to reach for the wrong key right as I reach for it, but I can't stop in time before a keystroke is registered.
With a good night's sleep and rested hands, I don't have this problem. I'm curious if a slightly heavier switch might actually improve my overall accuracy.
That said, the only way I can use the significantly heavier switches I was using now is by conciously bottoming out or my fingers sort of bounce off of the key. :(
I know what you mean. I played a lot of speedtest every day, and there are times when I know that my score will be bad because I'm too tired. My accuracy will be very very bad. And like you said, a good night sleep helps a lot.
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Buy the New Das S. The controller now has a "auto correction" feature.
DoubleDogDareYa.
Anybody know where I can find a used DAS II? It seems that the second version of the keyboard looked and worked better than the current version.
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Gee, get a Das III S on ebay for nearly $300. That's absurd.
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Anybody know where I can find a used DAS II? It seems that the second version of the keyboard looked and worked better than the current version.
Just get a G80-3000 with blue switches; it's the same thing. The Das IIs were just rebranded G80-3000s.
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cant really find any g80-3000s myself either... if you froogle, you get a bunch of white ones for around $60 sloppily listed on some sites.
because of my incessant bottoming out (or is it just because they are higher weighted?) i definitely type faster on my brown cherry filco than i do on my hhkb. a real shame.
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Everybody has a switch they type fastest with. Unfortuately, it's not uncommon for it to be different than the switch whose feel you like the best.
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cant really find any g80-3000s myself either... if you froogle, you get a bunch of white ones for around $60 sloppily listed on some sites.
because of my incessant bottoming out (or is it just because they are higher weighted?) i definitely type faster on my brown cherry filco than i do on my hhkb. a real shame.
You can check geminicomputers.com. They usually have the black ones with Chinese characters on them. If they don't have it in stock, they can order it. I bought two from them. The first one was in stock, but the second one they custom ordered it at not extra charge.
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Everybody has a switch they type fastest with. Unfortuately, it's not uncommon for it to be different than the switch whose feel you like the best.
True. I'm fastest on my blue Cherries.
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cant really find any g80-3000s myself either... if you froogle, you get a bunch of white ones for around $60 sloppily listed on some sites.
because of my incessant bottoming out (or is it just because they are higher weighted?) i definitely type faster on my brown cherry filco than i do on my hhkb. a real shame.
If you're bottoming out on both, why would you be faster on the one rather than the other? Is it because the browns have a shorter throw? (Do they?)
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i meant to say that i cant help bottoming out on the topre switches, but i can easily avoid it on the cherry and thus type faster
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wow i thought the topre was higher
and it feels MUCH higher
topre feels like trudging through the snow after i type on my brown cherries
which is like skipping in the grass
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oh well it goes without saying that it is the finest snow ever made, created by the gods themselves
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oh well it goes without saying that it is the finest snow ever made, created by the gods themselves
Tony Montana might disagree.
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Tony Montana might disagree.
Or his lovely wife Elvira. Or that wealthy Bolivian "businessman" Alejandro Sosa :)
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both cockaroaches
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You can check geminicomputers.com. They usually have the black ones with Chinese characters on them. If they don't have it in stock, they can order it.
Not sure if I'm just not looking for the right thing... but currently on their site:
http://www.geminicomputersinc.com/hardware-cherry-electrical-products.html
I don't see any g80-3000's. And how much did yours cost? If you don't mind me asking. I'd really like to try Cherry blue, but looking for the cheaper route(I know iOne Scorpious is $50, but its build quality seem questionable?).
Thanks.
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Not sure if I'm just not looking for the right thing... but currently on their site:
http://www.geminicomputersinc.com/hardware-cherry-electrical-products.html
I don't see any g80-3000's. And how much did yours cost? If you don't mind me asking. I'd really like to try Cherry blue, but looking for the cheaper route(I know iOne Scorpious is $50, but its build quality seem questionable?).
Thanks.
I've had my Scorpius about 6 months, and have yet to have an issue with it.
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Here's a link to the same keyboard from Totalbarcode.com:
http://www.totalbarcode.com/part-number/G80-3000LSCRC-2.html
This is the one for Gemini:
http://www.geminicomputersinc.com/g80-3000lscrc-2.html
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i was about to paste the same thing, because i keep seeing it, and apparently it has been referenced before
http://www.totalbarcode.com/part-number/G80-3000LSCRC-2.html?src=TBGB
is this legit? $60 for a g80-3000?
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For that specific model number, yes. Remember, though, it has both (US) English and Chinese legends, so you may want to take that into consideration before buying one. O2dazone has a good pic of one of these in the Keyboard pics thread. Ripster thinks Cherry may have had some overstock on this model, and they are trying to push them through their distributors at a good price. It sound good to me, and several folks here have them, and they like them. One persion didn't like the Chinese characters, IIRC, but they still liked the 'board overall.
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i dont mind the characters...
but this keyboard is 'the' famed G80-3000, that's so hard to find, etc etc etc but it is $60 and available?
EDIT okay maybe not actually available, but looking at the thread, it looks like this IS the one and the price is NOT that crazy, but now i really want one
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This is the one. The only other G80-3000 that I know of is the one Datacal sells with browns and caps with regular, US legends. That's the one I have, and I paid $100 for it using an "education" discount a sales rep from Datacal extended to us at the time.
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A lot of these POS outfits
Any pun intended, ripster?
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are these fairly consistently stocked?
im already carrying TWO keyboards home in a bag that is supposed to fit in an airport box
so should i try to start buying now and get it mailed home, or just wait a few months?
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They should be. I think the one at totalbarcode is in-stock, IIRC.
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They should be. I think the one at totalbarcode is in-stock, IIRC.
I just called totalbarcode, sadly, these are back ordered.
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I just called totalbarcode, sadly, these are back ordered.
ripster can't wait to say "Told you so!"
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I like the analogy but at least in a bow to Patrick I think of it as that fine Canadian Rocky powder stuff.
I've yet to ski once in my life.
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I've yet to ski once in my life.
I'll pass on that myself. If I ever see snow again, it'll be too soon. Actually, it might even be next month when I go to Chicago for Thanksgiving.