Model M discussion on Slashdot

[ashort]

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/29/1334258

Always interesting to see the viewpoints of people who would bounce their fingertips off cement all day long.

My favorite comment so far:  

"Sometimes I channel the BOFH, and these cheap plastic Dell deals just don't hold up to the abuse..."

[xsphat]

Posted a thread on MacNN right when I got my HHKB Pro 2 with pictures and everything. The next two comments went something like:

"What is it? What's so big about it?"

and:

"It appears to be a keyboard."

I have since only visited the setup pictures area on that site.

[djones]

most people just don't care about keyboards, I guess everyone has their own obsessions. Aside from keyboards, which is a recent obsession for me, I've been obsessed with writing instruments since grade school, I doubt most of you care about pens/pencils all that much

[ashort]

I was never interested in more than how they looked until I was diagnosed with Tenosing tenosynovitis.

[xsphat]

djones, I'm a writer so the keyboard thing is a natural extension of my own pen / notebook craze. I still have so many Moleskines I keep just in case I want to start writing with a pen again.

[Eclairz]

I've always held a fascination for good writing tools, but that was probably cos i was into graphics and art where these are the basic utensils to get you on your way. I would never spend money on a super expensive refillable pen though but i loved gel ink's smoothness and barrels and pen mechanisms.

[Waves77]

My favorite comment so far:  

"Sometimes I channel the BOFH, and these cheap plastic Dell deals just don't hold up to the abuse..."

Classic!

I seem to recall that /. was the first time I heard of the model M btw... sounded like something I had been looking for a while, and sure was glad when I got my first one (still my favorite).

[2097]

"Pounding on cement?" A lot of the comments were very reasonable, discussing bottoming out or not, and distinguishing between audible and tactile feedback, and even using the more correct description "dome" rather than "membrane".

I've been reading geekhack for a week or so (and a lot of the archives) since I was looking for a way to get a HHK pro 2 (one is on its way from BeNippon now, thanks!) and it's been bugging me to no end how you always rag on "membrane switches", even though most of you know that the switches aren't always what determines the key action. It's not the capacitance switch that makes the HHK pro so good (at least I hope it is - mine will be here in a week or so), it's the little spring. It's not membranes that makes most keyboards so horrible, it's that all that's between you and that membrane is a rubber dome.

Another thing, while I'm on the topic of generalizing about forums like some of you like to do about /. and the mac forums - what's up with some of you wanting to bottom out? Then what's the point of having tactile feedback in the first place, if you're still going all the way down?

That said, this is a very neat little forum and wiki, and I've found many nuggets of information and personal opinion here. Always fun to read about people's setups.

2097

[iMav]

good points 2097.  People have become lazy in their terminology, and you are right to bring it up.  

I think part of the problem is simply that we like to refer to keyboards by their unique switch characteristic(s).  For the Model M it's the buckling spring, for the mechanical switch keyboards (alps, cherry, strongman) it's the switch itself, etc.  

In almost all cases, when someone here says "membrane keyboard" they mean rubber dome + membrane.  After all, the Model M uses membrane switches and we certainly don't want to confuse those with the mushy crap that passes for a keyboard these days.

Also, we often refer to keyboards by the part that provides that feedback/feel (mech. switch, buckling spring, etc)...and with most dome+membrane keyboards, the dome provides little feedback and all you get is that mushy feel as you actuate the membrane switch at the bottom of the keystroke.  Of course, as you rightly pointed out, this is not always suitable either, since with the HHKB pro, it is the combination of the sliding mechanism and the coil spring that provides the feel/feedback (certainly not the capacitive switch!).

I try not to get too legalistic about it (even though that goes against my nature).  

[ashort]

When I hear "membrane" keyboard, I think of my my Apple wireless keyboard.  Looks nice, will register keystrokes every time.  No wire.  That's IT.  It is like tapping cement with your fingers because the bottoming out is the only feedback you get when press a key.  In that respect, it is a horrible keyboard.

I take back what I said about tapping cement...it was unfair to /. and was in reference to the idiot who started the "Fanboism" subthread on that post.  I've re-read the comments and almost all of it is from people who've been there and done that, and have good things to say.  I was a little surprised to see Unicomp get the press that it got in that thread.  It was also in part a swipe at ME a year ago.  when I loved my Apple Wireless keyboard because it looked so good.  Still looks good, but I never use it.  When my left hand started malfunctioning, I learned quickly why.

[xsphat]

I am guilty of calling things by their most important part, and I think I probably still will on this site. We should talk to our wives by referring to them by their best parts, now that could be thread-worthy

[2097]

I'm glad no-one reacted negatively to my somewhat harsh first geekhack post.

I haven't read /. in years and I only discovered the keyboard thread from it's link from here. As far as I could tell, the "fanboism" comment was heavily down-moderated.

[bhtooefr]

You know, almost everyone that I've loaned a Model M to, I've... had difficulty getting it back.

(And, I nearly loaned my trusty 1993 1391401 to a friend. Luckily, I think she knew she would steal the thing, and refused it. )

[bpiphany]

Necro!! =D

I feel ashamed when I see a grown up man say things like "...a sharp drop at the actuation point at around 2/3 - 3/4 way down the..."

Don't you have anything better to do with your life than yammering away on the minute details of a keyboard? I have both an M and an F that I picked up at goodwill for nothing 15 years ago and for the first time yesterday I googled about them and found 'enthusiast' (here an euphemism for retarded) websites where idiots bounce off the walls telling each other about the orgasms per second they have when using them. And 'using' is an overstatement with 90% of those morons. Most are busy opening them, cleaning the last atom of dirt off them, 'restoring' what doesn't need any restoration, 'upgrading', thinking of names for them, 'modding', taking photos, showing them off, in general jerking off about the clicky sensations and the superb accuracy of their typing and other general uber-dorkiness. What I never found there was anything useful to do with them, ie. actually program a computer.

Go type 'messenger lectures' in youtube and see what smart people look like, then kill yourself disassembling your One True Keyboard(TM) for the nth time and swallowing all the buckling springs.

And then mail one of your remaining model Fs to me.

[daerid]

What a tool

[fohat.digs]

Necro!! =D

I feel ashamed when I see a grown up man say things like "...a sharp drop at the actuation point at around 2/3 - 3/4 way down the..."

Don't you have anything better to do with your life than yammering away on the minute details of a keyboard? I have both an M and an F that I picked up at goodwill for nothing 15 years ago and for the first time yesterday I googled about them and found 'enthusiast' (here an euphemism for retarded) websites where idiots bounce off the walls telling each other about the orgasms per second they have when using them. And 'using' is an overstatement with 90% of those morons. Most are busy opening them, cleaning the last atom of dirt off them, 'restoring' what doesn't need any restoration, 'upgrading', thinking of names for them, 'modding', taking photos, showing them off, in general jerking off about the clicky sensations and the superb accuracy of their typing and other general uber-dorkiness. What I never found there was anything useful to do with them, ie. actually program a computer.

Go type 'messenger lectures' in youtube and see what smart people look like, then kill yourself disassembling your One True Keyboard(TM) for the nth time and swallowing all the buckling springs.

And then mail one of your remaining model Fs to me.

Thank you so much for posting this masterpiece of editorialization.

Always good to keep our interests in perspective.

[bazemk1979]

Necro!! =D

I feel ashamed when I see a grown up man say things like "...a sharp drop at the actuation point at around 2/3 - 3/4 way down the..."

Don't you have anything better to do with your life than yammering away on the minute details of a keyboard? I have both an M and an F that I picked up at goodwill for nothing 15 years ago and for the first time yesterday I googled about them and found 'enthusiast' (here an euphemism for retarded) websites where idiots bounce off the walls telling each other about the orgasms per second they have when using them. And 'using' is an overstatement with 90% of those morons. Most are busy opening them, cleaning the last atom of dirt off them, 'restoring' what doesn't need any restoration, 'upgrading', thinking of names for them, 'modding', taking photos, showing them off, in general jerking off about the clicky sensations and the superb accuracy of their typing and other general uber-dorkiness. What I never found there was anything useful to do with them, ie. actually program a computer.

Go type 'messenger lectures' in youtube and see what smart people look like, then kill yourself disassembling your One True Keyboard(TM) for the nth time and swallowing all the buckling springs.

And then mail one of your remaining model Fs to me.

This one made me laugh, this dude got some dark sense of humor