Resistance is futile

[keyb_gr]

The keyboard that's particularly stubborn here is the good ol' Model M. It needs a dedicated place on the desk (just too heavy to lug around much), which is why my secondary machines have more lightweight and compact boards these days, and of course it's quite noisy, but for me it remains unmatched in "precision input device" feel. Hard to beat if you're a little motorically challenged, with both key feel and high keycaps contributing their part (not to forget the high-contrast lettering).

Boards with Cherry clear and blue switches have come close, but ultimately were unable to displace the mighty IBM. They make nice work and tertiary machine boards now (the secondary machine is on black Cherry board diet). The clears aren't too bad in terms of force and not too noisy but have slightly short effective key travel, the blues are very precise but on the light side of things so I bottom them out hard, and the blacks are nice for key mashing and fairly quiet but somewhat tiring for typing (a well-abused board helps somewhat).

[megarat]

I seem to  keep gravitating back to Alps.  Specifically white Alps.  Specifically the SGI 9500801/041-0136-001 keyboards.  Unfortunately these keyboards are proprietary for the SGI Indigo and Onyx computers, so they won't work on modern equipment.  Only recently did I come to the blinding realization that my adventures in Keyboardland have really been an attempt to resurrect the Indigo keyboard for a modern computing environment.  Hence my project of creating a chimera out of the Filco and SGI boards.

That said, buckling springs seems to be a good stand-in, in that I can use BS keyboards quite contentedly and not pine for something else.  So perhaps I have two global optima.  Or perhaps BS is really the one true switch for me, and I quixotically chase after the Indigo keyboard out of nostalgia.

One other constant preference, although it's irrelevant to switches:  I strongly prefer (or perhaps even need) compact keyboards.  (Where "compact" = "tenkeyless or equivalent".)  The increased reach-distance caused by a full-sized keyboard can give me a gnarly case of "mouse elbow".

[patrickgeekhack]

I seem to  keep gravitating back to Alps.  Specifically white Alps.  Specifically the SGI 9500801/041-0136-001 keyboards.  Unfortunately these keyboards are proprietary for the SGI Indigo and Onyx computers, so they won't work on modern equipment.  Only recently did I come to the blinding realization that my adventures in Keyboardland have really been an attempt to resurrect the Indigo keyboard for a modern computing environment.  Hence my project of creating a chimera out of the Filco and SGI boards.

That said, buckling springs seems to be a good stand-in, in that I can use BS keyboards quite contentedly and not pine for something else.  So perhaps I have two global optima.  Or perhaps BS is really the one true switch for me, and I quixotically chase after the Indigo keyboard out of nostalgia.

One other constant preference, although it's irrelevant to switches:  I strongly prefer (or perhaps even need) compact keyboards.  (Where "compact" = "tenkeyless or equivalent".)  The increased reach-distance caused by a full-sized keyboard can give me a gnarly case of "mouse elbow".

Mouse elbow is what is making me consider the possible acquisition of a tenkeyless.  I never thought I would say this one day.

[megarat]

My son is the same.  The problem is he does it while I am doing something.  He just turned one recently but was interested in the laptops he saw and the keyboards since he was about 7 to 8 months.  I usually am working on my laptop when he sees me.  So my G84-4100 is what he usually pounds on.  I just disconnect it before he pounds on it to make sure he doesn't accidentally delete anything I am working on or change my computer settings.  While on my lap I can still type on the laptop keyboard while he goes at it with the G84.  I also however have an ASUS netbook, he pounded on the keys, the keys stopped working properly.  Good thing it was under warranty.  ASUS replaced the netbook's keyboard.

This sounds like a universal problem.  One night, my wife accidentally left her work laptop on the floor (open!), so when our laptop-crazy one-year-old son found it (unsupervised), he left a techno-carcass in his wake.

It wasn't under warranty, but since it was two years old (the institute's life expectancy for laptops), it was replaced by her workplace w/o any grumbling.

Here are the involved parties, during better days:

[rdjack21]

I seem to  keep gravitating back to Alps.  Specifically white Alps.  Specifically the SGI 9500801/041-0136-001 keyboards.  Unfortunately these keyboards are proprietary for the SGI Indigo and Onyx computers, so they won't work on modern equipment.  Only recently did I come to the blinding realization that my adventures in Keyboardland have really been an attempt to resurrect the Indigo keyboard for a modern computing environment.  Hence my project of creating a chimera out of the Filco and SGI boards.

That said, buckling springs seems to be a good stand-in, in that I can use BS keyboards quite contentedly and not pine for something else.  So perhaps I have two global optima.  Or perhaps BS is really the one true switch for me, and I quixotically chase after the Indigo keyboard out of nostalgia.

One other constant preference, although it's irrelevant to switches:  I strongly prefer (or perhaps even need) compact keyboards.  (Where "compact" = "tenkeyless or equivalent".)  The increased reach-distance caused by a full-sized keyboard can give me a gnarly case of "mouse elbow".

Just wondering if you have tried a Northgate OmniKey? If not check this site: http://www.northgate-keyboard-repair.com/

I got a Siig MiniTouch new in the box from them great service. But I'm not really happy with the Siig MiniTouch though the key action is a little to heavy for me. I guess I've gotten to used to lighter boards. At some point I'm going to get around to putting it up for sale because I don't use it. Shoot I only typed on it for a couple of hours before I put it back in the box. I really think that is the main reason I have not sold it off yet. I just feel I owe it another chance before I sell it. Because it is a very nice board.

[lal]

[family pic with laptop]

Looks like an X60 with 8 cell battery.  Nice.  I'm writing this on the exact same machine now.  Keyboard sucks, though

[lowpoly]

German television...
Remember, this is a country where David Hasselhoff stormed the charts. This country is full of evil! Although you haven't lived until you saw The Blues Brothers in German.

I have that.

[rdjack21]

Oh come on where are the Knight rider pics

[o2dazone]

I kind of wish David Hasselhoff died before he made a comeback Now all good memories of him have been washed away

[o2dazone]

with Tupac

[bigpook]

and Biggie

[rdjack21]

I was going to add Elvis but then I remembered he was abducted by space aliens

[megarat]

I was going to add Elvis but then I remembered he was abducted by space aliens

Didn't you see "Bubba Ho-Tep"?  Elvis is fighting mummies somewhere in Texas.  Which is what I expect MJ to be doing in about twenty years.

[megarat]

Just wondering if you have tried a Northgate OmniKey? If not check this site: http://www.northgate-keyboard-repair.com/

I got a Siig MiniTouch new in the box from them great service. But I'm not really happy with the Siig MiniTouch though the key action is a little to heavy for me. I guess I've gotten to used to lighter boards. At some point I'm going to get around to putting it up for sale because I don't use it. Shoot I only typed on it for a couple of hours before I put it back in the box. I really think that is the main reason I have not sold it off yet. I just feel I owe it another chance before I sell it. Because it is a very nice board.

Nice, thanks for the referral.  I've been passingly familiar with the OmniKey family, but never got that interested because of the layout -- I'm not that down with J-shaped or double-row enter keys.  That said, I think the Zenith is pretty awesome, in a moby-retro kind of way.  (Pity the enter key, although it doesn't look as obnoxious as some of the others.)

[rdjack21]

Nice, thanks for the referral.  I've been passingly familiar with the OmniKey family, but never got that interested because of the layout -- I'm not that down with J-shaped or double-row enter keys.  That said, I think the Zenith is pretty awesome, in a moby-retro kind of way.  (Pity the enter key, although it doesn't look as obnoxious as some of the others.)

The Omni Key 101 has the Model M layout with White Alps. I think it even has the real Alps in it as well.

Yea I've been looking at those Zenith keyboards for awhile now. I've seen them on EBay with Blue, Yellow and Orange sliders in them. But then there is the grand daddy of them all the Z-100 keyboard which I really want mostly for the key caps. I really like those cupped keys. I'm just not sure if they will fit on a modern Alps board.

[itlnstln]

The Omni Key 101 has the Model M layout with White Alps. I think it even has the real Alps in it as well.
 
Yea I've been looking at those Zenith keyboards for awhile now. I've seen them on EBay with Blue, Yellow and Orange sliders in them. But then there is the grand daddy of them all the Z-100 keyboard which I really want mostly for the key caps. I really like those cupped keys. I'm just not sure if they will fit on a modern Alps board.

Northgates all have real Alps.  I am not sure if that is the case for the CVT Avant Prime, though.  The older ones might, but I doubt they do these days (if they are still in production).

[vils]

Death is always a good career move for a musician.  

I think MJ is really alive and holed up in Argentina collecting royalties.  The public is so gullible.

But he and Tupac still lives on cat food, not much left of the royalties when Hoffa have collected the union taxes.

[ricercar]

Didn't you see "Bubba Ho-Tep"?  Elvis is fighting mummies somewhere in Texas.  Which is what I expect MJ to be doing in about twenty years.

Michael Jackson, L Ron Hubbard, Elvis, John Lennon, and Kurt Cobain are playing basketball somewhere.

[o2dazone]

how did L Ron Hubbard get in there?

[zwmalone]

resistance is futile

no it isn't, it's about 55g... :rofl:

[patrickgeekhack]

no it isn't, it's about 55g... :rofl:

Good one :-)

[wellington1869]

Kraftwerk undoubtedly has been highly influential.  Today their music sounds boring though, IMHO.  Electronic music evolved quite a bit in the last decades.

rammstein did a _kick-ass_ version of kraftwerk's 'das modell' -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7C6W0M5ME0

so germans can improve germans

here's the original - sounds pretty wimpy in comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdZDhpkDziE

[wellington1869]

In 20 years the original will still be played in influence others, while the Rammstein version will have withered and died as a contemporary byproduct.

I dont know about that; bob dylan is pretty timeless, but when people want to hear 'all along the watchtower', its jimi hendrix they put on the turntable.
When I want to hear the kink's classic 'you really got me', its van halen that I click on.

kudos to kraftwerk for being original, but as with any product, in music too, being original doesnt mean being the best, does it?

Besides the two versions of das modell are also aimed at very different audiences. Hard rock fans would never have considered kraftwerk music in the first place, and vice versa probably. I doubt they ever will. So some "remakes" are as much a work of translation rather than mere mimicry. For the new audience, it is the translation that will hit home, not the original.

[wellington1869]

Ah Van Halen. Now I understand

I actually read somewhere that after hendrix's version of watchtower came out, dylan himself began doing hendrix's version at his own concerts

[megarat]

how did L Ron Hubbard get in there?

He had faked his death once, just about a year before he "actually died".

[lal]

rammstein did a _kick-ass_ version of kraftwerk's 'das modell' -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7C6W0M5ME0

Blargh... I gotta puke... :puke:

[wellington1869]

Blargh... I gotta puke... :puke:

lol! My brother in law introduced me to rammstein, I rather like them

One of their funniest songs ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9EksAo5hY

[lal]

lol! My brother in law introduced me to rammstein, I rather like them

One of their funniest songs ever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9EksAo5hY

Please stop it! Here, take this!  Fine German Electro-Punk.  This is cool, too

[wellington1869]

Please stop it! Here, take this!  Fine German Electro-Punk.  This is cool, too

lol! kind of like an electronica version of sex pistols