clicky "microsoft desktop keyboard"?

[bhtooefr]

For the first time families are hopping in their ambassadors and touring the country on their own. (As opposed to hopping on the fantastic railway network the British left behind).

Hrm, that's moving in the wrong direction, IMO, with fuel use. Rail has much, much better per passenger fuel economy than any car. And, when we're talking about a finite resource... (In fact, I think the US needs to strengthen its rail network, so that we can tour much of the country without ever getting in a car, if we want to.)

[wellington1869]

Hrm, that's moving in the wrong direction, IMO, with fuel use. Rail has much, much better per passenger fuel economy than any car. And, when we're talking about a finite resource... (In fact, I think the US needs to strengthen its rail network, so that we can tour much of the country without ever getting in a car, if we want to.)

I know, I'm ambivalent about it too. I mean on the one hand they did need a national highway network. ON the other hand traffic is going to explode now.
I also agree that the new "nano" car they're producing is the wrong idea. They have a chance to leapfrog oil-based technologies and go directly to something greener.
Honestly its a national security issue as much as an ecological issue. Today green technology is one of those rare things that can actually appeal to both right and left, as a result.

[wellington1869]

(I'll note that I've never used marijuana, but I do support people's right to choose what enters their bodies, and therefore support legalization. Add in the fact that all evidence points to marijuana having much less negative effects than, say, alcohol, which is legal...)

agreed!

Anyway, what inks do you run in your Parker?

I havent really experimented much with inks. Do you feel they really make a difference? I've generally just gotten the generic inks (parker quink I think its called, or a regular shaeffer bottle). Whats noodlers like?

Actually the only experimentation I've done with inks is to water them down to make the bottle last longer! I found I could double the water content and still have the ink be as dark. I stopped doing that too though mostly out of laziness and because, well, ink just isnt that expensive.

[wellington1869]

I got interested in ink pens because I inherited a shaeffer snorkel from my grandfather. The mechanism was so incredible and beautiful and complicated that it immediately appealed to my geeky side. I spent 6 months learning about it and refurbishing it. It works wonderfully now (wound up selling it tho). It too had a nib stiff enough to do damage with.  I also at one point owned a namiki "vanishing point" fountain pen (which had a very neat retractable nib). SOld that too (funnily enough sold it for more than I bought it
Settled on the parkers because I love the form factor and the nib stiffness (hardest nib I've found, and small nib and small pen, both of which appeal to me for a daily writer). Tho truth be told I think I like it because its basically a (very smooth) ballpoint replacement.  It basically writes like a ballpoint in terms of stiffness and size. Except of course that its far smoother.

[bhtooefr]

I don't think I've actually used the Parker inks, but I find that the Noodler's inks have good flow, aren't too wet, and have good color, in the Lamy I've tried them in. But, I've heard that the Parker inks are good for that, too. Also, Noodler's has some inks that bind to the paper, and the only way to get rid of them is to destroy the paper, meant to be fraudproof inks (to avoid check washing) - their black is the strongest of those.

The Diamine ink that I've got in my Lamy now... doesn't flow all too well, runs out quickly, and is wet. Very weird combination, usually when it's wet like that, it flows TOO quickly.

[wellington1869]

I'll have to try out noodlers. I guess it makes sense that things like viscosity and density of the ink would make a difference in writing feel.

[itlnstln]

Hmm...  A forum mainly about keyboards discussing pens.  The irony...

[wellington1869]

Hmm...  A forum mainly about keyboards discussing pens.  The irony...

I'm surprised it took this long actually  I'm pretty sure there is a correlation between keyboard snobbery and pen snobbery

[bhtooefr]

I think it's actually happened before.

(And, typewriters have been mentioned...)

[wellington1869]

(And, typewriters have been mentioned...)

Selectric FTW?  

My god, I'm old enough to have written at least one paper on a selectric. I dont know whether to be proud or depressed.

[itlnstln]

My first typing experience was on my mom's '60s-era Smith Corona with the hammers.  Typing too fast could truly end up in a cluster-fsck.  At least the Selectric you could change out the ball for more fonts, and fast typists didn't get bound up.  I don't there is enough prune juice in the world that would help the binding up that would happen on one of the old hammer-style typewriters.

[bhtooefr]

I actually wrote a paper or two in high school on some crappy Brother electronic typewriter, just because I wanted to try a different effect than good old fashioned Times New Roman.

And I'm only 20.

And, I've got a Correcting Selectric II, but I need to get it cleaned and lubed - it occasionally strikes incorrect (especially during fast typing - for example, "the" almost always comes out as "t5e") or additional characters (the additional characters are always either a dash or underscore, depending on whether the ball is shifted or not,) and some keys stick or jam.

I've got a Smith Corona Classic 12 manual... dear god, that thing is a pain to type on.

Oh, and my first typing experience... that'll have been on an Apple //c...

[wellington1869]

One of the most fun paper writing experiences I ever had was on a tiny tiny brother typerwriter with an 80-character lcd screen and a silent inkjet printing system that would quietly print your previous line after you reached the 81st character.  It was really *neat*.  And so tiny, just slightly bigger than a sheet of paper. An ultra portable, quiet typewriter.  I typed up my first resume on it.  It actually had 3 user selectable fonts!

[wellington1869]

The selectric tho will always remain dear to my heart. Writing a paper on it was like firing a gatling gun. Fun!!!
Even the electricity running through it "hummed" ominously. Threateningly.

[bhtooefr]

I actually had a Brother typewriter that took a few D cells, and used a dot matrix print head (or possibly thermal transfer) to print. I didn't have a ribbon for it, though, and my grandmother donated it to Goodwill when I was least expecting it.

(She did that to an IBM PC convertible with the printer I had left there to store, (because I didn't have space at home for it,) too. )

[itlnstln]

But it was just some old junk, right?  

[Chloe]

I learnt to touch-type on an old electric hammer typewriter which I've since given away. It was so slow and noisy but I still remember it fondly.

[wellington1869]

I actually had a Brother typewriter that took a few D cells, and used a dot matrix print head (or possibly thermal transfer) to print. I didn't have a ribbon for it, though, and my grandmother donated it to Goodwill when I was least expecting it.

(She did that to an IBM PC convertible with the printer I had left there to store, (because I didn't have space at home for it,) too. )

Hate when they decide to "clean up the house" and next thing you know your most cherished possessions are on the sidewalk

[itlnstln]

As long as its not your boyfriend/girlfriend doing the cleaning up and it's not all your posessions on the sidewalk.  Fortunately, this has never happened to me.  I've seen it happen to a couple friends, though, and, while tragic, it always seems to make me laugh on the inside.

[bhtooefr]

If it were a girlfriend, she'd quickly find herself on the sidewalk.

[itlnstln]

If it were a girlfriend, she'd quickly find herself on the sidewalk.

10-4

[wellington1869]

dollar for dollar, here is something that is a real clicky keyboard.

http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-IBM-computer-CLICKY-KEYBOARD-Mdl-M-silver-logo_W0QQitemZ110312268150QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item110312268150&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A15|39%3A1|240%3A1318

Why risk it with scumpoozie.....

well, not to yank this thread back to the topic, but I'm reconsidering going back to the model M (and redo-ing my autohotkey scripts to accomodate it).  Havng tried almost everything under the sun, nothing seems to quite measure up the the joy of springs-a-bucklin'.  If I buy one tho I'm going to do the grease-on-the-springs thing to tamp down the volume.

[itlnstln]

http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-IBM-comp...3A1|240%3A1318

That's an original clickety!