After getting hooked on this website for several days, I took the plunge and ordered a Filco 104 key Cherry MX Blue-based keyboard from Elitekeyboards*. I calculated how much time I spent looking at all the information here and it was enough for me to do some contract work to buy 10 keyboards! :doh:
I guess since it's my first post on here I should briefly go through some of my own background. When I got my first computer, it had the best keyboard I have ever owned. The keyboard was a "UNICOM" branded keyboard by costar in Taiwan. I have no idea what it uses but I pulled out a keycap and it revealed a mechanical switch of some sort. It still does work, though the n key sometimes gets stuck. I guess I'll have to post images of it later... it still resides in a special place in my heart.
For the last 11 years I've been using terrible excuses for keyboards, without knowing the technology had changed significantly since the keyboard I first owned. At one time my typing speed was so fast, most keyboards had great difficulty keeping up with me, including the crappy Microsoft "comfort plus" keyboard I'm typing on right now. God, my fingers are aching. Then, a fateful afternoon a few days ago a friend of mine sent me this article about the worst keyboards in the history of computers:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/139100/the_10_worst_pc_keyboards_of_all_time.htmlComing to the last page, I found out that my Unicom was a chassis replica of the Model M. Intrigued that people considered it the best keyboard in the world I started sifting through piles of information. Until I came on here and discovered with some relief that technology has moved on since 1984 and in fact the Cherry Corp (whose keyboards I've used before, with great pleasure) produces something to fill the gap.
Actually, ripster's lego olympic ranking of keyboard technology pretty much convinced me to go for the Click Tactile switch based keyboard.
Knowing that my Filco keyboard will soon arrive, in your wise opinions, do you think its still worthwhile to also get a Unicomp customizer 104? I took a look at the photos at their website and the plastic cut looks a bit shabby. I'm guessing after a decade and a half of operation the lexmark moulds are getting old?
In leu of the financial crisis and the fact that Unicomp can't afford to maintain a domain (pckeyboard.com) do you think its worthwhile purchasing one in the chance that they may go under? Will my Filco ensure the unicomp would gather dust? I'm scared that it'll start a vicious cycle, slowly becoming a keyboard hoarder. Not that ... there's anything ... wrong with that -- *runs*. :bolt:
Anyway, sorry about the spiel and thanks for this great resource.
* Actually I messed up thanks to paypal's confusing system and ordered the brown switch one, but I just sent an email to elitekeyboard support requesting an order change. They got back to me and fixed my error before I could finish this forum post, in 15 minutes flat!
