Matias Setup

[ander]

When friend brought his Matias Tactile Pro by today, I couldn't help noticing the "Quick Setup" instructions:





What? You have to actually connect the board to your computer? Man... If I ever get one of these, I'll be grateful having the help of you guys here at GH.

[OfTheWild]

Humour is humor.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Reality:

Windows: 1) plug the keyboard into your computer; 2) make a cup of tea/take a nap/watch a film/take your kids to the park while Windows grinds away in agony trying to decide whether or not the keyboard you connected is in fact a keyboard; 3) you're now ready to start typing (but you may have lost the will to try).

OS X: 1) plug the keyboard into your computer; 2) be subjected to a thorough interrogation about whether the keyboard really is a keyboard and whether or not it works like the one you already had; 3) you're now ready to start typing.

[OfTheWild]

Yeah no kidding. OSX irritates me to no end with their keyboard setup stuff. I mean why are you asking about keys to the left and right of the shifts? what you really need me to do is tell you where my command and option keys are supposed to be.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

It's ISO vs ANSI determination I assume, in case anyone's changed continent!

[jcoffin1981]

What's really annoying is when you plug it in and it takes windows 5 minutes or more to find the right drivers.  Other times some boards won't work in certain usb ports.

[tp4tissue]

What's really annoying is when you plug it in and it takes windows 5 minutes or more to find the right drivers.  Other times some boards won't work in certain usb ports.

That's only if you no haz SSD..  or maybe slow internet

[zpcomstock17]

What's really annoying is when you plug it in and it takes windows 5 minutes or more to find the right drivers.  Other times some boards won't work in certain usb ports.

That's only if you no haz SSD..  or maybe slow internet

SSDs are even more expensive that entry-tier mechanical keyboards. No mones for SSD :[.

[ander]

Reality:

Windows: 1) plug the keyboard into your computer; 2) make a cup of tea/take a nap/watch a film/take your kids to the park while Windows grinds away in agony trying to decide whether or not the keyboard you connected is in fact a keyboard; 3) you're now ready to start typing (but you may have lost the will to try).

OS X: 1) plug the keyboard into your computer; 2) be subjected to a thorough interrogation about whether the keyboard really is a keyboard and whether or not it works like the one you already had; 3) you're now ready to start typing.

LOL

Also, be sure to open Device Manager, open the keyboard's Properties, click the Power Management tab, and clear the checkbox that says "Allow this device to wake the computer." Otherwise, the next time the cat bumps into your KB, it'll resume your laptop from standby and allow it to cook itself to death with the lid closed. (Oh, and remember to do this with every keyboard you use, ever.)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I did leave an old Latitude D600 laptop running at work for weeks on end with the lid closed, and one day it died. Complete hard drive failure. Oops.

Left it a while to cool down, and the drive resumed working normally.

Solid little machines, those!

[ander]

Heat is the #1 killer of portable computers. It's not usually caused by inadequate cooling in the design, but by something over which the designers have little control, obstructed ventilation—whether a portable has resumed from Standby with the lid closed, or a user blocking the vents by placing the machine in their lap or other soft surface, or when someone with a high-performance system fails to blow it out periodically.

Microsoft's decision to allow keyboards and mice to wake systems from Standby by default is a hold over from the days when most machines were desktops, with no lids to open. Pressing a key or moving the mouse was the most practical way to resume then, and accidental resumes were more obvious.

IMHO, when setting the default properties of new hardware, Windows should check if the system has a mobile version of a processor—and if so, set the hardware wake-defaults to NO.

Like so many things in life, the solution's simple. What's difficult is understanding why it's not done that way.  :?|

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I only know that with the early (first harvest fruity) iMacs, pressing a key to wake the machine was unreliable. I think sometimes you could wake it by connecting the keyboard to another USB port. I left my laptop on deliberately (as an RDP target) and it wasn't too keen, but considering its age, I can't complain. It's also from the era when you had eggshell finish paint that didn't smear : P