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Godspeed (Mechanical Keyboard Nerd Thread)

Foo2rama
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I had been using a First Gen Logitech G15 but it's time to retire that to back up status. About a month ago Bestbuy had an anniversary sale and this model which is exclusive to Best Buy got it less then 1/2 the MSRP. Yeah yeah the lighting is a gimmick but I need anti key ghosting as a feature. I need to be able to hit more then 5 keys at a time and not have he keyboard lock up. Gaming keyboards are pretty much the only game in town with that feature.

http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/g910-orion-spectrum-rgb-gaming-keyboard


Mice though are my thing. My last mx 518 died and people want $800+ for NOS ones on eBay!!! It was a 40 dollar mouse!
 
dsio
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I binned both my 518s and replaced them with a G7 and G9x years ago, kinda wish I kept them knowing that
 
ahartfie
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Recommendations for a full-size mechanical keyboard most like my IBM Model M in tactile feel? I need one for home. I see all the ones on Massdrop but dammit I use the numeric keypad and I want a space bar! I could give two figs about lighting or gaming/multimedia features.
 
Foo2rama
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ahartfie ahartfie
Recommendations for a full-size mechanical keyboard most like my IBM Model M in tactile feel? I need one for home. I see all the ones on Massdrop but dammit I use the numeric keypad and I want a space bar! I could give two figs about lighting or gaming/multimedia features.

Look for Cherry MX green switches. They are a modern interpretation of the IBM M with same in feel and sound. Same throw distance (activation distance) and pressure to activate. Cherry MX has a bunch of different specs in their line up denoted by color. Many keyboard makers use these switches and sometimes offer different options on the same keyboard.

IBM m are not linear, click and require 60-70g to activate same as the Green at 80g. Blue require 50g to activate.

Blues are a bit more common but use a little less activation force. I prefer blues personally. Same non linear, tactile key press and sound.

As for the others, Browns are like Blues but quieter. Red and Black are non tactile/linear as well as quieter. They differ in activation force with red being 45g and black 60g.
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U
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Archer Archer
It never ceases to amaze me what sort of things, are "a thing"...I had no idea this was "a thing"....

I'm with you Al. Next thing you know, people will turn simple coffee into $7 per cup fancy frappe-cappa-mocha-Al-Pacino specialty brews.

........oh, wait....... 😬 Never mind! 🤦
 
Foo2rama
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U ulackfocus
I'm with you Al. Next thing you know, people will turn simple coffee into $7 per cup fancy frappe-cappa-mocha-Al-Pacino specialty brews.

........oh, wait....... 😬 Never mind! 🤦

Well for me which is not shown by my quality of grammar posting here which is mostly by phone... I type a lot, all day actually for work and I'm faster and more accurate with a mechanical keyboard with a tactile key press and a little clack. When I use a laptop or cheap keyboard with a membrane the linear no sound easy to press keys kills my accuracy and speed. There is a reason programmers and writers swear by the basically unobtainable IBM model M. Now we have the cherry mx based keyboards to replace them with options to fine tune to your needs.

Your not going to use a huge lifted 4x4 V8 truck as a delivery vehicle. Sure it works but it's not ideal to the task of if your making deliveries all day. You need a truck with low service needs and good gas mileage, so you go v6 2x4. Conversely if you work mountain rescue you need the more specialized huge v8 4x4 with power to run the winch or pull stick vehicles out while loaded down with gear.
 
BlackTalon
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Archer Archer
It never ceases to amaze me what sort of things, are "a thing"...I had no idea this was "a thing"....

My keyboard is wireless and when I press the keys, letters appear. 😀
Funny, but I had a similar conversation with our intern earlier this afternoon. Only it was about watches and clocks. He had no idea hands and a printed dial were a 'thing', as he only needs to glance at his battery-powered digital watch to see the time. And he doesn't even need to think about it -- if it is 3:05, the watch indicates so, vs the little hand being on the three and oh, what does it mean when the big hand is on the one?

Even funnier to him was the concept of needing to wind a watch by hand.

I assured him that watches had the ability to be a 'thing', and that at least a few hundred pepole around the world work to keep it that way 😁
 
kkt
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BlackTalon BlackTalon
Funny, but I had a similar conversation with our intern earlier this afternoon. Only it was about watches and clocks. He had no idea hands and a printed dial were a 'thing', as he only needs to glance at his battery-powered digital watch to see the time. And he doesn't even need to think about it -- if it is 3:05, the watch indicates so, vs the little hand being on the three and oh, what does it mean when the big hand is on the one?

Even funnier to him was the concept of needing to wind a watch by hand.

I assured him that watches had the ability to be a 'thing', and that at least a few hundred pepole around the world work to keep it that way 😁

Many more than that, I'm sure. Everyone in the new mechanical watch industry in Switzerland and other countries... all the watchmakers, with long waiting lists for service... must be hundreds of thousands of owners even just in the U.S.
 
bryanmanio
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I've been using a Ducky Shine 2 with brown switches for the last couple years, and now I'm hooked.

large_354_DK9087S2ChineseBLUE_2.jpg
 
Trev
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pitpro pitpro
Gateway 2000 AnyKey Programmable Version 1.
IMG_6715.JPG
Looks a bit past its expiry date 😀
 
ahartfie
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
Look for Cherry MX green switches.

Thanks, Foo. I see blue and brown ones most often but I'll keep an eye out for greens.
 
pitpro
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Trev Trev
Looks a bit past its expiry date 😀
Works perfect just dirty. Not in use now.
Probably before your time, but these were amazing as keystroke macros could be recorded
in memory and recalled with a hotkey. They became a nightmare for Gateway because
users would accidentally remap their keyboards and didn't know how to undo the remap.
Macros were only limited by the 16kb EEPROM size.
Just thought you guys might be interested in their place in Keyboard history.
Here's more info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_AnyKey
Edited:
 
Foo2rama
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pitpro pitpro
Works perfect just dirty. Not in use now.
Probably before your time, but these were amazing as keystroke macros could be recorded
in memory and recalled with a hotkey. They became a nightmare for Gateway because
users would accidentally remapped their keyboards and didn't know how to undo the remap.
Macros were only limited by the 16kb EEPROM size.
Just thought you guys might be interested in their place in Keyboard history.
Here's more info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_AnyKey
Logitech has G keys that allow you to record macro on the fly, and you can save them on a per program basis. I use it pretty heavily.
 
Archer
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BlackTalon BlackTalon
Funny, but I had a similar conversation with our intern earlier this afternoon. Only it was about watches and clocks. He had no idea hands and a printed dial were a 'thing', as he only needs to glance at his battery-powered digital watch to see the time. And he doesn't even need to think about it -- if it is 3:05, the watch indicates so, vs the little hand being on the three and oh, what does it mean when the big hand is on the one?

Even funnier to him was the concept of needing to wind a watch by hand.

I assured him that watches had the ability to be a 'thing', and that at least a few hundred pepole around the world work to keep it that way 😁

I probably have more conversations like this than likely anyone on this forum - every time someone asks what I do for a living, anyone under 40 I usually get a blank stare in return when I tell them I'm a watchmaker. It gets even more confusing for them when I start telling them I work mostly on mechanical watches...I can see the wheels turning...what is a mechanical watch? When I explain, some are amazed that there are watches out there that don't use batteries of any kind.

I'm sure there is a keyboard forum out there with someone saying they had no idea that mechanical watches were a thing...and yes since I've personally dealt with a few hundred people just this year, I think the watch "thing" is likely a bit bigger than that.
 
BlackTalon
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I guess no one saw the smilie after "...at least a few hundred people..." 😁

On the 'plus' side, he is very interested to learn more, and I will keep my eye out for an inexpensive vintage mechanical. Am also encouraging him to look at Seiko5s.
 
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