[geeks] Ergonomic keyboard styles

[Bill Bradford]

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 08:07:28AM +0100, Mike Meredith wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:00:05 +0200, Jonathan Groll wrote:
> > of them (for now!). I suspect that buying interesting keyboards could
> > become a hobby in its own right. Mrbill's Filco looks so sweet....
> 
> Indeed it's strangely seductive. I've only got two quality keyboards at
> present because I'm trying to choose between a Avant Stellar, a Unicomp
> Customizer 104, or a Filco Tenkeyless. And I started out looking for
> just a half-decent US layout keyboard[0].

Avoid the Avant Stellar; a few people on Geekhack have bought them and sent
them back as "not worth it", since you can get the same feel from a $20
(shipped) Chicony board:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Chicony-KB-5191-FCC-ID-E8H5IKKB-5191-Keyboard-/350338968383

The Customizer 104s are great, I have a full-size model and a "Space Saver"
one as well, but they've been relegated to backup duty since I discovered
the Cherry MX Blue/Brown-switch boards.  I also picked up a 101-key Unicomp
off eBay yesterday for $16 shipped.

> Assuming the diagram on that page is accurate, the Topre keyswitch is
> not a buckling spring keyswitch. And it is quite likely that the page
> would be _very_ sure to emphasise that the keyswitches were buckling
> keyswitches if they were. They look ok, although the only real test is
> to use one and find out.

They're not.  The Topres are a capacitive spring under a rubber dome,
but it's not a standard rubber dome.

Here's everything you ever wanted to know, complete with pictures and
diagrams:

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Topre+Realforce+Reference+-+all+things+topre

And finally, a list of my keyboards:

Keyboards:
----------
Apple Extended Keyboard II w/iMates (x2)
Dell AT101W (x4+)
Model Ms: 	51G8572 ('94, '96)
		1391401 ('90)
		1369050 ('95, Dell)
		Unicomp Customizer 104
		Unicomp SpaceSaver 104,
Solidtek KB-6600ABU
ABS M1
Chicony KB-5181
Chicony KB-5191
KeyTronic KB101Plus
Compaq MX 11800 (x2) (Cherry Browns)
Compaq 11900 (x2) (Cherry Blacks - I HATE these)
Cherry G86-6241 "Ricercar SPOS" (Cherry Browns)
Filco FKB104MC/EB 104-key "Tactile Click" (Cherry Blues)
Filco FKBN87M/EB 87-key "Tactile Touch" Tenkeyless (Cherry Browns)

Sold: 
-----
Matias Tactile Pro 1.0 (x2)
Kensington Studioboard Mechanical
Scorpius M10

Right now I'm using the Cherry G86 at work, the Filco Tenkeyless on the
Mac at home, and moved the Filco w/Blues to my living room PC last night.

Bill

-- 
Bill Bradford 
Houston, Texas