[geeks] clicky keyboards with volume keys...

[Mike Meredith]

On Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:26:47 -0400, Shannon wrote:
> Hmmm... I used to like the Type 4 Sun keyboards, and found the ones
> after that were oversized and really mushy to type on.

Indeed although they're a half-reasonable example of the rubber dome
variety. 

> I looked at it, but it has keys to the right and left of the main
> keyboard area, with no space between. I had one keyboard like that
> before and ended up tossing it. Not precisely sure why it bothered me,
> but it did.

I sometimes found that with extra keys to the left of tab, caps,
and shift, I would sometimes find myself typing off by a couple of keys
- 'E' is supposed to be the fourth key along, but with an extra couple
  of keys on that row I could find myself hitting 'Q' instead. I always
  put it down to my unusual home row positioning ... with wide
  shoulders I've tended to position my hands diagonally on the keyboard.

> I could just get a vanilla 101/104 key Cherry (not sure a good place
> to get black my preferred color) or a Das Keyboard maybe.

There's a few options if you compromise your requirements shortly. For
instance there's a few possibilities available if you're prepared to
accept media keys on another layer on the function keys. Such as the
Ducky (I know) DK9000 :-

	http://duckychannel.com.tw/en/products1-3.html

It's available through an eBay store presently. Available with Cherry
blue, black, and brown (and even red supposedly) keyswitches.

Alternatively if you're prepared to do some key mapping you can get
something a little extreme such as the Fentek 132-key programmable
keyboard :-

	http://www.fentek-ind.com/program.htm#kblk1800

	(Programmable with Windows)

Not sure of the keyswitch although it does say 'tactile' and I seem to
recall it being mentioned as being Cherry.

> Unfortunately in my area, there are no stores that sell good quality
> stuff at all.

When it comes to mechanical keyboards, online seems to be the only way
unless you live in a megacity.



-- 
Mike Meredith (http://zonky.org/)
  Some people, when confronted with a problem, think ``I know, I'll use
  regular expressions.'' Now they have two problems.  -- Jamie Zawinski