Better keyboard wanted.

I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

Frank Martin wrote:

I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

Best is to visit an actual store with displays of keyboards that you can
feel for yourself how they behave.

The old Northgate company is gone that built strong keyboards (no flex,
keys took a lot of punishment). You could bang on the old Northgate
Omnikey Ultra keyboards repeatedly with your fist. At most, maybe a
keycap popped off but you could just snap it back on. Of course, that's
back when keyboards cost way over a hundred bucks rather than the cheap
$5 to $30 models commonly available now. While Northgate disappeared a
long time ago, Creative Vision Technologies resurrected the Northgate
keyboard in their Avant Stellar model (at $189).

http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/menu.htm
http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/comparison.htm

Ruggedized keyboards still cost a lot.

"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
Frank Martin wrote:

I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is
registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain
depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are
called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

Best is to visit an actual store with displays of
keyboards that you can
feel for yourself how they behave.

The old Northgate company is gone that built strong
keyboards (no flex,
keys took a lot of punishment). You could bang on the old
Northgate
Omnikey Ultra keyboards repeatedly with your fist. At
most, maybe a
keycap popped off but you could just snap it back on. Of
course, that's
back when keyboards cost way over a hundred bucks rather
than the cheap
$5 to $30 models commonly available now. While Northgate
disappeared a
long time ago, Creative Vision Technologies resurrected
the Northgate
keyboard in their Avant Stellar model (at $189).

http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/menu.htm
http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/comparison.htm

Ruggedized keyboards still cost a lot.


Thanks, I'll look into this. My favourite from the old
days was a NEC keyboard, but it died after succumbing to too
many coffee floods and congealed breadcrumbs. None have
ever been as good as this one.

In ,
Frank Martin typed:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

Try Adesso or Cherry keyboards; both make excellent, old style long-life
mechanical switch keyboards. If you use it a lot, Adesso tends to lose it
key printing, but Cherry works great. Lost of choices/prices available from
both. Both, among many others, make professional keyboards. I have two each
of the programmable types. I like Adesso the best since I touch-type, but
the lettering wears off on them where no other brand 've found has that
problem. They silk-screen instead of burn the lettering onto the keys.

HTH,

Twayne`

Frank Martin wrote:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank



I agree with the previous comment-----I bought several keyboards without
trying them out and they were quickly discarded-----I now use a Microsoft
Wired 500 which has a very good feel to the touch to the keys is rugged with
just enough extra keys to be useful and is supported by the Micosoft
Intellitype software that can be downloaded for free.Working in a computer
shop as I do we sell and recommend Logitech and in many years have never has
a single complaint or return

Has anyone had an Adesso or Cherry and calculated the cost of how much the
keyboard is, how long it lasts and compared it to say if I bought a cheaper
keyboard and replaced it more often?

Does either of them make anything wireless? We moved at work a few years ago
and the owners bought desks without thinking what side of the desk the
computer should be on. I'm stuck with the computer on the left, thus the
wire goes across my big feet and I kick it off sometimes. The company won't
pay for anything, so I brought my $70 Logitech G7 mouse from home to use.

Have been wanting a keyboard also. Currently using a $9.99 wireless keyboard
I got at Rite-Aid little over a year ago and it needs replacing soon.

"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
Frank Martin typed:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

Try Adesso or Cherry keyboards; both make excellent, old style long-life
mechanical switch keyboards. If you use it a lot, Adesso tends to lose it
key printing, but Cherry works great. Lost of choices/prices available
from both. Both, among many others, make professional keyboards. I have
two each of the programmable types. I like Adesso the best since I
touch-type, but the lettering wears off on them where no other brand 've
found has that problem. They silk-screen instead of burn the lettering
onto the keys.

HTH,

Twayne`

In ,
yuppicide typed:
Has anyone had an Adesso or Cherry and calculated the cost
of how much the keyboard is, how long it lasts and compared
it to say if I bought a cheaper keyboard and replaced it
more often?
Does either of them make anything wireless? We moved at
work a few years ago and the owners bought desks without
thinking what side of the desk the computer should be on.
I'm stuck with the computer on the left, thus the wire goes
across my big feet and I kick it off sometimes. The company
won't pay for anything, so I brought my $70 Logitech G7
mouse from home to use.
Have been wanting a keyboard also. Currently using a $9.99
wireless keyboard I got at Rite-Aid little over a year ago
and it needs replacing soon.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
Frank Martin typed:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain
depth before the stroke registered and I want this type
again. Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

Try Adesso or Cherry keyboards; both make excellent, old
style long-life mechanical switch keyboards. If you use it
a lot, Adesso tends to lose it key printing, but Cherry
works great. Lost of choices/prices available from both.
Both, among many others, make professional keyboards. I
have two each of the programmable types. I like Adesso the
best since I touch-type, but the lettering wears off on
them where no other brand 've found has that problem. They
silk-screen instead of burn the lettering onto the keys. HTH,

Twayne`

All 3 of them are still working fine with the exception of the worn key
printing on the Adesso's. About 5, 3, and 2 years old resp, Adesso & Cherry.
Remember, these are made for commercial use, not reisdential and so are
going to be reasonably robust.

I've never had a keyboard last that long, so I can see those definitely
paying for themselves.

Are they easy to open and clean? Even at work the crevices between the keys
get dirty and who knows how all the crap get there.. I hardly ever eat at my
desk.

"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
yuppicide typed:
Has anyone had an Adesso or Cherry and calculated the cost
of how much the keyboard is, how long it lasts and compared
it to say if I bought a cheaper keyboard and replaced it
more often?
Does either of them make anything wireless? We moved at
work a few years ago and the owners bought desks without
thinking what side of the desk the computer should be on.
I'm stuck with the computer on the left, thus the wire goes
across my big feet and I kick it off sometimes. The company
won't pay for anything, so I brought my $70 Logitech G7
mouse from home to use.
Have been wanting a keyboard also. Currently using a $9.99
wireless keyboard I got at Rite-Aid little over a year ago
and it needs replacing soon.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
Frank Martin typed:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain
depth before the stroke registered and I want this type
again. Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

Try Adesso or Cherry keyboards; both make excellent, old
style long-life mechanical switch keyboards. If you use it
a lot, Adesso tends to lose it key printing, but Cherry
works great. Lost of choices/prices available from both.
Both, among many others, make professional keyboards. I
have two each of the programmable types. I like Adesso the
best since I touch-type, but the lettering wears off on
them where no other brand 've found has that problem. They
silk-screen instead of burn the lettering onto the keys. HTH,

Twayne`

All 3 of them are still working fine with the exception of the worn key
printing on the Adesso's. About 5, 3, and 2 years old resp, Adesso &
Cherry. Remember, these are made for commercial use, not reisdential and
so are going to be reasonably robust.

In ,
yuppicide typed:
I've never had a keyboard last that long, so I can see
those definitely paying for themselves.

Are they easy to open and clean? Even at work the crevices
between the keys get dirty and who knows how all the crap
get there.. I hardly ever eat at my desk.

As a general rule, there really is little reason to open the keyboard cases
and in many of them it will void the warranty. Compressed air and repeatedly
turning upside down and shaking is all I've ever done to any keyboard. The
actual key mechanisms in the better keyboards are sealed against dust & dirt
anyway so unless you're packing so much stuff in there it keeps the caps
from being depressed, there really isn't any reason to do that.
Especially true BTW if you have a liquid-protected keyboard.

BTW, stick to valid sources for things like this. Don't find a good keyboard
and then go looking to see how cheap you can get it; you'll lose support at
a minimum, warranty possibly and they might be selling end-of-run models or
lemon clearances; they're not going to tell you. They'll carry what they can
get and sell cheap only.
I often choose by the warranty periods; One I had trouble deciding on
were a 3-year vs a 5-year warranty; so I went for the 5-year.
The reason I'm into these things is I like programmable keyboards and
make good use of them. Watch out; programmables, or good ones anyway, get to
$100 or + in a hurry. I've found POS boards to have the best sets of
features, actually, as long as you can get them without the stupid card
readers and all the nonsense stuff I'll never use. POS usually means rugged
and takes punishment. So far so good.

HTH,

Twayne`

"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
yuppicide typed:
Has anyone had an Adesso or Cherry and calculated the cost
of how much the keyboard is, how long it lasts and
compared it to say if I bought a cheaper keyboard and
replaced it more often?
Does either of them make anything wireless? We moved at
work a few years ago and the owners bought desks without
thinking what side of the desk the computer should be on.
I'm stuck with the computer on the left, thus the wire
goes across my big feet and I kick it off sometimes. The
company won't pay for anything, so I brought my $70
Logitech G7 mouse from home to use.
Have been wanting a keyboard also. Currently using a $9.99
wireless keyboard I got at Rite-Aid little over a year ago
and it needs replacing soon.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
Frank Martin typed:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is
registered even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain
depth before the stroke registered and I want this type
again. Can someone advise me what these latter boards
are called, and where they can be bought?

Frank

Try Adesso or Cherry keyboards; both make excellent, old
style long-life mechanical switch keyboards. If you use
it a lot, Adesso tends to lose it key printing, but Cherry
works great. Lost of choices/prices available from both.
Both, among many others, make professional keyboards. I
have two each of the programmable types. I like Adesso
the best since I touch-type, but the lettering wears off
on them where no other brand 've found has that problem.
They silk-screen instead of burn the lettering onto the
keys. HTH, Twayne`

All 3 of them are still working fine with the exception of
the worn key printing on the Adesso's. About 5, 3, and 2
years old resp, Adesso & Cherry. Remember, these are made
for commercial use, not reisdential and so are going to be
reasonably robust.

It sounds as if, like me, you have been remembering the old IBM Model M
keyboards. Solid. metal not plastic, fewer typos. Last year, some advice
I got in this list led me here.

http://www.dansdata.com/clicky2.htm

To cut the story short, I bought one of these from Unicomp, and I
haven't looked back.

http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/customizer.html

It's a bit bigger than normal, and heavy because it's made of metal, but
the typing experience is so much better.




On 01/06/2010 06:13, Frank Martin wrote:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 15:13:29 +1000, "Frank Martin"
wrote:

I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank

I've been through the same thing. I would like very much to find a new
keyboard like my old Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro that I bought a
few years back, but I can not locate anything close to this. I like
the large size...fits my large hands...and the raised, curved shape.
Does anyone have any leads as to where I might find a keyboard like
this old one?

Antares wrote on Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:00:34 -0500:

I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is registered
even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain depth
before the stroke registered and I want this type again.

Can someone advise me what these latter boards are called,
and where they can be bought?

Frank


I've been through the same thing. I would like very much to find a new
keyboard like my old Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro that I bought a
few years back, but I can not locate anything close to this. I like
the large size...fits my large hands...and the raised, curved shape.
Does anyone have any leads as to where I might find a keyboard like
this old one?

What I'd like is a wireless keyboard and mouse whose batteries lasted
longer than a few weeks, used 10 hours a day. Logitech used to make a
system but they discontinued it. The mouse had a recharging stand and
the 4 batteries in the keyboard lasted for months.
--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

I used to work at Radio Shack in the 90's. There was on Indian
(middle-eastern) guy who worked for us part-time when he wasn't at his day
job.

He used to take the whole keyboard apart and put it in a sink full of
water.. even the PCB..

I'd never go that far and heck, it's not THAT dirty.

"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
yuppicide typed:
I've never had a keyboard last that long, so I can see
those definitely paying for themselves.

Are they easy to open and clean? Even at work the crevices
between the keys get dirty and who knows how all the crap
get there.. I hardly ever eat at my desk.

As a general rule, there really is little reason to open the keyboard
cases and in many of them it will void the warranty. Compressed air and
repeatedly turning upside down and shaking is all I've ever done to any
keyboard. The actual key mechanisms in the better keyboards are sealed
against dust & dirt anyway so unless you're packing so much stuff in there
it keeps the caps from being depressed, there really isn't any reason to
do that.
Especially true BTW if you have a liquid-protected keyboard.

BTW, stick to valid sources for things like this. Don't find a good
keyboard and then go looking to see how cheap you can get it; you'll lose
support at a minimum, warranty possibly and they might be selling
end-of-run models or lemon clearances; they're not going to tell you.
They'll carry what they can get and sell cheap only.
I often choose by the warranty periods; One I had trouble deciding on
were a 3-year vs a 5-year warranty; so I went for the 5-year.
The reason I'm into these things is I like programmable keyboards and
make good use of them. Watch out; programmables, or good ones anyway, get
to $100 or + in a hurry. I've found POS boards to have the best sets of
features, actually, as long as you can get them without the stupid card
readers and all the nonsense stuff I'll never use. POS usually means
rugged and takes punishment. So far so good.

HTH,

Twayne`

"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
yuppicide typed:
Has anyone had an Adesso or Cherry and calculated the cost
of how much the keyboard is, how long it lasts and
compared it to say if I bought a cheaper keyboard and
replaced it more often?
Does either of them make anything wireless? We moved at
work a few years ago and the owners bought desks without
thinking what side of the desk the computer should be on.
I'm stuck with the computer on the left, thus the wire
goes across my big feet and I kick it off sometimes. The
company won't pay for anything, so I brought my $70
Logitech G7 mouse from home to use.
Have been wanting a keyboard also. Currently using a $9.99
wireless keyboard I got at Rite-Aid little over a year ago
and it needs replacing soon.
"Twayne" wrote in message
...
In ,
Frank Martin typed:
I have tried many keyboards and they all have the
"hair-trigger" problem, which is a keystroke is
registered even when adjacent keys are skimmed or brushed.

The old keyboards had to be pressed down to a certain
depth before the stroke registered and I want this type
again. Can someone advise me what these latter boards
are called, and where they can be bought?

Frank

Try Adesso or Cherry keyboards; both make excellent, old
style long-life mechanical switch keyboards. If you use
it a lot, Adesso tends to lose it key printing, but Cherry
works great. Lost of choices/prices available from both.
Both, among many others, make professional keyboards. I
have two each of the programmable types. I like Adesso
the best since I touch-type, but the lettering wears off
on them where no other brand 've found has that problem.
They silk-screen instead of burn the lettering onto the
keys. HTH, Twayne`

All 3 of them are still working fine with the exception of
the worn key printing on the Adesso's. About 5, 3, and 2
years old resp, Adesso & Cherry. Remember, these are made
for commercial use, not reisdential and so are going to be
reasonably robust.