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May 31, 2005

Cheap, if your time is worth nothing

I hate keyboards. I mean, sure I use them for my livelihood, but they have an awful design. First, the nipples, the little bumps on the F and the J keys are much too small. Second, the insert and caps lock keys are worthless. Third, at least in modern keyboards, the lack of good springs makes for an unsatisfying noise and too little key pressure to depress each key. That makes it harder to hold ones hands above the keyboard as good form required.

I've been addressing this piecemeal. First, I've pried off my insert and caps lock keys. Second, on my old keyboard, I glued little pieces of plastic spoons the home keys to make them feel more pronounced. I'm considering buying a cool IBM MODEL M keyboard, which has a great feel and noise. It lacks the windows key, but I don't use that much anyway.

But recently, there is a lot of fanfare about blank keyboards. That is, keyboards where the labels on the keys have been removed to discourage casual use and force the owner to memorize all the keys. The idea was first made famous by a character in the book Neuromancer . Das Keyboard ($80) has a new model that allows this, as does the happy hacking keyboard people ($250). But here you can find a neat article on sanding off the labels on your own keys to save money and use it on your existing keyboard. I've considered doing this on just the alpha portion of the keyboard, but maybe I should do it on the whole thing to make myself finally learn those symbols. Others have suggested using vinyl die, a messy, fun, and fast way of dying your keys black.

OR I guess I could just get this, the TouchSteam LP ($339)

Posted by OneEyedMan at May 31, 2005 9:25 AM

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