[Gllug] Keyboard giving up the ghost

[Joel Bernstein]

On Fri, Jun 23, 2006 at 01:23:53PM +0100, Richard Jones wrote:
> 
> I've got a lovely clunky, heavy IBM PS/2 keyboard, which is sadly
> giving up the ghost after I poured grapefruit juice into it the other
> day.

Commiserations.

> Does anyone know a source for proper keyboards any more?  All I can
> find now are the super-cheap plastic USB crap that passes for an input
> device these days.

Depends what you call "proper". The received wisdom these days is that
clicky keyboards promote RSI. That said, you can still find metal-backed
keyswitched keyboards around. Last time I looked, Dell were selling (for
about 40 quid) fairly decent clicky keyboards - similar design to the
old IBM ones although possibly not so reliable. 

Having said that about RSI I tried to find some sources online for this,
given I only have the information as hearsay from previous co-workers
appalled that I liked the old IBM Selectronic (aka Model M) double-click
keyboards. In fact I couldn't find a lot of info suggesting that clicky
keyboards promote RSI, but some (not incredibly authoritative)
suggestions that RSI is in fact promoted by soft-based short travel
membrane keyboards. So you may in fact be using the right hardware to
begin with ;)

You could try the Cherry G80-3000 which isn't bad, DABS sell them for
about 50 quid inc VAT. 

Failing that, do you need a fullsize keyboard? Do you actually use the
number pad, for example? There are some very decent compact keyboards
available, designed for geeks, like the Happy Hacking series:
http://www.pfu.fujitsu.com/en/hhkeyboard/

Happy Hacking and other lines are available (in the USA) from Fentek:
http://www.fentek-ind.com/
They have several options, including custom build-to-order if you need
something *really* odd.

Matias make a few keyboards like this (Mac-oriented) one:
http://matias.ca/tactilepro/index.php?refID=7
which have very good reviews online.

If none of these suit you, I'd be asking around friends, user groups and
searching eBay for somebody who has a nice old IBM keyboard which they
don't use.

/joel
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