a decent keyboard

axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania

hi gentoo folks. I know this is kind of an unorthodox question, but i'm at the end of my rope.

I'm tired of purchasing logitech products. I bought into them all. since the start 20 years ago. i had so many logitech mice, and keyboards that just failed in 6 months. I have beefy hands but I do not punch my keyboard. In fact I'm looking for one that works with a soft touch.

anything you had for longer than 6 months and still works, I'd love to hear about it. the only precondition I kinda have to have is that is should be available in the EU. which should be pretty much anything.

but i'm tired of G mouses. great mouses. lots of buttons, but in 6 months, inevitably... the middle button stop functioning, the first button is randomly repeating itself when you press it.

the last 2 keyboards I bought were a bundle logitech k800. i loved the layout. the feel. everything. except in 6 months buttons are just going to fly out of their socket. And it's the saddest thing, to press a button 10 times, just to get it back into it's socket.

and no linux guy should ever be forced to press a button ten times just to repair the button, while also trying to keep commands straight. so i'm open to suggestions, as long as I can buy them in EU

Ant P. · Watchman Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 6920

I use a Keyboardio Model 01. Two years old and built to last.

krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

no idea if you can still buy one, but i'm using this one for so long time i cannot even remember when i brought it (i think it was ~2004), and all keys are still like they are brand new (i have 0 dead key, and none of the keys seems harder or softer than another one)

evoweiss · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:13 am Post subject:

I've not been on for a while. I decommissioned my Gentoo machine as it was very old and the hardware was getting flaky and unreliable. I'd have bought a new machine, but I'm away from home for a year. When I get back, I'll repurpose my wife's laptop to be my gentoo machine. It's older, but not ancient, and has plenty of horse power if you're not interested in being bleeding edge.

So now onto the question. At my work at home I discovered HP's KU1156 keyboard which some machines had. It feels amazing to type on and it's far from flimsy. The only drawback it might have to some is that it's corded, but for a keyboard, who cares, and it's possible to buy new and used ones dirt cheap. Again, this is a really high quality keyboard in all respects (I purchased one and it's being brought over to where I am now).

Related to this all, for a long time I lusted after the Happy Hacking Keyboard and similar. You can purchase them in stores here and I tried some of these things out. I didn't care for how they felt to type on although I like the small form factor (the KU1156 is a full-size keyboard). The Happy Hacking keyboard is far inferior in all other areas.

Anyway, there's me, signing in again to do something other than read about some of the nonsense going on.

Best,

Alex

szatox · Advocate Joined: 27 Aug 2013 Posts: 3151

I tend to be happy with TCK (The Cheapest Keyboard) from a Small Shop Right Behind the Corner.
I love those in range of 4-6$, gotta push the keys hard and deep to register a keystroke and they provide a decent feedback (not 100% accurate, but strong and close enough).
Like 7-8$ can get you something flat and with soft keys, which is probably what you are looking for.
Starting at 50$ you can get something almost as good as that 4$ one.

Those dirt cheap keyboards also last forever.

sitquietly · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 6:33 pm Post subject: Re: a decent keyboard

Jaglover · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 7:08 pm Post subject:

These $5 keyboards cost $15 now at Amazon. Inflation, I guess. I still miss my old IBM keyboard, it was big and heavy and the buttons were just right, they made them 30+ years ago. :roll:

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axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania

No, unfortunately PS/2 is no longer an option. USB only.

And yes, those old mechanical IBM keyboards... man they don't make em like that anymore. Unfortunately again, AT connection, no longer usable.

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 7:24 pm Post subject:

axl,

You don't have a PS/2 to USB doda?
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axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania

Neddy over the years most keyboards I have seen were USB, with an adapter usb to ps2. I only had one M$ keyboard that was PS2 with a duda to also connect to USB. either way, I think the keyboard itself has to "speak" usb for those adapters to work. And no chance in hell those old AT keyboards would work that way.

sitquietly · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 9:31 pm Post subject:

Anon-E-moose · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:23 pm Post subject:

I've gotten to where I like my Anker mouse https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Wireless-Vertical-Ergonomic-Optical/dp/B00BIFNTMC
I moved the "middle" button from the scroll to the button near my thumb, works well for me.

If you don't like the style find a 4-5 button mouse you do like and move the middle click to one of the extra buttons.

As far as keyboards, it's hard to beat the old ibm models. And since I was curious

sitquietly · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:28 pm Post subject:

Anon-E-moose · Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:44 pm Post subject:

From my xorg.conf

axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania

https://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-pavilion-wireless-keyboard-and-mouse-800

I kinda gravitate towards this one. Or others of this type. But most seem to have a Fn button, functions switched. I know solaar can switch them back in X for logitech, but I have no idea how this hp would behave in linux.

Jaglover · Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 12:28 pm Post subject:

I had a keyboard like this, I couldn't stand the function keys not grouped by four. Only a mouse user can design a keyboard like this.
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krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

is it only me or it does that to you too?
i was using ms mouse (basic, 3 buttons, but i couldn't get my hands on them anymore in my local vendors), and they were dying because of pads in their bottom wear off with time.
now it's my 3 or 5 logitech mouse that show the symptom : click does double click, it's painful, and it happen way before the pads had time to be dead ; those logitech mouses are just shit?

sitquietly · Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 1:39 pm Post subject:

Tony0945 · Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2019 2:05 pm Post subject:

Krinn, I'm using a microsoft usb mouse and you are right. The pads have worn off. I haven't noticed because it slides well on my ancient (pre-1990) polished wood computer desk. The desk has a slot for fanfold paper. I just position my HP ENVY wireless printer over the slot.
Both the keyboard (PS/2) and mouse are Microsoft, only because it was the only brand I could get in white. I still have my Antec B-stock office white full tower case, although it has hosted many motherboards and at least two power supplies.
That MS mouse wheel works nicely for scrolling as well, but I usually move the mouse.
Looked up where I bought it:
"microsoft basic optical mouse 9/30/2012 CompUSA $16.34"
My other machines use HP cordless mice. I put rechargeable batteries in them and don't generally shut them off. When they get unresponsive I just switch with one off the charger.
Mostly HP USB keyboards. One old HP PS/2 keyboard connected to two machines in the basement. via a KVM switch. One machine running Win7 which I normally access via rdesktop, the other is my Gentoo server that i usually access via ssh (or portable puTTY from Windows XP). And the really ancient k6-3 mounted in an old Dell P-100 case, is running a HP keyboard salvaged from a cheapie mass-market computer via a PS/2 to AT connector. That one runs 32 bit Gentoo dual booting with Win 2000.
The Raspberry Pi is running something that came with it, but it's really hard to use. Sometimes I think my daughter got me the Pi to torment me. (Not really, she loves the Pi and does all sorts of things with it using python programs she writes. I hate python but it works out, she doesn't know even K&R C, so I write her C/C++ programs [for her laptop]and she writes python for me).

AXL, try a Microsoft or HP keyboard. Microsoft hardware is much better than their execrable software. Probably because it's probably someone else rebadged.

EDIT: Underside of keyboard says "Microsoft Wired Keyboard 200". Bought at same time as the mouse but the shift key doesn't work so well anymore.

axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania

I changed my mind based on that Fn thing. and functions buttons being grouped by 4. that's right. and measurements. I live in a metric world and no keyboard should be 11 cm in depth, I guess, if you look at it as a 3d object. I mean the height of the keyboard.

I have huge hands. they are great for basketball, but not very great for small keyboards.

I really dont get it. Why does this have to be so hard. It's like they are purposefully trying to make bad keyboards. I don't get it.

first of all what's with all the Fn stuff?

second. why do they hate the insert and delete keys from the normal layout?

third, why do they hate numpad?

forth, why do they hate arrow keys and page up and down and home and end. wtf is wrong with these people?!

fifth what was wrong with the function keys which actually have functions, instead of weird hid drivers for your app starters. wtf.

why is this so hard? I just want a normal freaking keyboard. tomorrow is monday... Ima gonna hit the stores on foot and the first keyboard I see that fits my hands ima get that. shopping online for keyboards is just a nightmare. every product I liked had like 10 1 star reviews. "my ctrl broke after a week". "my this that or the other". it's obvious these things are perishable, or consumables. which is not what a keyboard used to be.

axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania

I still remember my 286 keyboard. It was a standard keyboard. It worked. I still have it somewhere.

Now... in terms of technicalities... I wouldn't want that keyboard. People who played games dual screen in the 90's know why.

As great as they are mechanically those old keyboards, they do have technical limitations. Like when you play Mortal Kombat (

i'm smiling just thinking about it), and one player does 2-3-4 keys at the time, and the other players tries to do the same... there's gonna be conflict. because those old keyboards can't handle so many key presses at the same time and some are going to be ignored. which results into a very unhappy little player breaking said keyboard on the back on the other player. while he is grinning. and the attack made no difference. he still took his time to gather himself and say: "yeah it was the keyboard". I hated him. And IT WAS THE KEYBOARD!!!

Now i know what happened to my 286 keyboard. I broke it on my friend, which constantly used shift and ctrl to block my numpad keys. Man... those were some epic years. I remember one time, my parents left town for the weekend, and we played NFSIISE with a voodoo2. from thursday till sunday. we left for basketball on sunday afternoon, and we were hearing engines and were jumping randomly around the basketball court to avoid being run over by a car. just ptsd from playing NFS for 3 days and nights straight, big screen with voodoo, creative awe, and large large large speakers. That was the precursor to that keyboard's death.

and now, I try to control a chernobyl sized machine/network with a K400 logitech all in one keyboard. which in all honesty looks like me trying to feet lady panties. it is a show... but nothing is getting done. although based on the number of backspaces I had to use in this post I think the elephant is learning to dance around the tiny tiny tiny keys.

krinn · Watchman Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 7470

axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania

Tony0945 · Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2019 10:27 pm Post subject:

A radical thought, visit a brick and mortar store. They should have basic keyboards and you can easily look at them.

axl · Veteran Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 1144 Location: Romania