{"id":136,"date":"2008-08-20T00:01:01","date_gmt":"2008-08-20T07:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=136"},"modified":"2008-08-20T08:37:38","modified_gmt":"2008-08-20T15:37:38","slug":"im-a-keyboard-snob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/?p=136","title":{"rendered":"I’m a Keyboard Snob"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have an unhealthy obsession with computer keyboards.
\n
\nIt all started back in the 1980s. I don’t recall where or why, but I was using a terminal on a large computer system. I loved the keyboard. The keys where mechanical. They made a pleasing click<\/em> as I typed. I could feel the gentle give as the key made contact, closing the circuit, and a character dutifully appeared on the screen.<\/p>\n

Most computer keyboards are non-mechanical. They use magnets in the key caps to complete the circuit. That setup makes the keyboard feel squishy<\/em> to me. I can tolerate it, as I do on most of my keyboards, but for my main writing keyboard, I demand something sweet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Above you see a picture of my collection of old IBM, mechanical keyboards. Those metal monsters weigh a ton. I keep them because they are mechanical; they make a loud click as you use them. I love the noise! But more importantly, I enjoy the responsive feel made by the keyboard as I type. That’s why I collected them, why I still have three.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the old IBM keyboards are incompatible with today’s PC hardware. And they’re huge, heavy, and dominate my computer desk. So I’ve looked elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The first alternative I settled on was the Das Keyboard, shown above. No, that’s no defect in the image; the key caps are blank on purpose. Supposedly it helps you to be an awesome touch typist. That’s fine, as I’m already a touch typist and don’t look at the keyboard. But for typing key combination, such as Alt+M or pecking the % character, the Das Keyboard proved too tedious to use.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Recently, the Das Keyboard people came out with a new, mechanical keyboard, shown above. I love it. Yes, it has key cap logos on it. But the touch and feel is delightfully mechanical. I believe it’s better than that original terminal keyboard I remember enjoying so many years ago \u2014 the one that created the keyboard snob in me.<\/p>\n

The Das Keyboard retails for $99. It’s USB and supposedly works with a Mac, though I haven’t hooked it up to a Mac. Buy it if you like; no link here because I’m not out to make money on the thing, just write.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have an unhealthy obsession with computer keyboards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wambooli.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}