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From: anderson@vms.macc.wisc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Keyboards
Message-ID: <171@dogie.edu>
Date: 22 Apr 88 10:35:18 GMT
Sender: news@dogie.edu
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Organization: University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center
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My experience with keyboards now extends to five, so I'll pass on
my prejudices as a form of consumerism.

1.  Original true-blue XT:
    Extremely clattery, little spring resistance, itty-bitty
    return key.  Not very good, but not the worst.

2.  Original Zenith 158 XT clone:
    Don't know who made it, but it was the second-best, in terms
    of touch character and layout.

3.  Genuine Keytronics 5151:
    Quite an odd keyboard to *look* at, because the keys are an
    odd shape (yes, some of us do look at our hands) that for me
    I wear bifocals) created the illusion of flatness or lack of
    vertical relief to the kayboard.  But by far my greatest
    objections to that keyboard were that it is extremely spongy
    as to touch, with no feel of "making" the characters (with
    the system unit under the desk, clickers wouldn't help much.
    Also, I happen to hate having the function keys across the
    top, which is clearly an emerging standard.  I didn't like
    the positions of the control/alt/shift cluster, either.  In
    sum, very disappointing after all the hoopla about what a
    great thing the were.

4.  Jameco clone keyboard:
    A loaner while waiting for a new KB for my new office machine
    (Club AT clone, only comes with 101-key keyboard), this is
    another 101-key keyboard with a totally awful touch, very odd
    scratchy noise (loud too) as the keys go down, and a totally
    awful arrangement of shift/control/alt.

5.  Maxiswitch 84-key:
    Came with my first Club AT clone (the home machine).  Perfect
    for me.  Good touch, very quiet and solid, function keypad to
    the left, esc and tilde keys interchange by a switch on the
    bottom (I like esc next to the main keypad 1).  Am trying hard
    to locate another one to replace the preceding (think I've
    succeeded).

If you're relatively new to computing and expect to do a lot of
typing, give quite a bit of thought to your keyboard, since it's
the part of the machine you use the most, in some sense.  The location
of function keys, numeric and cursor keypads, and various shifters
is a matter of taste and habit, and you can almost always get into
some sort of argument about what's better or best.  But don't just
go blindly into accepting whatever keyboard comes with your machine,
because a different one could make a significant difference to your
life.


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