Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen
From: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Real keyboards the way God designed them to be
Message-ID: <1922@crdos1.crd.ge.COM>
Date: 18 Dec 89 15:23:57 GMT
References: <1989Dec17.002636.1736@athena.mit.edu> <1989Dec17.150635.1617@cs.eur.nl>
Organization: GE Corp R&D Center, Schenectady NY
Lines: 35
Reply-exos:@crdgw1:To: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen)

In article <1989Dec17.150635.1617@cs.eur.nl> evas@cs.eur.nl (Eelco van Asperen) writes:
>I've been not paying attention to the ``state of the art'' of the IBM
>PC world, having been in the Unix world for the past 3-4 years.  
>I'm now looking for a reasonable keyboard for an IBM PC, and I'm not
>quite certain it exists.  

  Take a look at a Northgate ad. They have three styles of keyboard, and
that will give you an idea of some of the variations. Northgate and
Macroswitch are delivering keyboards which have the 12 function keys on
the left, separate keypad, and allow switching the control key back to
the position above the left switch key. Northgate also has a kb with a
very complete cursor pad (almost a duplicate of the original PC layout),
numeric keypad, and 15 function keys.

  While I know of only two sources for function keys on the left, there
are a number of vendors who sell keyboards just like the IBM layout.
Some allow the control key to be moved, some don't. I believe that
someone makes a replica of the 3270PC layout, with 24 function keys.
Keytronics is a big player in this market.

  About touch: Northgate is the only one I've tried which comes close
to the IBM touch, and they're not all that close. They do have a good
overcenter action and mechanical click. People who type very lightly
report bounce with the Northgate. I use it for both systems at home and
for my system at work. Keytronics has a very soft touch and some have
(or had when I tried them) an electronic click which may be disabled.
The touch is somewhat like typing on a loaf of fresh bread, and taking
one apart reveals what appear to be SPONGES inside, of some conductive
material. Other models may use other construction.

-- 
bill davidsen	(davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen)
"The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called
'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see
that the world is flat!" - anon