More that i have never had a keyboard stop working. I also have no memory of throwing away a keyboard, despite having owned ones with both PS/2 and usb connections,( and perhaps one with a serial port??). So i just assume they are stored away in one of the boxes filled with old cables.
Looked around at the largest electronics and appliance store in the area which has a small selection of keyboards and other peripherals, but they wont let you actually try them in store. They will however let you buy them with a 2 week return policy that lets you try them out at home, which I remarked would cause far more wear and contamination of the products than if they had at least a few in store demo products. Or at the very least a test board with just the various switches attached for people to try out. No, buy a board, try it out at home and hand it back is their policy.
Also now upon having looked at a lot of boards I find a lot of them come with this small enter key setup.
As opposed to the bigger top heavy enter key which I am used to and I can’t find a designation that describes these two different layouts other than the weird one seems to be american and the correct one might be an ISO standard. But I’m finding both versions no matter what I’m searching for and some times I see the same keyboard sold at different sites showing different setups with no differentiation between them.
Enter is a rather important button, not one you want to be unsure about whether you’re hitting or not.
During my 25 years as a Database programmer/analyst I came across a keyboard that I loved so much, that it was the only one I would use. It’s the “Gateway Anykey Keyboard”, which is not made anymore, but I still own extra copies of it, and have one attached to my old Windows XP desktop, which I rarely use these days (I use laptops now). On this keyboard any key can be remapped or programmed with a macro via the keyboard itself (no software required), and the configuration is remembered inside the keyboard itself, so you can plug the keyboard into another PC and still have the macro’s (and you can backup the keyboard current configuration to a file, to be restored later). There are 24 functions keys instead of 12. The are placed in 2 sets, with 12 function keys on the left and the other 12 functions key on top. People old enough to remember will recall that keyboards originally had the function keys on the left. These 24 keys can all be programmed (macro’s) separately as well (ie, F1 on the left can have a different macro the F1 on top). This keyboard allowed me to be a very efficient high-speed programmer.
EDIT: Also, notice the “diagonal” cursor (arrow) keys. AND this area between the numeric keypad and the main keyboard can have all of it’s keys programmed too if you wish. Yes, this keyboard is wider than a standard keyboard LOL.
I still have my Nokia flip phone. Touch screens are great and all, but man I miss that thing. Simple and sturdy too. It died to falling into water - like a gutter full. T_T
I have no way of testing the keyboard without them and no way to test them without the keyboard, particularly the DIN → ps/2 one. The ps/2 → USB is working with my backup keyboard.
However it seems an unlikely point of failure as the keyboard’s signals were still received and the weird way it failed very much suggests a problem with the generation of the signal rather than a corruption of it. Particularly the erroneous endless repetition of an ‘n’-input, there’s no way a faulty adapter would cause an “echo” like that.
It’s a shame when your beloved and trusty things die. I had a laptop that during it’s life span had 2 replacements screens, got submerged under a foot of water, dropped gosh knows how many times, one of the ram slots died but I kept it trucking on until ultimately the mobo died. Oh HP how that was a memorable 5 months.
It took me 3 HP products before I vowed never to buy any HP related product again (safe antique lab equipment from them).
I have the smoll one and honestly it’s a non-issue. Even if u might find it weird at first, u’ll get used to it in a matter of days, if not hours
IMO, there’s no reason we should have to adapt, which is why I’m building my own keyboard, the availability of ergo ISO style keyboards is awful. That being said, over the years I’ve switched between qwerty azerty and qwertz ISO layout several times, humans adapt pretty quickly when you use something everyday.
Very nice, what are your plans in regard to face plate or other encasements?
Though I would’ve put the 6 on the other side, just makes sense to split a row of 10 numbers halfways I would’ve thought. Also where’d you get all these parts from?
I have this thing cut out but I’m debating on having everything lasered / buying a laser and doing it myself. I wil likely make a sandwich of wood panels to keep everything contained and I have an aluminum plate I might use for the face, not sure yet.
I wanted to keep F keys and number keys together (above each other), this was the only way I could make it work. Turning your keys sideways brings all kinds of challenges. For example I’m very used to typing y with my left hand and b with my right hand. But IIRC the way I designed it now it is the proper touch typing style.
PCBs were relatively cheap ~40€ from jlcpcb including shipping for 5. I bought a polycarbonate plate and cut out each switch by hand ( do not recommend, get it lasered for like 25€/plate instead). Switches(gateron silent browns) and caps are freely available on many hobby websites but since this is a prototype to me I got them cheap from aliexpress. See https://candykeys.com/ or https://mykeyboard.eu/ or https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/
For the controller I am running a teensy 2.0++, available from any electronics store. Diodes for the switch matrix are also cheap.
I have to get used to this a bit now. I am already regretting not making the slanted keys more aggresively slanted
What breaks on your mouse? The buttons or something else? There’s not that much to mod on a mouse as a diyer since all the smarts is in the optical sensor. (Some people put mechanical clicky switches in the buttons though :D)
I have good luck with logitech mice. My last logitech mouse lasted a decade and I only replaced it because it got gross and the battery stopped holding a charge.
For me it’s the button switches, logitech in particular has a now long existing tendency to develop double clicking behavior and start failing to hold a button pressed. I love every other aspect of logitech mice but their buttons always start failing a few years down the line.
After a ton of research years ago, my mouse of choice is the Logitech M525. I’ve never had it fail on me, and the batteries last forever. You can choose to put in one AA or two AA batteries, which can help achieve the mouse weight you prefer (of course two batteries lasts twice as long). I use rechargeable AA batteries. Also, the scroll wheel is the nicest one I’ve ever used.
EDIT: And it’s ambidextrous for right or left handed folks.
)
From now on I’m calling you Doomy The Creator:D
