💾 Archived View for tilde.cafe › ~stack › gemlog › 2022-04-18.keyboard.gmi captured on 2023-07-22 at 17:26:25. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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I've managed to successfully avoid it for many years. Every so often I would ogle at someone's cool keyboard, think about buying one, and let it go.
I've used many keyboards over the years - they used to come in two flavors - bad and ok. What passes for keyboards these days is an embarrassment, especially the laptop keyboards. Lately I've been using a cheap 'red switch' keyboard bought on Amazon for like $25 or so -- for a over a year now. Surprising, a barely so, but an OK keyboard. As I am slumming it away from home, taking care of my aging in-laws, I've been avoiding making any purchases. But a keyboard is something I use every day for hours, so it is OK to get a decent one, and my fingers are getting arthritic.
I started looking a couple of weeks ago. Like anything else, it's a rabbit hole. Not just the keyboard, but people spend hundreds of dollars on plastic keycaps! There is a lot of terminology, as expected. There are many Cherry clones, and the keycaps come in no less than 5 different profiles. There are fake keyboards, there are expensive keyboards, and there are cheap fake keyboards being sold as expensive mechanical keyboards.
I really don't want to become a keyboard asshole on top of all my other pricey and annoying habits, so I decided to keep it minimal. And as I don't really know much about today's keyboards, I decided to stick to basics.
I bought a used Das 4 keyboard for $50. What a deal! I was assuming a couple of switches would crap out, but amazingly all work great. I really like buying used things and fixing them when needed. Das 4 is an amazing piece of engineering. It feels really good on my lap, which is where I keep the keyboard when I type. The top is a solid piece of steel, and it weighs 1.2 kilograms! No flex there. You could definitely kill someone with it.
It is solid. I got used to the jiggly keys of my cheap keyboard. You can shake Das 4 and it's silent!
The keys take a little more force than I am used to, but exceptionally good. I feel like a coding machine typing on it. The feedback is exeptionally satisfying (I have brown tactile switches). I am considering getting some o-rings, as I tend to bottom out the keys as I pound on them. It's a bit more noisy than I was expecting for brown switches, again, mostly from the bottoming out of the keys. I would have preferred the clickier switches, but out of respect for others figured brown is better. And it is.
And then it's onto keycaps. The all-black keyboard stock caps are underwhelming and slippery. For some reason I am obsessing about beige keys - not really beige, but more like ivory, warm yellowish off-white, with large symbols. Retro. I am under the delusion that if I get keycaps I like I will be super productive and get back to writing code. I am now on day two - or is it three - of looking for a nice set. It's another stupid rabbit-hole. I found a nice-looking (and inexpensive) set at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/YMDK-Profile-Keycaps-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B07CYTLXRB
I am not sure I like the orange keys, but I do like the color of most of the keys and I don't have to swap all the keycaps anyway, just the alphanumerics. Unfortunately, one of the hundreds of reviews pointed out that the 'M' key is an upside-down 'W'. They guy said: 'once you see it, you can't unsee it!' and it is true. Look at it for a few seconds. Why is it so annoying? I could not get myself to buy this. I mean, it's $26 bucks, not worth thinking about too much, and who cares about the 'W'? Ehh. THere is a similar kit for $39 with a real 'M'. Am I really that shallow or stupid? Apparently so.
I've spent a stupid amount of time doing this. I really have to stop.
P.S. The word is that Das 4 keyboards are pretty inferior to really nice keyboards... At least I have an old one, before the quality went down...