Mechanical keyboards, now available at food trucks
-
The only dev tool I bought for myself at work is a mechanical keyboard.
My last company didn't even have a Visual Studio license. They used my personal license I got through DreamSpark. I made damn sure to have that uninstalled from all workstations when they laid me off, and funny enough several months after I was gone I got a phone call saying "What ever happened to Visual Studio? We need it for something!" to which I answered "That was my personal license and I no longer work for you guys, if you need it you'll have to quit being cheap and actually buy a copy now." Kind of made me shy away from personally buying any software that will get used at work.
-
@mott555 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
The only dev tool I bought for myself at work is a mechanical keyboard.
WORTH.
EVERY.
PENNY.
QFMFT.
-
@mott555 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
The only dev tool I bought for myself at work is a mechanical keyboard.
Wait, what's wrong with me, why have I not done this yet... Another K70 isnt even expensive...
-
@Magus said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Wait, what's wrong with me, why have I not done this yet...
Because mechanical keyboards suck ass? "Let's make all our decisions based on nostalgia instead of rational thought".
-
@blakeyrat Some do. But I'm not talking about blue switches, because those are annoying and I don't want to be murdered. Red switches just feel nice.
-
@Magus "feel nice" is exactly the kind of fuzzy-headed non-scientific thinking I was talking about.
-
@blakeyrat As opposed to the 'science' of not caring?
Whatever man, I'll do what I want.
-
@Magus Sure, do what you want, but have at least some self-awareness of when you're not acting rationally. I'm not asking for Mr. Spock.
And mechanical keyboards do suck ass.
-
@blakeyrat If a keyboard with buttons activation forces that don't vary by a factor of ten and don't wear out after six months of heavy use is sucking ass, then I guess I like keyboards that suck ass.
-
@mott555 My Microsoft keyboard has neither of those problems. In fact, it's lasted so long that I'm contemplating replacing it simply because about 50% of the keycaps are worn-off.
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
My Microsoft keyboard has neither of those problems. In fact, it's lasted so long that I'm contemplating replacing it simply because about 50% of the keycaps are worn-off.
Sounds just like my MS kb at home... Would buy again. (But not the fucking wireless one)
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Because mechanical keyboards suck ass?
that may be your opinion. but that would be because you have never actually tried typing on a keyboard powered by Cherry MX Brown switches.
precise activation force, tactile feedback, non clicky so it's much quieter than the MX blues and way way way quieter than the old Model M's with the buckling springs.... it's glorious.
and when the keycaps start going with constant use, you just buy a new set of caps and replace them as needed. no need to throw out that keyboard just because you've worn off the F and J finger registration nubs.
if you seriously try a good mechanical keyboard you will wonder why you ever put up with membrane switches.
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
that may be your opinion. but that would be because you have never actually tried typing on a keyboard powered by Cherry MX Brown switches.
Give me one and I will type on it.
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
if you seriously try a good mechanical keyboard you will wonder why you ever put up with membrane switches.
I typed on a legit genuine original Model M back when I worked tech support for like a year (I found it in the IT storage room and plugged it in on a lark), and I don't see any advantages it has.
-
@blakeyrat That's because Model M's suck. They have almost nothing to do with modern mechanical keyboards.
-
@mott555 I thought that was the kid you nostalgia-ridden idiots who like mechanical keyboards are always drooling over.
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Give me one and I will type on it.
Visit Portland Maine and i'll let you use mine for a couple of hours.
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I don't see any advantages it has.
Precise activation force, every key takes exactly the same amount of force to activate, and this amount is constant for the entire life of the keyboard. Membrane switches start stiff and get more and more loose the more they are typed, leading to common keys taking next to no force to depress and uncommon keys take dozens of times the force.
Also, while there's a lot of nostalgia in the old Model M's they are not and never were a good mechanical keyboard.
they were also loud as fuck, to the point that if you use one in a modern office you can expect multiple complaints at the sound.
@mott555 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
That's because Model M's suck. They have almost nothing to do with modern mechanical keyboards.
exactly
-
@blakeyrat Some do. I don't. I like mechanical keyboards, but the last thing I want is something 30 years old that sounds like a jackhammer.
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Visit Portland Maine and i'll let you use mine for a couple of hours.
Fuck that. I don't even like going to the good Portland.
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Precise activation force, every key takes exactly the same amount of force to activate, and this amount is constant for the entire life of the keyboard. Membrane switches start stiff and get more and more loose the more they are typed, leading to common keys taking next to no force to depress and uncommon keys take dozens of times the force.
I've never had that happen to any keyboard I've ever owned.
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I don't even like going to the good Portland.
Portland Maine is the good portland.
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I've never had that happen to any keyboard I've ever owned.
yes you have, you've just never noticed it because you've never experienced typing on a good keyboard.
once you use a good keyboard you will notice.
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Portland Maine is the good portland.
Good Portland has an entire block and a half full of food trucks:
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
yes you have, you've just never noticed it
Oh goodie. I can pay 3 times more to solve a problem you just said I've never noticed.
Do you also sell a magical rock that keeps away tigers?
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Oh goodie. I can pay 3 times more to solve a problem you just said I've never noticed.
It's kind of like being born with gonorrhea. You just assume it's supposed to burn when you pee, until someone tells you otherwise.
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I can pay 3 times more
for a keyboard that lasts five to ten times as long, yes.
TCO is going to be lower for a mechanical keyboard, both because they last longer and because they are repairable.
in fact there's really no reason other than deliberate abuse and/or sabotage that you should ever need to replace a mechanical keyboard
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
for a keyboard that lasts five to ten times as long, yes.
My current keyboard is 10 years old and has lasted long enough that I'm finding it annoying.
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I'm finding it annoying.
perfect! buy a good mechanical keyboard from WSAD Keyboards and experience the joy of typing once more.
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
WSAD Keyboards
It would have been awesome if the name of the company got the order of the keys wrong, but, alas, that is just a typo.
Wait these genius keyboards from beyond space are just flat and square? Sheesh. Even the Model M had some curve to it.
-
What sort of membrane keyboards do people have issues with that they need to solve them with mechanical keyboards?!
My Microsoft keyboard at home is at like 8 years old and it's going strong. At work I've got a stock Lenovo and HP (the ones they give away with desktops) and they're fine too.
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Membrane switches start stiff and get more and more loose the more they are typed, leading to common keys taking next to no force to depress and uncommon keys take dozens of times the force.
I have never had this happen to a keyboard.
-
@loopback0 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I have never had this happen to a keyboard.
then you've never had a good keyboard to compare to.
-
@loopback0 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
What sort of membrane keyboards do people have issues with that they need to solve them with mechanical keyboards?!
Everybody has TONS of problems they just don't notice! Duh.
I mean, me personally, I focus on solving the problems I do notice, but these mechanical keyboard people are obviously so much more evolved.
@loopback0 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I have never had this happen to a keyboard.
I'm pretty sure it's never actually happened. I think these people who love mechanical switches are exactly like the people who buy magical wood blocks to hold their speaker wires, to ensure the CD bits don't fall out of their $20,000 directional ethernet cable.
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
then you've never had a good keyboard to compare to.
TDEMS.
-
@loopback0 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
then you've never had a good keyboard to compare to.
TDEMS.
i would say the same thing about your position.
It would appear that we are at what they call an imp ass, although i confess i'm not sure why you would want to call anything after the posterior of a being from the demonic planes.
-
@accalia You can easily convince me by shilling out $180 to buy a sucker-keyboard for me also, so I could use it for 10 minutes, verify it's shit (seriously: square rectangle? Not even the spacebar is curved?) and toss it in the garbage.
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I could use it for 10 minutes, verify it's shit (seriously: square rectangle? Not even the spacebar is curved?) and toss it in the garbage.
since you've just admitted you have preconceived notions that would prevent you from giving the device a fair trial because you have already decided what your reaction to it will be.....
No. I'd rather give @Lorne-Kates the money.
He at least will use it for something that will last him longer than 10 minutes.
-
@loopback0 Half the membrane keyboards in our office don't have a working 5 key, due to 5 being a common character in one of our product's names.
EDIT: By 'not working' I mean it works, but you gotta press it about 328490uh82y549hapASDF!!! times harder than any other key for it to actually register.
-
@mott555 I knew it!
-
@mott555 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Half the membrane keyboards in our office don't have a working 5 key, due to 5 being a common character in one of our product's names.
Liar. It's you typing in your username all the time. You've used up all the 5 keys.
-
@loopback0 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
@mott555 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Half the membrane keyboards in our office don't have a working 5 key, due to 5 being a common character in one of our product's names.
Liar. It's you typing in your username all the time. You've used up all the 5 keys.
That's what KeePass is for!
-
@mott555 Not if your password is
pa55word5
;)
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Portland Maine is the good portland.
I disagree.
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Good Portland has an entire block and a half full of food trucks:
Several, now. I work between three groups of them, and don't think that's even all of them.
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
I mean, me personally, I focus on solving the problems I do notice, but these mechanical keyboard people are obviously so much more evolved.
Use what you like, man. Crazy evangelists...
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
@accalia You can easily convince me by shilling out $180 to buy a sucker-keyboard for me also, so I could use it for 10 minutes, verify it's shit (seriously: square rectangle? Not even the spacebar is curved?) and toss it in the garbage.
Corsair's K70 is $70, with your choice of switches.
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
No. I'd rather give @Lorne-Kates the money.
He at least will use it for something that will last him longer than 10 minutes.
-
@Magus said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Corsair's K70 is $70
From where? Corsair's site has it $130.
Annoyingly the cheapest K70 in the UK is £120 ($175).
-
@loopback0 Weird, I could have sworn... Maybe it was that at Bestbuy a year or two back when I bought it? Really don't know.
At least its not the insane glowy one.
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Portland Maine is the good portland.
I agree, because Anna Kendrick is from there. :drools:
-
@accalia said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
No. I'd rather give @Lorne-Kates the money.
He at least will use it for something that will last him longer than 10 minutes.Unlikely. I bet it takes him less than half that time to jerk off.
-
@mott555 said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
That's what KeePass is for!
I can never not read that as "Keep Ass".
-
@blakeyrat said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
Good Portland has an entire block and a half full of food trucks
They've got really nice things there (though it looks totally different in that picture to when I was there; it's both daytime and not winter) but I never really got why they are all concentrated in one place. You'd think they'd want to spread out more so as to have less of an overlap in clientele…
-
@accalia I had an older model Das Keyboard. The fucking electronics died.
I use a Model M in the garage, but that's already an awful, mechanical, noisy place, and the main concern there is durability. I'm still working through the selection process for a new indoor mechanical keyboard. The problem is that I can't find any I genuinely like. A slight ergonomic curve wouldn't fucking kill anybody.
-
@dkf It looks like a perfect example of Hotelling's Law in action.
-
@Weng said in Dev tools worth buying for myself?:
The problem is that I can't find any I genuinely like. A slight ergonomic curve wouldn't fucking kill anybody.
I get horrible RSI if I use a conventional keyboard for long (or a laptop, for that matter). I have to have an ergonomic type keyboard. Until they come out with a mechanical keyboard like the MS Natural 4000 or the Sculpt, I am sticking with membrane switches. I don't care how nice they feel when they positively click, if it means my wrists and forearms hurt like a bastard.
-
My keyboard is no longer manufactured. Replacements are only available on eBay, where prices are astronomical.
None of you should even consider using one. If you have one, you should sell it on eBay immediately. On second thought, that's too much trouble: just give it to me and I'll dispose of it properly.
-
My keyboard is this one:
http://www.bohemianalps.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/xps-keyboard.jpg
I use it to annoy people on voice chat by typing at 120dB.
-
Going back to the initial topic, I brought a video card into work once so I could use a second monitor until my first computer was replaced. (Said video card is now in its intended use in my computer hooked to the TV.)
One of those Dell slightly bendy key and volume control keyboards came with my...second? computer at that job; it soon went into the keyboard pit at work, replaced with a standard layout one. (Said keyboard pit is probably filled with low-travel keyboards now.)
My main keyboard at home is a Model M that came with a PS/2 Model 30 I got for free back in the 90s. Still types wonderfully and I don't have to worry about noise in my home office. I lost the Scroll Lock keycap somewhere along the way, but that's not a big deal. I've looked at getting a more modern mechanical keyboard, but nothing's grabbed me yet for the cost.
The other PC keyboard I've used the most is a Logitech wireless one that's been my workbench and spare gaming keyboard since the late 90s or early 2000s. It's a pretty generic membrane keyboard with Windows keys, but it runs for months on a couple of AAs and is easy to get out of the way when I need to take a computer apart. The mouse that was part of the set died a long time ago, sadly.
I attribute most of my avoidance of RSI typing issues to having learned to type on a Commodore 64 with my hands 3+ inches off the desk.
Food trucks are a non-factor in my eating experience; at least one of the office areas in which I've worked featured the exciting variety of having a Subway and an Arby's in reasonable driving distance. Feel the excitement! :/