Wired media keyboard

[Bob Eager]

Yes. It really has been in daily use.

[Bob Eager]

The 1989 one was in daily use 1989-2015. I stopped using it a month ago when I retired (I was allowed a FreeBSD machine in the office as well as my work Windows one).

[Andy Burns]

PS/2? Mine came with a PC/AT, I have various DIN and miniDIN cables for it.

[Bob Eager]

I have one of those but they are not quite the same (disregarding the different plug)!

[Michael Black]

I thought it was the move to AT that caused the keyboards to change. I'm not talking about the layout or the extra keys, but the original keyboard for the "IBM PC" had a certain set of keycodes, and the AT brought a different set. So as long as you can adapt the old connector, anything AT and later is fine.

There were even keyboards that had a switch to go from the original keycodes to the AT. I even found one keyboard where that switch wasn't externally available, I guess so it wouldn't be something flipped by mistake. But unless you looked inside to see that switch, you'd not know that it was a later keyboard (or was capable of those later keycodes).

Michael

[RS Wood]

This article might be a good starting point.

You and i have different tastes in keyboards so I cant offer too much advice. But I understand Microsoft fullsize keyboards have media keys etc. And are well made.

You might also like the high end gaming keyboards like Razor. They might have media keys and are usually fully customizable with macros etc.

[The Natural Philosopher]

ROFLMAO.

This Microsoft mouse and keyboard is less than 12 weeks old, and already the A and the S keys have no writing on them, and the T an N are almost worn away.

And its on its second set of mouse batteries (wireless)

[Andy Burns]

I think I'd conveniently forgot about AT keyboards with the function keys on the left (like PC and XT) and thought they all had them at the top.

I still have WordPerfect keyboard templates for both F10 and F12 keyboards and for VT200/300, even the red/green/blue decals for ctrl/shift/alt!

[and having looked at the F10 style template, it does indeed say it's for IBM PC, XT and AT]

[Bob Eager]

I was mainly referring to layout. But in turn that also means:

- missing the Pause key

- missing F11 and F12

- missing AltGr

There may be odd other differences but of course mine are UK versions so are different anyway, so I might not be able to tell!

[Bob Eager]

That's what I like about these old Model Ms. No 'special' keys (but I don't need them), but after 23 years the keys look as new.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Bob Eager writes

My *genius* supplied with the m/c must be 8 or so years.

AEON are now badly worn. Unfortunately, I don't touch type:-( With a bit of effort my brain can recall querty and I have memorised where A should be) but.... surely there must be a supplier of replacement key/button tops out there?

[Bob Eager]

Probably not worth their while - the contours are probably different for every keyboard.

Letraset and varnish?

(the key legends on my first computer keyboard lasted less than 6 months, but they did provide a spare set; that was on my Advance 86b in 1984. Anyone remember them?)

[Andy Burns]

You should write fewer letters to Santa.

I've never found Microsoft keyboards that I like, but their non-budget mice are good for large hands, I have two that are 14 years old and going strong, I keep an eye on eBay for eventual replacements but they're £50-£100 for new-old-stock.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Andy Burns escribió:

Their original Digital Media keyboard is quite nice. Sculpted with a good key action. It has media keys along the top and the little zoom slider on the left.

Kept it long after the legends wore off the keytops and put it through the dishwasher a couple of times to clean it, but had to get rid of it when it developed a weird fault where pressing f5 (refresh) would very very intermittently, but always at the worst possible time, shut down the PC.

Agreed. Their Explorer Mouse (uses BlueTrack) is a good fit for larger hands. The charger base is pants though - I chucked it and use an ordinary AA charger.

[jack]

Best fixed by going for the keyboards with individual back lit keys. Those never wear away.

I prefer a rechargeable mouse, even if that does need charging every few days. Easy enough to check if the battery level is getting low just before you go to bed.

A much bigger problem is finding a decent wireless mouse that doesn?t start double hitting with the left mouse button quite quickly. Not possible with Logitech that I have found. Not the end of the world because its covered by the warranty but it would be a lot more convenient if you didn?t have to keep getting it replaced under warranty. I'm now on my 4th Logitech M-950. The most recent one only lasted about 6 months and the Amazon reviews say the same thing about all the Logitech mice. And you clearly pay for all those warranty claims in the sticker price.

The Logitech M-950 is also much more picky about what it will run around on reliably, you do have to use it on a mouse mat. Again, not a huge thing given how cheap they are, but its mad that Logitech can't get its act into gear on that and the microswitch after all this time.

[The Natural Philosopher]

this ms one doesn't have that problem, but its crap because the scroll wheel spring is so weak you end up clicking *that* by mistake when scrolling, and that somehow is a 'double click' for most apps.

[jack]

Thanks for that, I'll have to check the amazon reviews and find one that suits me otherwise. Must admit I never had that problem with any of the wired MS mice that I used quite a few of before I changed to Logitech cordless and gave up on MS because they wouldn?t cover the lettering wearing out on their keyboards. In those days I was mostly buying the keyboard and mouse as a paired set. I don?t now.

OK, I'll check for that in the reviews.

That's one area where Amazon leaves the rest for dead, the reviews by those who have bought what you are considering, although one of the US retailers is just as good in that area. You don?t need to buy from them to use the reviews obviously.

[RS Wood]

In my opinion, that's the best place for them! Even the C64 had them on the side. Always loved that.