Keyboard recommendations wanted

Chris Hogg snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net wrote

Get one of the backlit keyboards. They have to have double injection moulded keytops for the light to shine thru the letters.

Not all. My current keyboard has individually addressable keys that can be set to a range of colours, but they are made of translucent, white plastic, with the overall black printed on. The black is beginning to wear off in places. I only bought it as a stop-gap when my son spilt a drink in my Ducky keyboard.

The Ducky has been disassembled, washed, dried and liberally squirted, in each switch, with contact cleaner, but still has a couple of slightly sticky key mechanisms. At some point I'll try again - or failing that, I could replace those individual switches.

Well Cherry I think still do these. Some of the more expensive Logitechs do, but you are right a lot of them are not immune to wear. Of course get yourself a touch typing course and then you never need to look at the keys.

Brian

Yes back in them olden days even the Spectrum Plus computers had double injection moulded keys that did not rub off. Brian

Sigh. Almost impossible. MOST of the moulded keys are on gaming keyboards that are backlit, garish, and designed to appeal to stoned teenagers playing 'call of duty 1235' in their mum's basement.

I ended up with a laser etched keyboard here - a Cherry G80 I think, yes, turning it over that's what it says..and while the keys are a bit greyer than they started out they are still after 9 months *legible*.

This costs the best part of £80-£100

It has mechanical clacky keys, and the keycaps are replaceable. I am half satisfied with it. I wanted two colour moulded keys, but couldn't find any that were not backlit

The Natural Philosopher snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid wrote

Nope.

But there are still some that aren't.

You don?t have to power the backlight.

The Acorn keyboard I'm using to type this on is 30 years old. No wear on the keys. An original clackety clack type known as IBM.

The keys are engraved and filled with a contrasting colour.

Many cheap modern ones are soft plastics with the character simply printed on, which doesn't last.

As is said, a backlit type will have the character all the way through the key. So can't wear off.

As I have said. Backlit keys do *not* guarantee two shot moulded or engraved and filled keys. The keyboard that I am typing on now is backlit, but the keys are plain, translucent, plastic mouldings, completely printed over in black, except for the characters themselves - and the black is wearing off in places. Less than 2 years old.

I used to be a real keyboard snob, I was a great fan of the original IBM PC keyboard. But IMHO relatively cheap ones are now very much better, both for action and for caption wear. I've worn out a couple of Dell keyboards over the past 20 years or so, but I am currently using an HP which was on offer for about £20 in a supermarket several years ago.

I have two laptops as well as a desktop on my desk, these days the laptops sit right to one side unless I am taking them out, and I drive them with a pair of Perixx bluetooth keyboard/mouse combinations.

I'm on them for a couple of hours most days, sometimes significantly more.

But you cannot offer any evidence of what they are or where they might be bought

You do have to pay for the backlight

Highly recommended:

Pricy but nice!

I used to use an IBM model M, until I wanted a Windows key, so I switched to a cheapo keyboard for a while, but a few months ago I bought a Durgod K320 tenkeyless model, it's a mechanical rather than squidgy rubber like the cheapo, I got the brown keyswitches, so it's not actually clicky like the model M, I'm about used to it now, I'd rather have the extra desk space for the mouse instead of the numpad which I hardly ever used.

Yes it has double-shot key caps, which is the phrase you need to search for to ensure you get legends that don't rub off.

Pretty sure you can get it cheaper than Amazon

You can easily spend £100 on a super duper mechanical keyboard, whereas a cheap one goes for a tenner. If you want cast keycaps rather than printed ones it's going to bump up the price.

So if you aren't fussy I'd suggest just going for a cheap one and replacing it when needed. Often keyboards are shipped unwanted with desktop PCs, so go for a decent brand like a Dell or Lenovo and you can pick a new one up from ebay for a few quid and call it 'recycling' - the keyboards were probably going in the crusher anyway. Alternatively if you have a local computer recycling place they might let you try them out before you buy (they probably get through thousands of the things).

Theo

I got a really naff one for a spare - Kensington or summat. Its actually really good. Its on the server at the moment

at that price, buy ten...

Thanks for all the recommendations. But as I was reading them, a little light came on upstairs: 'Hang on, haven't I got a spare keyboard in the junk-box in the loft? <Goes rummaging> 'Ah yes, here it is!' <gets it down from the loft>

'Oh bugger, it's got a PS2 plug' (which probably tells you how old it is!). <back up into the loft; more rummaging>. 'Wahey! A PS2 to USB adapter! (one of those double ones with a socket for a mouse as well, which I don't need). Put it all together and lo-and-behold it works. Nice almost clean keys, clear lettering, everything seems to work as it should; altogether very good. Saves me a few quid. Moral: never throw stuff away! It's a Chicony KB-0325, if it means anything to anyone.

But thanks again anyway.

Backlit keyboards.

or where they might

That fixes the letters wearing off problem.