Ducky mechanical keyboards

I just got a routine email from a supplier offering these. Ok, I can
see fancy LEDs on the keys, but I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,
and why the headphones? And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard? I'm
obviously missing something significant.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England

En el artículo , Robin
Bignall escribió:

I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,

They've got proper switches underneath rather than a bit of squishy
rubber and a membrane.

and why the headphones?

dunno. A link would have helped

And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard?

Idiot gamers with more money than sense who think a keyboard with
mechanical switches is going to give them that 0.000001 second
advantage.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Fri, 10 May 2013 23:20:58 +0100, Robin Bignall
wrote:

I just got a routine email from a supplier offering these. Ok, I can
see fancy LEDs on the keys, but I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,
and why the headphones? And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard? I'm
obviously missing something significant.

I'm typing this on an ancient (1990s) Northgate Omnikey/Ultra
keyboard. IIRC it was $129 back then. I also own a few Avant Stellar
keyboards, IIRC $199 when they got bought out and the new owners quit
making the keyboards.

For those of us who spend most of our time at a keyboard and have
grown used to them it's well worth it.

They don't have frills like extra LEDs, but rather *VERY* good keys
(this keyboard is at least 15 years old, it has a slight tendency to
double-type on the number pad but otherwise it's as good as new. Every
key works smoothly and there's no sign of wear on any keys (the
letters are *NOT* printed on the keys, but embedded into them. They'll
never wear off.) Every key on the keyboard can be reassigned (and on
the Avant keyboards it can be reassigned to a whole sequence of keys.)
There are function keys on the left as well as the top. This is also
one of the older ones that has a full set of
arrows/home/end/pgup/pgdn/insert/delete in addition to the number pad.

On Fri, 10 May 2013 18:02:52 -0700, Loren Pechtel
wrote:

On Fri, 10 May 2013 23:20:58 +0100, Robin Bignall
wrote:

I just got a routine email from a supplier offering these. Ok, I can
see fancy LEDs on the keys, but I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,
and why the headphones? And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard? I'm
obviously missing something significant.

I'm typing this on an ancient (1990s) Northgate Omnikey/Ultra
keyboard. IIRC it was $129 back then. I also own a few Avant Stellar
keyboards, IIRC $199 when they got bought out and the new owners quit
making the keyboards.

For those of us who spend most of our time at a keyboard and have
grown used to them it's well worth it.

They don't have frills like extra LEDs, but rather *VERY* good keys
(this keyboard is at least 15 years old, it has a slight tendency to
double-type on the number pad but otherwise it's as good as new. Every
key works smoothly and there's no sign of wear on any keys (the
letters are *NOT* printed on the keys, but embedded into them. They'll
never wear off.) Every key on the keyboard can be reassigned (and on
the Avant keyboards it can be reassigned to a whole sequence of keys.)
There are function keys on the left as well as the top. This is also
one of the older ones that has a full set of
arrows/home/end/pgup/pgdn/insert/delete in addition to the number pad.

I wore out mine, a Northgate. Did replace it, though. Northgate was
bought out, allied to FOCUS, so got one of those. Pretty much the
same thing. Next might be a gaming keyboard, or if that's what they
call them. Dunno. Maybe this FOCUS is supposed to last forever??

On Fri, 10 May 2013 23:20:58 +0100, Robin Bignall
wrote:

I just got a routine email from a supplier offering these. Ok, I can
see fancy LEDs on the keys, but I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,
and why the headphones? And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard? I'm
obviously missing something significant.

There's different mechanics in keyboards, up to $200/US in gaming
circles. What you want, or something like it when money is no object.
Might try some of the "science grade" ones, too, designed for
operating at 200 below on the North Pole, and such;- until it sinks
due to global working, but they should do that, too.

The $300/US headphones are a lot easier to figure out. Just buy a
bunch of highend studio gear for recording and plug in your headphones
when not up to streaming a lot of AM radio quality inet audio computer
samples. I've got both, the ASUS soundcard made for ohmage matching
hi-end headphones, (Grados), although most of the time running the
ASUS into a mixer for the amp(s). (Grado's aren't actually quite as
good of late for confidence testing, tad bass-weighted, since adding a
set of ultralinear studio environment speakers and decent sub.)

On 5/10/2013 7:42 PM, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artículo , Robin
Bignall escribió:

I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,

They've got proper switches underneath rather than a bit of squishy
rubber and a membrane.

and why the headphones?

dunno. A link would have helped

And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard?

Idiot gamers with more money than sense who think a keyboard with
mechanical switches is going to give them that 0.000001 second
advantage.

Mechanical keyboards typically are designed to avoid or minimize key
ghosting. A cheapie keyboard scans a matrix to discover what keys are
depressed. If you mash down several keys, it's likely to not be able to
figure what keys are actually down. That's a problem for gamers that
want to be running, strafing, reloading and issuing squad commands all
at the same time.

I can't really vouch for any keyboard that claims to help with that
issue, but I know that is of concern.

Grinder wrote:
On 5/10/2013 7:42 PM, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artículo , Robin
Bignall escribió:

I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,

They've got proper switches underneath rather than a bit of squishy
rubber and a membrane.

and why the headphones?

dunno. A link would have helped

And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard?

Idiot gamers with more money than sense who think a keyboard with
mechanical switches is going to give them that 0.000001 second
advantage.

Mechanical keyboards typically are designed to avoid or minimize key
ghosting. A cheapie keyboard scans a matrix to discover what keys are
depressed. If you mash down several keys, it's likely to not be able to
figure what keys are actually down. That's a problem for gamers that
want to be running, strafing, reloading and issuing squad commands all
at the same time.

I can't really vouch for any keyboard that claims to help with that
issue, but I know that is of concern.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-key_rollover

"However, if the user has two keys depressed and attempts to strike
a third key, the third keypress may create a "phantom key" by
shorting out the switch matrix."

That's why you add the diode per switch point. I think the idea is,
if the keyboard doesn't have the diodes, depressing A, B, and D
switches, fools the matrix encoder into thinking C is depressed as well.

http://hfr-rehost.net/www.dribin.org...trix_A_B_D.gif

When I built my own keyboard, I used a diode per switch point. I used
the tiny 1N914/1N4148 type (cheap and relatively small).

There is really no difference between a membrane and a keyswitch,
in the sense that both of them are switch closures and involve
completing an electrical circuit. Even a membrane keyboard, could
be designed into a non-matrix solution. And electrically, could
perform every bit as well as a mechanical switch version. The "feel"
would be different of course.

*******

And if you don't like the matrix scanning idea, someone makes
an encoder, with an input for each key. When each key is
handled separately, and not via a matrix scanning mechanism,
you don't need the diodes.

http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/images/KEUSB108.jpg

http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/p...il.html#inputs

Paul

On May 10, 6:20*pm, Robin Bignall wrote:
I just got a routine email from a supplier offering these. *Ok, I can
see fancy LEDs on the keys, but I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,
and why the headphones? *And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard? *I'm
obviously missing something significant.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England

I love mechanical keyboards, and once you've typed on one, you'll
never go back - I have a Noppoo Choc Mini at home and a Leopold
Tenkeyless at work (and plan on getting work to upgrade me to a CM
QuickFire TK).

But $270 is more expensive than normal, as the typical price is about
$100, and even Ducky will sell you a mechanical keyboard for $100 from
Amazon.
--
// T.Hsu

On May 10, 9:19*pm, (DK) wrote:
To this day, I am still using my old trusty SGI Granite keyboards on
all computers. Only trouble is, PS/2 motherboards are going to be
extinct soon and PS/2--USB converters don't seem to work very
well. The one I go was Belkin based on good reviews on Amazon
and it basically sucks.

DK

The link below is the PS/2 - USB converter that you want. It's an
active converter, rather than a passive converter, which is the only
style that really works.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...8128AM Z00PEQ
--
// T.Hsu

On Sat, 11 May 2013 08:03:08 -0700 (PDT), Ting Hsu
wrote:

On May 10, 6:20*pm, Robin Bignall wrote:
I just got a routine email from a supplier offering these. *Ok, I can
see fancy LEDs on the keys, but I don't understand the 'mechanical' bit,
and why the headphones? *And who would pay $270 for a USB keyboard? *I'm
obviously missing something significant.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England

I love mechanical keyboards, and once you've typed on one, you'll
never go back - I have a Noppoo Choc Mini at home and a Leopold
Tenkeyless at work (and plan on getting work to upgrade me to a CM
QuickFire TK).

But $270 is more expensive than normal, as the typical price is about
$100, and even Ducky will sell you a mechanical keyboard for $100 from
Amazon.

I'm obliged to all of you for the info. Thanks.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England