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In search of an excellent keyboard?



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 6th 03, 11:02 AM
me,myself and moe
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Posts: n/a
Default In search of an excellent keyboard?

Hopefully the store you are shopping at has the keyboards out on display so
that you an touch them. Avoid the sub $20.00 keyboards and type on some of
the more expensive ones, find one you like the feel of. I recently bought a
cheap HP 514N for my office and absolutely love the feel of the keyboard
that came with it, unfortunately I doubt you could buy it seperatly
anywhere. Check out some of the logitech keyboards, they have a nice feel to
them as well. Sometimes to get a keyboard that you like means that you will
have to sacrifice the style issue.

Curtis

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I guess I've been out of the loop too long. I was at CompUSA looking at a
whole isles worth of keyboards for my new system and came away thinking

that
for something a person would spend hours working with the quality seems

like
they were meant to be about as enduring as Gillette disposables. Can

anybody
recommend a corded keyboard that, dare I say, strikes one as being

elegant,
sturdy, and a fitting part of a $2,500 system?

Thanks for the input, Steve.



  #2  
Old September 6th 03, 01:10 PM
MyndPhlyp
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Steve" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I guess I've been out of the loop too long. I was at CompUSA looking at a
whole isles worth of keyboards for my new system and came away thinking

that
for something a person would spend hours working with the quality seems

like
they were meant to be about as enduring as Gillette disposables. Can

anybody
recommend a corded keyboard that, dare I say, strikes one as being

elegant,
sturdy, and a fitting part of a $2,500 system?


How about an old Northgate OmniKey Ultra keyboard?

For those of you not familiar with Northgate computers, they made a great PC
(back in the 80486/66 days) AND a fantastic (IMO) keyboard. It sported a
separate numeric keypad, another keypad with similar layout for the arrow
keys (instead of the inverted "T") and other movement keys, 12 function keys
(when everybody else was sporting only 10 function keys) located along the
right vertical plus 12 "shift-function" function keys along the top.
Excellent tactile feedback (as opposed to the "mushy" keyboards with no
tactile feedback. Commands a bit more desktop because of the second keypad
on the left and the function keys on the right.

Unfortunately, Northgate no longer exists. But at least one of their
keyboards does and I have it. Definitely a collectors item if you
experienced the PC industry changes from the 80386 to the Pentium.
Personally speaking, Northgate would never have been able to make a living
building and selling these keyboards - they're just too damned good.


  #3  
Old September 6th 03, 01:26 PM
MyndPhlyp
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Posts: n/a
Default


"MyndPhlyp" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I guess I've been out of the loop too long. I was at CompUSA looking at

a
whole isles worth of keyboards for my new system and came away thinking

that
for something a person would spend hours working with the quality seems

like
they were meant to be about as enduring as Gillette disposables. Can

anybody
recommend a corded keyboard that, dare I say, strikes one as being

elegant,
sturdy, and a fitting part of a $2,500 system?


How about an old Northgate OmniKey Ultra keyboard?

For those of you not familiar with Northgate computers, they made a great

PC
(back in the 80486/66 days) AND a fantastic (IMO) keyboard. It sported a
separate numeric keypad, another keypad with similar layout for the arrow
keys (instead of the inverted "T") and other movement keys, 12 function

keys
(when everybody else was sporting only 10 function keys) located along the
right vertical plus 12 "shift-function" function keys along the top.
Excellent tactile feedback (as opposed to the "mushy" keyboards with no
tactile feedback. Commands a bit more desktop because of the second keypad
on the left and the function keys on the right.

Unfortunately, Northgate no longer exists. But at least one of their
keyboards does and I have it. Definitely a collectors item if you
experienced the PC industry changes from the 80386 to the Pentium.
Personally speaking, Northgate would never have been able to make a living
building and selling these keyboards - they're just too damned good.


Just for grins, I did a little Google'ing for the Northgate keyboard and
found a vendor selling the vendor who bought the rights to the Northgate
keyboard. The Avant would also be a good keyboard.

http://www.ergo-2000.com/ergo2000/sh...ctGroup_ID=235


  #4  
Old September 6th 03, 02:19 PM
Ben Myers
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Default

Let me recommend the original 101-key IBM keyboard, last manufactured by Lexmark
(IBM spinoff) in maybe 1994 or 1995. Elegant? Absolutely not. Sturdy?
YES!!!! Built like a rock. Absolutely wonderful positive touch, like the old
IBM Selectrics, but each key press makes a noisy click. No Windows keys and no
internet keys, but so what?

I've used one for many years. It follows me to whatever system I have. I will
be in deep trouble if the industry ever gets around to eliminating the PS/2
keyboard connector altogether. The keycaps on the keyboard never wear out, and
the lettering does not wear off. If you drop an IBM keyboard on the floor and
manage to crack or break a keycap, no problem, just replace.

I used to sell refurbished (disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled) IBM
keyboards for $40, but nowadays nobody wants to pay anything for a keyboard.
And $40 for used keyboard is unthinkable to most people. I keep a stock of them
here, because I just haven't gotten around to throwing them away. The $40 +
shipping price still stands. $40 pays for my time to clean up an IBM keyboard
and make it like new again.

The newer IBM-branded keyboards are pretty nice, too, but not in the same league
as the old ones. I guess I'll switch to a newer one if and when I move to a
system with no PS/2 keyboard port... Ben Myers

On Fri, 5 Sep 2003 23:31:04 -0700, Steve wrote:

Hi,

I guess I've been out of the loop too long. I was at CompUSA looking at a
whole isles worth of keyboards for my new system and came away thinking that
for something a person would spend hours working with the quality seems like
they were meant to be about as enduring as Gillette disposables. Can anybody
recommend a corded keyboard that, dare I say, strikes one as being elegant,
sturdy, and a fitting part of a $2,500 system?

Thanks for the input, Steve.


  #5  
Old September 6th 03, 03:52 PM
MyndPhlyp
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Tom Almy" wrote in message
...
You beat me to it. There are several companies selling the Avants.
Personally, I've got a *stack* of Nortgate Omnikey/102s that I intend to
use until I die. I've got them on both my home and work machine. The one
at work I've used continuously since 1989! Worth the $100 it cost then


...snip...

Worth ONLY the $100 it cost then? g The thing was so good, it was the
standard by which all other keyboards were measured!


  #6  
Old September 6th 03, 03:57 PM
Ben Myers
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Posts: n/a
Default

Art Lazare (often called Art Bizarre), who founded Northgate around the same
time Gateway and Zeos started up, never really had true in-house engineering and
hardware design expertise in his company. Just like Gateway, Zeos, and Dell,
Northgate had people to evaluate off-the-shelf products. Then Northgate picked
the ones it liked the best, negotiated real hard on quantity OEM pricing, and
assembled the boxes. Northgate liked the Omnikey/102 enough to have probably
trademarked the name and maybe even bought the patent for the design from the
original equipment keyboard manufacturer. When Northgate went belly up for the
first time, somehow Avant ended up with ownership of the keyboard design.

Lately, the Northgate name has surfaced again. I doubt that it is Art Bizarre
in action again, but Staples is selling cheap Athlon-powered boxes with monitors
carrying the Northgate brand name. This "Northgate Innovations" is a California
company, whereas the original Northgate was headquartered in the Minneapolis-St.
Paul area. Sounds like the new company is trading on the very mixed brand-name
identity of the old company... Ben Myers

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 07:16:06 -0700, Tom Almy wrote:

You beat me to it. There are several companies selling the Avants.
Personally, I've got a *stack* of Nortgate Omnikey/102s that I intend to
use until I die. I've got them on both my home and work machine. The one
at work I've used continuously since 1989! Worth the $100 it cost then
and still worth the nearly $200 they cost now. IMHO the best keyboard
ever made.

MyndPhlyp wrote:

Just for grins, I did a little Google'ing for the Northgate keyboard and
found a vendor selling the vendor who bought the rights to the Northgate
keyboard. The Avant would also be a good keyboard.

http://www.ergo-2000.com/ergo2000/sh...ctGroup_ID=235




  #7  
Old September 6th 03, 05:37 PM
Robert
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
Let me recommend the original 101-key IBM keyboard, last manufactured by

Lexmark
(IBM spinoff) in maybe 1994 or 1995. Elegant? Absolutely not. Sturdy?
YES!!!! Built like a rock. Absolutely wonderful positive touch, like

the old
IBM Selectrics, but each key press makes a noisy click. No Windows keys

and no
internet keys, but so what?

I believe this design is also available at
http://store.yahoo.com/pckeyboards/cus101usenon.html

There was a New York Times article a while ago that recommended this
keyboard for people who loved the old IBM.

Robert


  #9  
Old September 6th 03, 08:22 PM
Ben Myers
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

It looks and sounds pretty good on the web site, but I'll bet that the quality
is a lot lower than the good old IBM 101... Ben

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 16:37:21 GMT, "Robert" wrote:


"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
Let me recommend the original 101-key IBM keyboard, last manufactured by

Lexmark
(IBM spinoff) in maybe 1994 or 1995. Elegant? Absolutely not. Sturdy?
YES!!!! Built like a rock. Absolutely wonderful positive touch, like

the old
IBM Selectrics, but each key press makes a noisy click. No Windows keys

and no
internet keys, but so what?

I believe this design is also available at
http://store.yahoo.com/pckeyboards/cus101usenon.html

There was a New York Times article a while ago that recommended this
keyboard for people who loved the old IBM.

Robert



  #10  
Old September 6th 03, 11:56 PM
Rocket
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Fortunately keyboards are destined for the technology graveyard along with
the dot matrix printer, roller-ball mouse, Zip drive, and the most recent
inductee... the floppy drive. CRT's may hang out a while yet until faster
LCD & plasma monitors are affordable for gamers.
I would also expect that everything PCI will soon fall.
....and the beat goes on...
--
Rocket



"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
It looks and sounds pretty good on the web site, but I'll bet that the

quality
is a lot lower than the good old IBM 101... Ben

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 16:37:21 GMT, "Robert"

wrote:


"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
Let me recommend the original 101-key IBM keyboard, last manufactured

by
Lexmark
(IBM spinoff) in maybe 1994 or 1995. Elegant? Absolutely not.

Sturdy?
YES!!!! Built like a rock. Absolutely wonderful positive touch,

like
the old
IBM Selectrics, but each key press makes a noisy click. No Windows

keys
and no
internet keys, but so what?

I believe this design is also available at
http://store.yahoo.com/pckeyboards/cus101usenon.html

There was a New York Times article a while ago that recommended this
keyboard for people who loved the old IBM.

Robert





 




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