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Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
kevs #51006 01/24/19 04:05 AM
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There was no link. A general search on Google will explain why looking at one's keyboard to find the letters slows down typing.

The point of unmarked (or covered over) keys is that there is no benefit in looking away from the monitor to look down at the keys to "cheat." It takes time to learn to type with "DasKeyboard Ultimate" (or the like), but for those for whom speed is important, the effort is worth it in the long run. One looks at the type appear onscreen and not at the fingers or keys.

Back in the olden days: Steno pools were rooms filled with typists. Rarely would one see a typist looking at the keyboard or the paper in the typewriter. The eyes were fixed on the source document or book that was being typed onto paper.

i.e. Unmarked keyboard = the same concept for the computer age. laugh


P.S. But getting back to the point of the OP who preferred the G5 keyboard . . .

I wanted a keyboard that had a look and feel more like the electric IBM typewriters I grew up with. I went with DasKeyboard because it met those requirements and reminded of the G5 keyboard's behaviour. As a bonus, it provided a way to learn to type faster. (Note: Stickers or paint over the G5 keyboard markings would have achieved a similar goal, but DasKeyboard offered me the opportunity without having to mark or damage the original G5 keyboard.)

DISCLAIMER : I am not paid to endorse this product nor do I own stock in the company. Just my 2-bits worth.

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
joemikeb #51007 01/24/19 04:08 AM
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ok Joe then even my Macbook Air is good to go... ok, when these white ones wear out I'll most likely be going wireless...Thanks.

Final Is wireless the main attraction for you to bail on your previous comfort zone of white non chicklets (you could found a faux white like a McNally.), or you just wanted be current.. any other benefits to the magic keyboard besides being wireless?

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
kevs #51008 01/24/19 04:47 AM
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MG, did not see your post. Your side thread has been going over my head..but sounds interesting. This Daskeyboard does what? Don't get it yet...
I've been typing qwerty since 11 years old, so I don't need to look at keys...

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
kevs #51009 01/24/19 02:31 PM
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Originally Posted By: kevs
Final Is wireless the main attraction for you to bail on your previous comfort zone of white non chicklets (you could found a faux white like a McNally.), or you just wanted be current.. any other benefits to the magic keyboard besides being wireless?

I actually wore out my non-chiclets keyboard then I went through a series of Apple and non-Apple keyboards trying to find the perfect keyboard, and wireless was a significant criteria. I still have an Apple wireless keyboard that uses flashlight batteries tucked away in a drawer somewhere, along with a standard Magic keyboard. At one point I had a standard Apple wireless keyboard (the one with flashlight batteries), a Belkin numeric keypad, and an Apple battery powered wireless trackpad lined up across the front of my desk. Magic eliminated the flashlight batteries in favor of a much longer lasting builtin lithium battery and Bluetooth 4.2, but was only available in the standard size. The Matias wireless extended keyboard relegated the Belkin numeric keypad to the junk bin. By the time the Matias failed, Apple had introduced the Magic extended keyboard and the Magic trackpad. That is where I am today. More evolution than revolution.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
joemikeb #51010 01/24/19 05:30 PM
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Thanks Joe, yeah I knew Apple had an extended (I think), non chicklet flat for a long time no?.. but have not been paying attention to "magic". All of Apple non checklits have always been wireless/ bluetooth no? And how long has the word magic been in the mix and what does magic correspond too? (new version of bluetooth?).. which is just better/ more stable bluetooth?

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
kevs #51011 01/24/19 07:16 PM
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Simple concept, really. I know no other way to explain what I mean. Check out their website. Perhaps the info there will be clearer to you than what I have provided.

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
joemikeb #51013 01/25/19 03:07 PM
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And Joe, if you know/ have any links to good products that raise the magic keyboards to the height of old whites please send...!
(I'm sure a piece of wood underneath could achieve that- but a dedicated product is always nice to see). Have you gotten used to the super flat feel too, or raise height?

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
kevs #51061 02/04/19 07:24 PM
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I haven't read every post. I wanted to comment on the subject. Much has to to with what you learned on. Your experience, your frame of reference.

When I was in high school, I was ridiculed for enrolling in typing class. The perception was it was a class for girls and dumb kids (and dumb girls). In the vernacular: "a blow-off class". But I enjoyed writing. And I enjoyed typing. When I was an even younger kid, I liked to plunk around on Mom's manual typewriter which she had used in college. If you want young people to see how lucky they are, put them in front of a manual typewriter. That's a workout. But Mom never got any pain from it.

So I didn't mind learning on an IBM Selectric typewriter in school. You think the Model M was loud? That was a loud room, that typing class, with 30 electric typewriters plugged in and humming away. I liked that typewriters made an impression on the page. I printed my college thesis on a laser printer. Although I used acid free paper, the type began to fade after a few years.

In the 1990s I worked for a brief time at a newspaper. I used a Model M, which I still consider the best keyboard I have used because of the snappiness of the keys. I typed faster on that than on any keyboard I have used. My moronic co-workers were convinced I had lied on my resume about my typing speed and other things. The speed I gave was actually pretty low, but that didn't matter. They were idiots. When they saw me type on these Model M keyboards, they were shocked. So I guess I proved my point.

But you know my hands and wrists did get tired, so although the Model M is considered "best" by many, it isn't ergonomic. Progress has been made in that area. I look forward to trying some new keyboards.

For those of us who learned on real typewriters, computer keyboards have never felt like real typing, with the possible exception of the Model M.

I'm using a $150 Matias Quiet Pro now, but a key cap popped off again after three months, and the keys, though somewhat clacky, still have some mushiness to them. For some reason, I type badly on this keyboard. The left side slides around the table. I don't know why it's so hard to make four rubber feet for a keyboard to keep it from sliding. I don't consider it a $150 keyboard. Fifty maybe.

For a long time I was using the Logitech K120 (?) sold at Office Depot for $12 or $15 dollars. Although it was a membrane keyboard, it had a surprisingly good feel to it. Problem was, every few months the paint would wear off the key caps. After going through about four of them, I realized it made just as much sense to spend more money on a high quality keyboard.

I'm still looking. Poor quality is a sign of the times. There are all kinds of ways to make a bad keyboard. Aren't people clever?

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
deniro #51062 02/04/19 10:53 PM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
When I was in high school, I was ridiculed for enrolling in typing class. The perception was it was a class for girls and dumb kids……

I never took typing but, in retrospect, if there is one “girls’ skill” that would have been great to learn….it was shorthand. Taking notes, in the many, many meetings I’ve attended, would have been a breeze.

Originally Posted By: deniro
The left side slides around the table. I don't know why it's so hard to make four rubber feet for a keyboard to keep it from sliding.

You should pop by a carpet shop. They have a rubbery mesh that goes under carpets to keep them from sliding on wood floors. Perhaps they’d have a spare bit you could just take. Or, you could probably use rubber coated shelf liner.

Last edited by ryck; 02/04/19 10:58 PM.

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Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
ryck #51063 02/04/19 11:59 PM
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Originally Posted By: Dinero
When I was in high school, I was ridiculed for enrolling in typing class. The perception was it was a class for girls and dumb kids (and dumb girls). In the vernacular: "a blow-off class".

It is all in the name.

In a Fortune 100 company where I worked, when executives and managers began to get terminals on their desks (this preceded PCs by several years), the training branch began offering class in Typing and they were a total flop. So we changed the title of the course to "Keyboarding" and the classes immediately filled up. Then we we began receiving complaints that managers and executives did not like attending classes with the clerical personnel. So once again back to the course catalog where we began offering the same curriculum, with the same instructors, under the title: Management Computing Skills.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
deniro #51064 02/05/19 09:34 AM
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As long as we're going down memory lane ...

Originally Posted By: deniro
... Although I used acid free paper, the type began to fade after a few years.

In the early '60s, given that it was a real bitch to make typing corrections, I used Eaton's Corrasable Bond paper for essays. It allowed for easy erasure of typing errors with a regular rubber pencil eraser. By the same token it also had the distinct drawback of allowing the typed material to come off on one's fingers and so needed to 'cure' for about a week prior to handing in said essays. The upside was that one was a week ahead of the game.

Originally Posted By: deniro
For those of us who learned on real typewriters ....

In 10th grade it was clear that typewriting skills would be highly advantageous if one were going to proceed in academe.
I was the only male in the class. We used monstrous manual clunkers (but never got so-called carpal tunnel syndrome). I still can't touch-type the top row blindfolded.

In the mid-'70s — jumping ahead to my time in academe — I bought an IBM Correcting Selectric II typewriter (with sound reduction option) and gradually accumulated another half-dozen typing elements (dancing balls). Since then I've had to have some minor repairs done — which has become harder and harder to do since no one repairs the suckers any more — and am still using it on a daily basis.

Re: Prefer the old white keyboards -like G5 came with
ryck #51065 02/05/19 09:47 AM
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Originally Posted By: deniro
The left side slides around the table. I don't know why it's so hard to make four rubber feet for a keyboard to keep it from sliding.

Originally Posted By: ryck
You should pop by a carpet shop. They have a rubbery mesh that goes under carpets to keep them from sliding on wood floors.

You could also fashion your own non-skid feet by applying a thin dab of silicone rubber to your keyboard's feet; it's self-leveling, so the keyboard won't rock once it cures.

Also a warning: Be very cautious about using rubber-backed non-slip carpets or carpet pads on any type of linoleum. A chemical reaction will occur over time — much like happens with spilled mustard or orange soda or crepe shoe soles — leaving a particularly ugly 'stain' which cannot be removed (other than by replacing the linoleum). Certain other plastics have the same problem (which will not be on the label).

Stabilizing Keyboards
ryck #51083 02/07/19 07:54 PM
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Re: "You should pop by a carpet shop. They have a rubbery mesh that goes under carpets to keep them from sliding on wood floors."


The "dollar stores" often sell this material in smaller bits - usually sold as drawer liner or the like. Easy to cut to any size or shape.

P.S. Also great for getting a good grip on opening the lid of a jar for the first time.


grin

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