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I have Gateway 2000 programmable keyboards on all my computers (except the laptops) and they come in handy for assigning passwords that you constantly have to use. (It is security through obscurity)
The adhoc programmability is great for those repetitive edits that pop up. Sure there are editors with macro capability, but if you are in say, SQL Server Management Studio and someone has given you a list of items to search in an e-mail table, it is wonderful to copy and paste in the list and then program a function key to wrap the text in quotes and commas for a line and then press the key to magically do the edits for each line.
ALL the keys are programmable, not just a few. They have two sets of F keys, twelve on the left hand side and another 12 across the top. I generally program the set on the side, leaving the top set as standard. You can have CTRL and SHIFT prefixes to assign different functions to the same key.
When I set up a computer for my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter so she could entertain herself while I worked ten feet away from her, I set one key for BACK and another for Task Switch. At that age they are just getting the hang of clicking, but the concept of Back and Task Switch is beyond them. The Task Switch would be for those web sites that open a new window.
I taught her to press the BACK key first and if that didn't get her back to where she wanted to be, I told her to press the Task Switch key (I didn't say those words, I just pointed to the keys to press). And she was able to merrily cruise around Sesame Street, PBSkids.org and (reluctantly) Disney web sites.
It was wonderful to watch her progress on her own from press a key to make a noise, drag and drop the animal icons to sort them, to rudimentary reading.
The keyboard programming let her find her own way out of problems instead of pestering me every few minutes.
Psychosis at 10
Film at 11
Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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Model M is so good, it should have an OPTION of its own...
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Whatever keyboard my company provides me with...
Seulement, dans certains cas, n'est-ce pas, on n'entend guère que ce qu'on désire entendre et ce qui vous arrange le mieux... [^]
Joe never complained of anything but ever did his duty in his way of life, with a strong hand, a quiet tongue, and a gentle heart [^]
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Am I the only one than hates laptop or flat-key keyboards? Regular keyboard keys are concave and your fingers sit in them; I can type quite fast with those. However, The standard laptop keyboard or most Mac keyboards I loathe. It is like my fingers cannot "feel" where they are at. Maybe because I grew up on the Model M keyboard...?
My work has offered me some nice laptops to program on, but I always do not accept them. I once switch my WHOLE house to Mac's (when they went Intel) and didn't make it 12 months before I sold them all because of the keyboards on the laptops.
Are there ANY laptops with REAL keyboards with concave keys? I would be all over that.
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The only 'laptop' keyboard I've ever used that had a decent feel was on the TRS-80 Model 100[^]. The keys had reasonable travel, and you could actually type on the thing.
Modern laptop keyboards are flat with little or no key travel. I realize it's a response to to the "I'm thinner! No, I'm thinner!" crap war started by Apple and the MacBook Air, but it does a disservice to users who do text work on the things.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary Wheeler wrote: it does a disservice to users who do text work on the things
You aren't supposed to work on them, the whole idea is to look cool and trendy...
The only instant messaging I do involves my middle finger.
English doesn't borrow from other languages.
English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.
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I've got a tech writer friend who'd love to go a few rounds on that one .
Software Zen: delete this;
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Quote:
Am I the only one than hates laptop or flat-key keyboards? Yeso, apparentlyo.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Depending on where I am
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Personally, I don't like messing with batteries, so I'm 100% wired.
Hogan
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The antique keyboard. I've been using this keyboard for many many years now. It's a MaxData keyboard and on the back it actually says "Cherry Keyboard Win 95 US".
I've been a gamer for years and I've gamed A LOT. I've also written quite some essays for school on this baby. After that, of course, I became a programmer and I've been using my keyboard to code for a couple of years now.
Let's just say it looks and feels like new after almost 20 years of extensive use and it still types better than most newer keyboards I've tried (it's a bit more noisy though)!
It's an OO world.
public class Naerling : Lazy<Person>{
public void DoWork(){ throw new NotImplementedException(); }
}
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Then I'm missing an option to your option. My oldest keyboard is from 1979. It still has a steel case and real keys, not that rubber bubble stuff that is used today. And I gad to solder each and every key onto the circuit boars, along with the encoder chip and the connectors.
Found one like it in a museum: http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102669803[^] At least mine is still ok and works with the old computer right next to it.
PS: Why is there no option for hex keyboards, which are still the only suitable device for real programming?
7B 3F 00 7A 30 01
Sent from my BatComputer via HAL 9000 and M5
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My primary keyboard is an IBM KB-6323[^] made in 1997.
For my DEC systems I have a VT220 from 1986 with an LK201-AA[^].
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I had a keyboard like that at work for over ten years. Once a year I took it home over a weekend, disassembled it and cleaned the keytops.
It eventually died, and was buried with full military honors in the company electronics recycling bin.
Software Zen: delete this;
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I am still using the HP keyboard from the first Windows PC I bought in '98. It still has the 'Demo' sticker on it! Many workstations, monitors, and mice have come and gone of the last 15 years, but the original keyboard remains, and probably will until they quit putting PS/2 jacks on desktop mobos.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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I used to live a few miles away from the Cherry plant and yes, they make wonderful keysets.
Psychosis at 10
Film at 11
Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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I guess I am using too many different devices.
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For me, always standard keyboard is best for development activities.,
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I don't want to spoil the Laptop keyboard by using that most of the time so connected external keyboard to laptop.
Besides it gives me little distance(based on keyboard cable length) between me & laptop. And also using external mouse.
thatrajaNobody remains a virgin, Life screws everyone
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Unless you're trying to do something bizaare like hiding your laptop in the next room and using an external monitor instead the length of the keyboard cable shouldn't matter. I've occasionally ran into cabling length issues because my desktop's tower is farther away than normal but none of those should be an issue with a normally used laptop.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I use external keyboard and mouse with my laptop when I'm developing. If I'm taking the laptop on vacation or something I only take the mouse. I can't stand the touchpad thing. Laptop keyboard isn't too bad but prefer a regular keyboard.
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I use an external keyboard and monitor with my laptop at home, mostly because the onboard keyboard has poor tactile response and the monitor is vertically short (1366 x 768).
Software Zen: delete this;
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I am surprised that there is not an option for mechanical keyboards. It would be interesting to see how often they are used outside of gaming.
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I'm using a Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless.
It has Cherry MX brown switches, so is medium on the clatter-o-meter scale.
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