Text 3096, 52 rader
Skriven 2005-03-11 18:16:40 av Don Hills (1:379/45)
   Kommentar till text 3066 av Chris (1:379/45)
Ärende: Re: Touchpad Survey
===========================
From: dmhills@attglobal.net (Don Hills)

In article <42307f4d$1@w3.nls.net>, Chris <nospam@noemail> wrote:
>If I could afford it, I would get one of those nice keyboards, but I
>can't afford 50-100$US on a keyboard.

As John pointed out, that can be false economy. Here's something I said in
another thread: (note, a "mushmatic" is any typical cheap keyboard)

"Russ Blakeman" <rhb57@kynet.net> wrote: |What is the whole thing with the
model M keyboard anyway? I occasionally |feel like I'm on an old terminal or
some Selectric from high school (mid |70's) and they tend to fatigue people
pretty fast although many like the |sound feedback from them when typing,
others like the durability. | <snip>

This may surprise you, but the Model M is actually less fatiguing than a
"mushmatic" once you get used to it. Its feel is based closely on the original
3270 keyboard, which in turn was modeled on the IBM Selectric typewriter
keyboard. The actual "feel" (spring tension, toggle point, tactile and audible
feedback) was the result of feedback from professional typists. Remember when
typing (documents or data entry) was an honoured profession, and the typists
were paid on their throughput? The feel was developed to maximise throughput,
and minimise errors and fatigue. Remember that these typists were typing
non-stop, all day, all week.

A mushmatic may feel softer, but it's illusory. Press a key down slowly on
either type of keyboard. Notice that there is a point at which it "snaps" or
toggles to indicate that the key has been pressed. With the Model M, this point
is precise and indicated by positive tactile and audible feedback. With a
mushmatic, it is neither precise nor audible. (It is instructive to try and
type at your normal rate on a Model M while wearing headphones so that you
can't hear the click - in my case, my throughput and accuracy both
deteriorate.) But more importantly, on a Model M, the electrical registration
of the key press happens precisely when the toggle occurs. On a mushmatic, you
need to press the key past the toggle point before it registers electrically.
This means you type harder than required on a mushmatic, because you don't have
positive feedback that the key has electrically registered. At high speed on a
Model M, you will find that you quite often don't actually push the key all the
way to the bottom - your fingers learn exactly how hard to press to make the
key register and no more. You also learn to tell from the feedback whether or
not a mis-hit key actually registered, before the character appears on the
screen. So if you suffer from OOS / RSI / Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, try a Model
M. Your wrists will thank you for it.

--
Don Hills    (dmhills at attglobaldotnet)     Wellington, New Zealand
"New interface closely resembles Presentation Manager,
 preparing you for the wonders of OS/2!"
    -- Microsoft advertisement on the box for Windows 2.11 for 286

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