Keyboards go retro

[Bernard Murphy]

First we had mechanical keyboards (OK, maybe first we had typewriters, but I had to start somewhere). Then we switched to membrane keyboards and now we have virtual keyboards on our phones and tablets. Soon we are told we won't even need keyboards - everything will be driven by voice commands.

But not for hard-core gamers. They apparently prefer mechanical keyboards; something to do with tactile (and audible) response, durability, backlighting and other features they don't find in their technically more advanced brethren. Sounds like the keyboard equivalent of the vacuum-tube amplifier trend. And this is apparently driving a boom in the switches that sit under those keys.

Mechanical Keyboard Makers Switch Things Up in a Race to Meet Demand | WIRED

 

[Don Dingee]

That's funny, I literally was just reading this article. I do remember the very crunchy feel of the original IBM PC keyboards. Since I switched to an ergo split/tilt-in Microsoft keyboard a few years back I have a hard time using anything else, much easier on my wrists and elbows.

Cherry (mentioned prominently in this article) is the Cadillac of mechanical switches of all types. In a 17-ft wingspan drone we built in the early 1980s, we had Cherry switches on the control panel. You could lift the entire plane by grabbing one of those locking toggle handles.

On the phone, I use Fleksy. Once you've taught it your personal dictionary (like 'IoT'), it's quite solid.

 

[Bernard Murphy]

That's a big drone!