Re: AAAAAUGH! Dead IIgs keyb

[dalloff@gcfn.org (Dave Althoff)]

Jim Pittman (casa@unm.edu) wrote:

: I have a real love/hate relationship with IIgs keyboards. I love
: the size, appearance and key layout. I hate the way that most of
: the ones I have tried feel either "clicky" or "sticky" or both.
: When I got my first IIgs (it was used) the first thing I looked
: for was an Apple Mac M0116 keyboard. Identical key layout and
: much better key feel, so I thought. Considerably larger, though.

Hmmm...I've gotten used to the IIgs keyboard feel (mine is a bit
'clicky'). It's not as good as a good ][e keyboard, but it's better than
any PC keyboard I've used (talk about clicky...!)

: Over the years I have tried to save all the tossed-out M0116 Mac
: keyboards I can find. Guess what -- many of them develop sticky
: keys too, especially the RETURN and DELETE and CONTROL keys.

: I also save IIgs keyboards whenever I find one that seems good.

: A week ago at Goodwill (!) I found an EXCELLENT Apple IIgs keyboard
: for $5. I brought it to work and it's now in use with my new B&W
: Mac G3/400 in preference to the G3's iMac keyboard. (Actually, the
: iMac keyboard itself is not too bad, it's the round mouse that is
: totally insane. But I prefer keyboards with the CONTROL key in the
: "right" location next to the "A" key.)

They put ADB ports back on those things?!  Cool!  That means you can use a
G5431 mouse.  I think I still like the original rectangular (9-pin) mice
better, but I find the GS's mouse better than those bulbous things that
came out with the ADB Macintoshes.  And ANY earlier mouse is better than
those round things Apple is hanging on their USBs...

: Some Apple IIe keyboards have EXCELLENT feel and I'm really glad to
: have a good IIe keyboard on my Apple IIe/Apple IIgs conversion. (And,
: I can plug in an ADB keyboard if I want to.) But many of the old IIe
: keyboards are horrible, I assume because of too many years of dust,
: food crumbs, cola spills, sunlight and pounding fingers.

I think the big thing is that when Apple finally settled on the Alps long
stem keyswitch, the keyboards got good.  Some of the old ][e keyboards,
with the short-stem and short-stem w/extender keyswitches are absolutely
hideous.  The most noticeable change was when they went from large white
legends on the keys to small dark legends.  Both of my ][e's have these
later keyboards.  And of course I really don't much care for the //c
keyboard.  Far too clicky for my taste.

: Finally, some people are religious about keyboards (I am, and I have
: yet to find a truly good keyboard -- OmniKey/102 by Northgate for PCs
: comes close) while others will cheerfully type on anything without
: complaint. Why keyboard designers play the "let's move the "~" key
: around to where it can't be found" game I don't understand.

Given how often I type the ~, that one doesn't bother me so much.  I do
find the roving ESC key to be a real PITA, and I don't understand why the
CAPS LOCK needs to be the biggest key on the whole damned keyboard, when I
don't even want to use it.  My IIgs at work, my IIgs at home, my ][e at
home, the Amiga at work, the Sun boxes at work, and the Psion in my pocket
all have the CONTROL key next to the letter "A".  And on *my* PC at work I
have installed a nifty little Windoze '95 utility to remap the Control and
Caps keys into the proper locations.

That makes all the other PC's and all the Macintoshes at work the ones
that are wrong.  Oh, and if you can find an ancient IBM PC keyboard (you
know, the old ones with the real switches), those have the CONTROL key in
the right place.  Why anyone would need a second CONTROL key, I have no
idea.  It's not like you can touch-type a modifier that close to the
bottom center of the keyboard............

I do find Apple's relocation of the Solid-Apple key (that's OPTION on the
GS keyboard) to be rather annoying when I try to play pinball....... 8-)

--Dave Althoff, ][.
-- 
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