Ranting about keyboards

[citrojohn]

Citro: That KB is Fucking huge... XD

I can't help wondering what all those keys are for... the page that has the photo mentions "Communications industry", so perhaps video editing like Sony's Topre boards. I particularly wonder what drastic things the red and blue keys do that require them to be coloured and fenced about with plastic - or, come to that, those seven keys on the top which look as if they've got hinged covers.

[kekstee]

I always found the Model M switches to be pretty underwhelming and too heavy for my taste. And it couldn't handle my chosen modifier due to stupid printed circuit issues I guess. F feels much more refined, but the sound of it can be difficult to handle.

Then again I'm mostly using silenced 45g Topre these days...

[fohat]

F feels much more refined, but the sound of it can be difficult to handle.

With the dental floss mod the sound of the F is quite acceptable. Floss mod on an M is almost useless.

[Wingpad]

Regardless of the whole "it takes some getting used to" thing, I think the keyboard I've found most disappointing was the HHKB/Topre. There I was, super hyped for my expensive purchase only to find out that I kind of hate it. It sounds weird, even after you've dampened it, and the HHKB's layout is weird in general. I keep convincing myself "eh, you should just hold onto it for a bit longer" but I can't help but feeling like sooner or later I'm just going to get rid of it.

[Lynx_Carpathica]

F feels much more refined, but the sound of it can be difficult to handle.

With the dental floss mod the sound of the F is quite acceptable. Floss mod on an M is almost useless.

Today I've tried it on F5. The sound of the key got more high-pitched, but the actual sound didn't really get better. It didn't vibrate any more, but then why do people even get a clicky keyboard?

[Darkshado]

I've floss modded both my Model Ms using "Super" floss. My Greenock board pinged and resonated quite a bit and this has brought it under control while leaving the keyfeel intact and the click present. My Mexican made board didn't "need" it quite as much, but I still perceived an improvement.

[drevyek]

My unmodded M is a 0401, which i have the TKL floss modded, with the numpad stock. I used a thin floss for it, and tried to keep the length shorter than would be expected. I killed all of the ping, leaving only a bassy click. It doesn't damp the volume, but it kills a lot of the high frequencies, preventing it from traveling too far. My GSSK isn't floss modded, and the ping is quite real.

I didn't try floss mod on my F before disassembling it in wait of the MMF, but the way people go on about it, it must be at least pretty good. Another good way of killing reverberation might be a variant of an o-ring mod, as lot_lizard(?) showed in the MMF thread- if you wrap the barrels in an o-ring, you can kill a lot.

And there is totally 100% Topre boards- Topre Realforce 104u, and the hi-pros. Not sure if they're too available retail, but I'm sure they're floating around in the ether.