frank@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM (Frank Piper) (03/19/91)
In article <298.27E01E1C@busker.fidonet.org> Eric.Westland@f75.n343.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Eric Westland) writes: >I have a Classic and am not really happy with the feel of the new >keyboard (if this is such a great keyboard, why is it not offered with >the Mac II?). Anyways, I am looking at a 3rd party extended keyboard like >the MacPro from Key Tronic or the Data Desk Mac-101. We tried both the Mac-101 and the MacPro on a IIsi, & kept the MacPro because: - The Mac-101's feel compared poorly to an older DataDesk keyboard we had on a Plus. Hitting a key produced a sharp 'click' at the end of its travel; the key (and my finger) felt like it was hitting something hard instead of the softer, more cushiony feel we wanted. [However: the Mac-101's feel was NOT like the high resistance then low resistance then finger-bruising *CLICK* produced by some IBM PC keyboards. Both were far better than that.] The MacPro had about the same resistance and a softer 'click'. [AND, if you're really picky, you can order rubber grommets for the MacPro that change the resistance!] - The Mac-101 had ADB compatibility problems with our IIsi. The most obvious is unlikely to matter to a Classic user: it didn't have a true power key, and so didn't support the control-cloverleaf-power reset sequence. I really hated turning the IIsi off and on again every time we got another bus error; I figured about three days of that would toast the IIsi for sure. [I believe that the Classic and LC don't support the power key; am I right?] Another ADB problem we saw will probably affect every Mac-101 user. If I pressed or released the Shift key while moving the mouse, the mouse cursor would skip across the screen like a stone across a pond. Really disconcerting when you were trying to select some things on the desktop. The MacPro has a true Power key which supports ctrl-clover-power and ctrl-power (gets you into Macsbug), and doesn't flake out when you hit the Shift key and move the mouse. - The Mac-101 is bundled with MasterStrokes, a key macro program which caused some bombs on our IIsi. The MacPro comes with Tempo II, which is a better program that didn't crash. - On both keyboards, the mouse plugs into the back center and sticks straight out, which means you can only push the keyboard to within about an inch of the Mac's case. This is dumb; why can't they plug the mouse into the side like the Apple keyboard? Harrumph. Anyway, we're happy with the MacPro. BTW: I bought the Mac-101 from & returned it to MacConnection; I bought the MacPro from MacWarehouse. Both McC and McW give good mailorder; McC was quite nice while we were debugging the Mac-101 and cheerfully accepted the return when we gave up. I also spent some time hassling DataDesk long-distance; they were polite, knowledgeable, & eager to please. If/when DataDesk fixes the Mac-101, it's worth a look. Besides, McC has a 30-day money back guarantee on DataDesk products. O well, enough already. Sorry this got so long; hope it helps. -- = Frank Piper (frank@dvnspc1.dev.unisys.com), Unisys Devon Engineering = = This post is moderated. Flames should be relevant, sound, in good taste,= = objective, coherent, concise, and nonrepetitious. Diversity is welcome. =