marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) (11/14/90)
I've been using a MaxiSwitch 84-key keyboard for about five years now. I really love it. It's nice and quiet and it never gives me any problems. I tried a lot of keyboards over the years. All three flavors of IBM's, Compaq's 84 and 101 keyboards, Keytronic XT style, Sperry 84 and Enhanced, Dell Enhanced and Everex Enhanced. This MaxiSwitch I'm using now has been used on a Sperry IT, a Compaq 386, an Everex Step 386/25 and now I'm using it on a Dell System 325. Never a single problem. It generates only those characters I tell it to. The only thing I dislike about it is that it does not have F11 and F12 which are used in Windows applications. I saw a NorthGate OmniKey Plus in an ad this summer and I loved the layout. It had all the important keys in the proper place. It had the function keys on the left, the <Esc> key left of the <1>, and <Ctrl>, <Shift> and <Alt> where god intended them to be. The layout was just about perfect. It even had a cursor pad in a diamond instead of that ridiculous layout IBM came up with - you know, the fifty meters between the arrow keys and the <PageUp>, etc. that requires you to lift you hand to move from one set to the other. (I vote for a Constitutional Ammendment preventing IBM from ever designing another keyboard.) So I ordered one. I was really excited the day it arrived. I hooked it up and went to work. I couldn't believe the racket! Wow was it loud. I hated the feel (of course, this is a religous issue) too. After using it for a while, I noticed that it kept generating extra keystrokes. When I typed 1990, many times I would get 199909900 instead. From came out ffrrffrom. Having to fix so many typos really slowed me down. I sent it back for a replacement. The new one came about a month ago. The problem above did not reoccur. However, about one out of fifty words would have a double letter in it. It could be any key. Many times it was the space key. This is especially infuriating when reading news with nn. I kept flying by articles. Also, the spacebar didn't always work when I hit it near the left. This morning, I was replying to some mail and it happened again. I got really pissed. I took it off and put my good ole' MaxiSwitch back on. This is my second article and I've yet to have any extra keys generated for me. It feels good and I don't disturb folks down the hall with the racket. I feel like a man who's come back to his comfortable wife after a brief fling with a sweet young thing. It's reinforced my love for my MaxiSwitch. Now, if only MaxiSwitch would copy NorthGate's layout... I won't waste any more of the government's money on another NorthGate board. -- Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. EMAIL: marshall@seri.gov Senior Computer Missionary VOICE: (303)231-1014 Wind Research Branch 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401-3393 Solar Energy Research Institute Solar - safe energy for a healthy future
reisert@ricks.enet.dec.com (Jim Reisert) (11/14/90)
In article <marshall.658513864@wind55>, marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) writes... > >I saw a NorthGate OmniKey Plus in an ad this summer and I loved the >layout. >... >I was really excited the day it arrived. I hooked it up and went to >work. I couldn't believe the racket! Wow was it loud. I like the feel, but never noticed the sound problem until I tried to use one in a voice ham radio contest. Every time I typed a key, it would trip off the VOX (voice-operated relay) and I'd miss part of what I was trying to copy down. Fortunately, I found a quieter keyboard to use for the European runs the next morning. - Jim AD1C =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "The opinions expressed here in no way represent the views of Digital Equipment Corporation." James J. Reisert Internet: reisert@ricks.enet.dec.com Digital Equipment Corp. UUCP: ...decwrl!ricks.enet!reisert 77 Reed Road Hudson, MA 01749-2895
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (11/14/90)
In article <marshall.658513864@wind55> marshall@wind55.seri.gov (Marshall L. Buhl) writes: | The new one came about a month ago. The problem above did not reoccur. | However, about one out of fifty words would have a double letter in it. | It could be any key. Many times it was the space key. This is | especially infuriating when reading news with nn. I kept flying by | articles. Also, the spacebar didn't always work when I hit it near the | left. Some people have trouble with the keyboard. I have noticed that it is sensitive, and some people report just what you mention, double keying. I have two home and one at work, and have no more than 1-2 doubles in a month, which I can justify with the nice layout. Others find tey just can't use it. I slap the keys, they gently stroke. I never noticed the noise you mention, I get noise out of all keyboards as the keys hit the stops. Some people have trouble with false keystrokes. The keyboard is sensitive, and if you someone is sloppy typist they will gets lots of errors. I do when I get tired. It's not the fault of the user or the keyboard, just a bad match. I think the maxi and keytronic have all the feel of typing on a loaf of fresh bread, but that's *my* taste, and I don't try to convince anyone that these are bad keyboards, I just try not to use them. People who are thinking about Northgate should try one themselves, and then make a choice. If you like the feel of the original AT, you will probably like the Ngate. If you like a softer touch, it's not for you. I personally like the 102 better in layout, and have never found any problem in the placement of the cursor keys. I don't mix cursor and page up often, so that doesn't mean that the 102 would make everyone happy, just that I have no trouble with it, and find it easier to feel for the keys when they are in distinctively shaped cluster. I also found one key, either the ` or \, which was in a bad place for me on the Omnikey, and I use them a lot for UNIX. -- bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen) sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me
berger@atropa (Dire Wolf) (11/16/90)
It should also be pointed out that the Northgate keyboard is available for a 30 day free trial, and carries a 5 year warranty. Personally, I love the feel of it, the layout is great, and I think the maxiswitch, et. all. are too mushy. The price is high compared to other keysets, but I plan to keep mine for a long time. -- Mike Berger Department of Statistics, University of Illinois AT&TNET 217-244-6067 Internet berger@atropa.stat.uiuc.edu