Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Looking for a good non-Logitech keyboard

<< < (3/7) > >>

40hz:
I am extremely partial to a small form factor keyboard made by Gyration. They call it their Classic Compact Wireless model.

Looking for a good non-Logitech keyboard

I got mine as part of a set that included their AirMouse. I never could relate to the mouse, but I love the keyboard. It's about half the size of a standard keyboard with slightly stiff but very tactile low-travel keys that don't feel at all cramped when you start typing. The 88-key layout is a little unique in places. But it's a very logical arrangement that grows on you after a while. And I can fly on the thing.

I bought mine well over 10 years ago - so that's saying something. It's a very solid bit of kit. Mine is midnight blue. I don't know if it ever came in other colors.

Last I looked, they're still available for around $70 - which is a little steep for a keyboard that small. Still, if you want reliable quality in a very cool looking form factor, you could do a lot worse than to buy one of these keyboards. You'll garner immediate ubergeek "street cred" flashing one of these around.
 8)

(Note: the lack of a WinLogo key also makes this keyboard very popular with the more "militant" (i.e. fanboi) element  in the Linux world.  :-\ )

Innuendo:
That Gyration keyboard looks neat, but I'm a tall man with large hands. I'm afraid I'd look like I was straight out of Gulliver's Travels typing on that tiny thing.

Deozaan:
At least two things about that Gyration keyboard would really bother me:

The Fn key is in the wrong place. Ctrl should always be on the outside.
No numpad.

I can nitpick a lot of other things about it. I'm not a fan of the compressed/condensed/compact form factor. It makes too many keys go in places that don't make sense. And actually, it reminds me of my first ever illuminated keyboard. The EluminX. They inexplicably compressed the keyboard layout (but kept the numpad). There were lots of little things I didn't like about that keyboard, but considering it was the first and (AFAIK) only illuminated keyboard on the market at the time, and considering how much I paid for it, I was psychologically invested in my decision. :D

Stoic Joker:
At least two things about that Gyration keyboard would really bother me:

The Fn key is in the wrong place. Ctrl should always be on the outside.
No numpad.-Deozaan (May 03, 2014, 01:42 AM)
--- End quote ---

I'll 2nd that one. Being left-handed and reflexively dependent on a laundry list of hotkeys...that F'n key...would F me up royally. Not to mention that the (std 104 key layout) number pad is the only part of the keyboard I've managed to memorize well enough to use without looking. Hence it's my goto for entering IP address information - complete deal breaker without it.

40hz:
I probably should have qualified the Gyration keyboard suggestion by saying I use it primarily for writing and text content creation. When it comes to a keyboard for my "real job", the absence of a separate number and cursor keypad and would be an absolute showstopper for me too.

FWIW, several keys are in the "wrong" places. But I had no problem getting used to the new layout. And I actually like where they put the Fn key. (No accounting for taste I guess.)  ;)

I just wish keyboards would go back to having an oversized enter-key like they used to when the IBM Selectric roamed the Earth.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page