New keyboard

Sigurd · Thursday at 6:33 AM

I have a Microsoft Wireless Comfort keyboard 5000 which I have been using for many years. The fact the physical a and e keys now are blank gives an idea how long (and shows the which are the two most used vowels!). I am now finding an increase in missed letters in my typing - my well be my age rather than the keyboard's.
I have tried to find a new one but can't find a straight replacement nor a near one. I like the slightly curved design of this one. Ergonomically that design makes sense.
Has anyone (in the UK) seen a like for like replacement? My searches only turned up one - at several hundred pounds!

BunnyJ · Thursday at 7:13 AM

HP has one that's similar to the MS one. It's the HP 680 Comfort Dual-Mode Keyboard, Here's a US link to a supplier

Amazon.com

Fabler2 · Thursday at 7:42 AM

There's three on Amazon that are comparable, the HP looks reasonable.

HP

Artek

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B087MTH1V9

abactuon · Thursday at 7:46 AM

Logitech Wave Keys Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard

gunrunnerjohn · Thursday at 9:05 AM

Sigurd said:
I have a Microsoft Wireless Comfort keyboard 5000 which I have been using for many years. The fact the physical a and e keys now are blank gives an idea how long (and shows the which are the two most used vowels!). I am now finding an increase in missed letters in my typing - my well be my age rather than the keyboard's.
I have tried to find a new one but can't find a straight replacement nor a near one. I like the slightly curved design of this one. Ergonomically that design makes sense.
Has anyone (in the UK) seen a like for like replacement? My searches only turned up one - at several hundred pounds!

First off, I wouldn't discount age as an issue. I used to be able to knock out text at 130-130 WPM, now it more like half of that with more errors. It seems my brain is slowly becoming disconnected from my fingers! :lmao:

If the Microsoft keyboard is constructed like the Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000, you can frequently fix keys that are suddenly not being sensed. I've used my keyboard for ages, and whenever a key or two starts acting up, I remove the bottom screws, take the film that covers the PCB and carefully clean both of them off. Put it back together, and it's typically good for many months.

I recently did a search since this happens enough to be annoying, and one of the causes isn't dirt, but rather static electricity. In the winter when the humidity is low, a static charge builds up and prevents a key or two from sensing. The cure was even easier than what I do, turn the computer/keyboard off and just tilt the KB up vertically and give it a sharp rap or two on the desk. This apparently is enough to discharge the static charge and the KB starts working again.

I'll probably have to wait until next winter to see if this works.

FWIW, my keyboard has the same curve as yours, just different function keys. I see your keyboard new for $300 here, that's too rich for my blood. I bought several spares for mine for peanuts on eBay, so I'm good for a good long time.

Sigurd · Thursday at 9:47 AM

Thank you all for your suggestions. I had found the one I have when I looked before and the only one I found was in the £300 bracket. Needless to say I didn't get it.
While there are a couple mentioned that are worth keeping in mind if the issue gets worse, I have to admit to myself that gunrunnerjohn has probably come up with the main problem - Anno domini - though I never hit the lofty speeds he mentions.

gunrunnerjohn · Thursday at 10:26 AM

Sigurd said:
Thank you all for your suggestions. I had found the one I have when I looked before and the only one I found was in the £300 bracket. Needless to say I didn't get it.
While there are a couple mentioned that are worth keeping in mind if the issue gets worse, I have to admit to myself that gunrunnerjohn has probably come up with the main problem - Anno domini - though I never hit the lofty speeds he mentions.

I learned to type in high school, best investment I made back then. There were 22 people in the class, and 20 of them were girls, that was one of the reasons I decided to take it!

I have truly lost count of the amount of typing I've done in my life, but the foundation established back then was the key.

You might consider picking up one of the used keyboards like I have, they can be had for $20-$30 on eBay. It would be the same major key layout, and be a lot better than having to change to a totally different form factor.

Sigurd · Thursday at 10:37 AM

You are quite right. It should be mandatory in schools now. The number of people I see in various roles, particularly mine (medical), in relatively high power jobs wasting time as they hunt and peck trying to write something. I never learnt but through lots of use I can sort of touch type backed by a bit of hunt and peck. But mobile phones are a new problem. I struggle to send messages on them - hate it. Yet I see youngsters entering words (!) at high speed with their thumbs!

spapakons · Thursday at 11:13 AM

When you forgot the deadline for a project and you realise it expires in an hour, you learn to type faster than you can think of what to write... I remember some years later when I was typing something in front of some kids and were amazed how fast I could type. Of course I had more than a decade of experience while they were starting to use computers.

Berton · Thursday at 11:17 AM

Similar to @gunrunnerjohn, but I went to 5 high schools in 4 years, one required an additional 1/2 credit so I took the typing class '56, used Smith Corona and Remington Rand manuals, teacher got a new electric but no one could use it. Got into air operations in the Navy and had to work with Western Union/Teletype Model 28 machines then new job later had to maintain a yearly test of 35 WPM on those 'clunkers' for nearly 30 years.

spapakons · Thursday at 11:22 AM

I used my father's mechanical typewriter to type a neighborhood newspaper. I was 8 years old and I remember my small fingers get caught between the keys or the letters jamming when I tried to type too fast. Some years later using a PC I could speedup.

bobkn · Thursday at 12:43 PM

Sigurd said:
You are quite right. It should be mandatory in schools now. The number of people I see in various roles, particularly mine (medical), in relatively high power jobs wasting time as they hunt and peck trying to write something. I never learnt but through lots of use I can sort of touch type backed by a bit of hunt and peck. But mobile phones are a new problem. I struggle to send messages on them - hate it. Yet I see youngsters entering words (!) at high speed with their thumbs!

I took a typing class in high school (around 1970). It was taught using old Remington mechanical typewriters. I needn't have bothered.

I recently switched to an inexpensive keyboard from Cherry, with "scissor" switches. (Not of interest to you, because it's straight.) Speeded things up a bit, to my surprise. Better feel than an old Logitech K120, which I've been using for years. (Cheap. I replace them after the key labels wear off. "A" goes first.)

Sigurd · Thursday at 12:59 PM

One thing I noted is that if I was typing something up that had been initially written, I was way slower and less accurate than if I was typing up something I was creating as I typed. Seems to prove muscle memory is better than brain memory in this situation?
I recall a young colleague who was a skilled touch typist. One of the advantages he had was that he could be taking a patient's history and typing it up as the consultation proceeded, whilst his body ;language was focused on the patient. Nowadays many doctors seem to be more focused on the keyboard rather than the patient as they hunt and peck. I had to scribble the odd note as a prompt so that I could write it up later.

spapakons · Thursday at 1:41 PM

Frequently I have to work at the telephone center where I pass the lines to the appropriate colleague. When the colleague doesn't reply or tells me he can't take the line I have to send him details about who called and what he wanted. I hate taking manual notes on paper and then typing them on the email to send, so I type directly to the email as I talk on the phone. Much faster, more convenient. In fact I would rather type two pages of text than write a paragraph by hand. Trying to write too fast my hand gets tired and I gradually make less legible notes. It has been a long time since I was a student and haven't written much since then. I prefer to type.

Sigurd · Thursday at 3:33 PM

Agree and I'm surprised no one has had a dig at me re doctors handwriting!

spapakons · Thursday at 3:42 PM

Sigurd said:
Agree and I'm surprised no one has had a dig at me re doctors handwriting!

An app that could scan a doctor's note and convert to readable text would worth millions! My father is a retired doctor and told me that before modern chemically manufactured medicines most medicines were made by ingredients that one could easily find in nature or buy. So the doctors deliberately make as unreadable handwriting as possible to confuse smart guys and force them to pay a pharmacist to make their medicines. Surely nobody would risk to put the wrong ingredients or wrong dosage and take it. Today is not very useful as they mostly prescribe manufactured medicines, but there are cases that they write down the ingredients and dosage for the pharmacist to make the medicine.

Levitate11 · Thursday at 4:42 PM

Sigurd said:
Agree and I'm surprised no one has had a dig at me re doctors handwriting!

Sigurd · Thursday at 5:35 PM

An IT friend and I produced one of the first computer programs for GPs. One of the selling points was that it could be used to produced legible prescriptions. Regulations were moving in that direction. We had to stop using things such as tds, qds, prn on prescriptions which was faster in the days of written scrips.
I qualified way back in 1968 and my handwriting has got worse ever since. Towards the end of my medical career my secretary could read my writing better than I could.

Levitate - thank you

glasskuter · Thursday at 5:41 PM

When I find a keyboard I really like, especially if I pay a pretty penny for it, the key caps usually are the first to go. I try to find a used one, preferably non-working just for the key-caps. Here in the states you can find that MS keyboard in working condition used on Ebay for less than $25. There's one listed now for $18 that has perfect keys. So you might try EBAY in your country.
.

spapakons · Thursday at 5:44 PM

- What's up my friend! What's this? I didn't know you can write in Arabic.
- It's not Arabic, it's English! This is my handwriting!

Arabic script - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

PS: No offence intended. In Greek we say "I don't understand, it looks like Chinese to me". In English the expression is "It's all Greek to me". We Greeks take no offence, we know Greek is a difficult language to learn, and using a non-Latin alphabet is not helping.

New keyboard

Well-known member

My Computer

Python Programmer

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

KS farmboy,, USN,, Ret. ATC

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

aka Mama Glass

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Similar threads