It’s easy to get a good keyboard, right? Er, right?

Traditionally, I have done most of my typing on my company-issued laptop. In the office, I have a docking station with a monitor and a decent keyboard and have been more-or-less comfortable with it for several years.

But when the COVID-19 lockdown began, I was at home with my laptop only. I plugged in my own mouse, but used the laptop keyboard. It worked, of course, but I wasn’t as comfortable as on my office keyboard. Also, since I had been using my personal laptop more than usual, it got me thinking about all the un-plugging / re-plugging when I want to switch back and forth.

(Hm. “Switch”. I wonder...)

In any case, we have other keyboards around the house, but I don’t really “like” any of them. As I used my office keyboard most, I was most comfortable with it, and also think it’s the “best” keyboard of the bunch, so it’s my main point of reference.

Part of the problem is that I am a reasonably proficient typist, which got me thinking. The first typewriter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter, for people unfamiliar with these archaic devices) I used was a Royal desktop typewriter my Mom had when I was small. It looked something like this:

I actually went through a few of the exercises my Mom had in a typing book she had from when she learned to type, but didn’t really “learn” how to type back then. Later, I used my Mom’s Royal Portable Typewriter, which I still have (Note the lack of a “1” key. The lower-case “L” was used instead):

Then, in the 1980’s, I took a typing course at night-school (extra credit), and used an electric typewriter.

When I started using computers, I could already type reasonably well, and several years doing data entry helped a lot – so much so that I actually struggle a bit with mobile devices. I can type far more quickly with a full-size keyboard, and feel extremely sluggish with a phone/tablet. (I rather like the “swipe type” feature on my iPhone / iPad and am faster with it, but still nowhere near my desktop typing speed.)

While working from home, I kept thinking fondly of my office keyboard. And testing the Raspberry Pi official keyboard (https://www.til-technology.com/post/have-some-pi), got me thinking it it might be worthwhile to invest in a “good” keyboard.

How hard can that be? A little online searching, and I should be able to easily find a good keyboard, right? Er, right?

Well, no. My first indication that I might no longer be in Kansas was a PC Mag article by John Burek (https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-mechanical-keyboards), where I learned that there was such a thing as a “mechanical” keyboard – as opposed to what?

#TIL, most “budget” keyboards use a “membrane switch” or “rubber dome”. This is relatively inexpensive, but less durable, and with less tactile / auditory feedback when typing. I also became aware of the sub-culture associated with mechanical switches, and realized that this topic was far larger than I was prepared to investigate in any realistic detail. For example, when discussing mechanical switches, there are several different types of switch, and then variations on those types. (https://www.mechanical-keyboard.org/switch-types/, for more detail)

#TIL the term “tenkeyless”, which appears to simply refer to a keyboarrd without a separate number-pad. (More compact, I guess, but not really to my taste.)

Rather than go diving down this particular rabbit-hole, by doing things like getting demonstration switches and researching things like “Actuation Distance” and “Actuation Force”, I read though a number of reviews of different mechanical keyboards, and finally decided on the WASD V3 104-Key Custom Mechanical Keyboard (https://www.wasdkeyboards.com/wasd-v3-104-key-custom-mechanical-keyboard.html), using the Cherry MX Brown switch, which is a bit of a hybrid. I decided that this would give me a decent middle-ground, let me dip my toe into the mechanical keyboard ocean, and give me a frame of reference for future investigation (assuming I am ever so inclined).

I limited my customization to colours for the major groups of keys (ie, black keyboard, light grey alphabetic/number keys, and darker grey “modifier” keys, along with the Ubuntu symbol for the “Windows” key. The company allows customization of individual keys, both in colour and in the symbol / font used, but I didn’t want to down that separate-but-related rabbit-hole...

Purchase and delivery went well (aside from a problem with the courier delivering to the wrong house, but we straightened that out), and now I doubt I will ever buy another non-mechanical keyboard. Now that I understand the differences, and can feel / hear the specific action of this keyboard, I understand a lot of what I had been missing in many of the keyboards I used in the past. It is certainly a matter of taste, but my taste is such that mechanical keyboards are definitely the way to go. Next time, I may go down that rabbit-hole a bit deeper, but for now, I’m more than satisfied.

Maybe I should look into mice at some point. How complicated could that be?

Cheers!