@yakkoTDI KVMs often seem to be more magic than science.
At work I had a guy tell me that mice with blue LEDs wouldn’t work with his KVM, but red ones did. I figured he was crazy, what difference could the LED color make? Well, he was right. None of the Microsoft Bluetrack mice would work, but older mice worked fine.
at least on some, they do a mouse/keyboard emulation so they appear to the clients to be always hooked up. so it’s not like a straight pass thru and many features don’t work. (sometimes even only 3 buttons supported)
@yakkoTDI I’ve had that problem. About a decade back one of the systems stopped recognizing the keyboard when it was hooked through the KVM, and I eventually discovered that one of the gang cables had developed a bad plug. It took a lot of digging to find a replacement. A different time, the Tenvirus box stopped recognizing the KVM device when an update rolled through, and while a disconnect/reconnect cycle got the mouse and monitor back, the system just refused to resume using the keyboard via that electronically-operated allegedly-smart switch. I located a supplier for one that was dumb mechanical, and the problem vanished. My S.O. uses a docking device instead, which uses a single USB3.x connector to each system.
I rocked a Dell Quietkey for at least a dozen years. Thing was a tank. Now I’ve got a super fancy mechanical keyboard because I love to hear my wife yell, ‘Why do you type so loud?’
Never really understood why my parent’s keyboards had issues with key caps going blank. They used theirs way less than I did mine and I’ve never had an issue…
@blaineg@chienfou I have a Microsoft keyboard that is missing more than a few letters, with more on the way out. But I really like it so I dont want to try to replace it, and I dont look at the keys anyway.
@chienfou@tinamarie1974 Then there’s the Das Keyboard, where you pay extra for all blank keycaps. I thought about it a few times, but wasn’t brave enough to spend real money on it.
@blaineg@chienfou@tinamarie1974 Rougher fingerprints and/or use of lotions can accelerate the wear of key caps, especially ones that are just printed. Dye sublimated PBT keycaps tend to be more durable than ABS, albeit they cost more to manufacture. Double injection keycaps, where the text is actually a separately molded in, hold up the best.
Also I haven’t decided whether to blame or unblame @lonocat that these cat shaped keycaps exist:
@chienfou I’ve got DEC LK201, LK411 and LK461 keyboards that were in daily office use for 30+, 20+ and 10+ years respectively and they look near new. Also an LK450 (an odd beast) that other than turning yellow from UV as much older plastic did, looks new. I have taken each apart at least once to blow out and clean the switches. Nothing ever broke.
Also still have one of the last of the DEC keyboards for wintel PCs; less use than the others but still quite a bit. You can see the texture on many keycaps has worn down smooth but all the keycaps are completely clean and legible.
Old school quality. None of it made in china.
Northgate also used to make really excellent keyboards for the pc market. My boss bought one in the '90s and still uses it on his home desktop.
@blaineg@chienfou I just ordered a replacement keyboard for my main system. I can’t find one with non-chrome-edged round retro typewriter keytops right now, so I’m making do with a shine-thru backlit-keys ReDragon type with blue mechanical switches. When it arrives, I’ll see whether it’s necessary and practical to puch a mask for the switch bodies. I want to swap out the keytops to a round set that I have squirreled away, if I can avoid having excessive light pollution escaping around the sides of them. If I have to put up with the square keytops, so be it.
On a related topic I have one computer that no longer likes using the keyboard through a KVM switch.
@yakkoTDI KVMs often seem to be more magic than science.
At work I had a guy tell me that mice with blue LEDs wouldn’t work with his KVM, but red ones did. I figured he was crazy, what difference could the LED color make? Well, he was right. None of the Microsoft Bluetrack mice would work, but older mice worked fine.
at least on some, they do a mouse/keyboard emulation so they appear to the clients to be always hooked up. so it’s not like a straight pass thru and many features don’t work. (sometimes even only 3 buttons supported)
@blaineg This issue is something inside the stupid computer but I have no idea how to troubleshoot it.
@yakkoTDI 12 gauge.
@yakkoTDI I’ve had that problem. About a decade back one of the systems stopped recognizing the keyboard when it was hooked through the KVM, and I eventually discovered that one of the gang cables had developed a bad plug. It took a lot of digging to find a replacement. A different time, the Tenvirus box stopped recognizing the KVM device when an update rolled through, and while a disconnect/reconnect cycle got the mouse and monitor back, the system just refused to resume using the keyboard via that electronically-operated allegedly-smart switch. I located a supplier for one that was dumb mechanical, and the problem vanished. My S.O. uses a docking device instead, which uses a single USB3.x connector to each system.
Okay, that took me a minute.
I rocked a Dell Quietkey for at least a dozen years. Thing was a tank. Now I’ve got a super fancy mechanical keyboard because I love to hear my wife yell, ‘Why do you type so loud?’
This. Always This.
Never really understood why my parent’s keyboards had issues with key caps going blank. They used theirs way less than I did mine and I’ve never had an issue…
@chienfou Cheap keyboard with printed or decal labels, instead of molded?
@blaineg @chienfou I have a Microsoft keyboard that is missing more than a few letters, with more on the way out. But I really like it so I dont want to try to replace it, and I dont look at the keys anyway.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 Then there’s the Das Keyboard, where you pay extra for all blank keycaps. I thought about it a few times, but wasn’t brave enough to spend real money on it.
@blaineg @chienfou oh Ive never heard of that!!! But Im already well on my way w my current keyboard. Another year or two and Ill have it for free lol
@blaineg @chienfou @tinamarie1974 Rougher fingerprints and/or use of lotions can accelerate the wear of key caps, especially ones that are just printed. Dye sublimated PBT keycaps tend to be more durable than ABS, albeit they cost more to manufacture. Double injection keycaps, where the text is actually a separately molded in, hold up the best.
Also I haven’t decided whether to blame or unblame @lonocat that these cat shaped keycaps exist:
https://www.amazon.com/keycaps-Customized-Suitable-Mechanical-Keyboards/dp/B0CX53B94G/
@blaineg @chienfou @lonocat @narfcake @tinamarie1974
@chienfou I’ve got DEC LK201, LK411 and LK461 keyboards that were in daily office use for 30+, 20+ and 10+ years respectively and they look near new. Also an LK450 (an odd beast) that other than turning yellow from UV as much older plastic did, looks new. I have taken each apart at least once to blow out and clean the switches. Nothing ever broke.
Also still have one of the last of the DEC keyboards for wintel PCs; less use than the others but still quite a bit. You can see the texture on many keycaps has worn down smooth but all the keycaps are completely clean and legible.
Old school quality. None of it made in china.
Northgate also used to make really excellent keyboards for the pc market. My boss bought one in the '90s and still uses it on his home desktop.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 Das Keyboard Ultimate.
They also make labeled keyboards.
@blaineg @chienfou I just ordered a replacement keyboard for my main system. I can’t find one with non-chrome-edged round retro typewriter keytops right now, so I’m making do with a shine-thru backlit-keys ReDragon type with blue mechanical switches. When it arrives, I’ll see whether it’s necessary and practical to puch a mask for the switch bodies. I want to swap out the keytops to a round set that I have squirreled away, if I can avoid having excessive light pollution escaping around the sides of them. If I have to put up with the square keytops, so be it.