Re: Non-mushy keyboards

["Michael P. Kube-McDowell" K-Mac@xxxxxxxx]

Date sent:   	Sun, 05 Sep 1999 18:42:12 +0200
Send reply to: 	xywrite@xxxxxxxx
From:      	Alan Heubert 
To:       	xywrite@xxxxxxxx
Subject:    	Non-mushy keyboards

> Does anyone have a good, clicky (i.e. non-mushy) keyboard to recommend,
> with the Ctrl key next to the "A"? A little over a year ago, there was a
> bunch of discussion about this. At the time people recommended the Avant
> Stellar keyboard, and if it's still the best out there I'd be willing to
> pay the high price. (I, too, am a Northgate keyboard fan, and my old
> keyboard has finally given up the ghost.) But when I tried the website
> http://cvtinc.com/avant.htm, I discovered that it's no longer there.
>
> It's not all-important to me to have the function keys on the left. A
> good, clicky tactile response, and the control key well placed are what I
> care about most. Is the Stellar keyboard still out there? Are there any
> others worth considering? I guess no one makes keyboards like the old IBM
> AT ones? What a joy they were!

I have four computers networked in my home, all of which have
Northgate keyboards (May they live a thousand years!). IMHO, their
merits go beyond the legendary click-tactile, the switchable key
placements, and the left-hand function keys--no one's mentioned that
lily-pad-sized ENTER key. I can almost understand the top-row function
keys (makes the keyboard smaller), the silent/mushy keys (cheaper,
and makes life quieter in CubicleWorld), the CAPSLOCK next to the A
(that's where all my typewriters had it). But I haven't seen a new
keyboard with a double-row ENTER key for a long time.

(Oh, yes, OOTC, all four computers have XyWrite installed on them.)

    K-Mac




  ---] Michael Paul McDowell, writing as Michael P. Kube-McDowell
  ---] Author of THE TRIGGER, THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS, and THE QUIET POOLS
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