> Hi folks > > Getting a Type7 kbd UNIX layout... Ya I know, to some > it may seem surprizing, but around here, it's > something of a novelty. > > Any old timers care to comment ? I already have a > mechanical keyboard, but type7 seems to be better but > at roughly $70 is quite a pretty penny.
In terms of shape and weight, it looks more like the good old type 5 than the type 6 did. However, I don't think the quality of the plastic or the "feel" is anywhere near as good. ISTR the old keycaps being two layers of plastic, with the letters being the inner black layer poking through matching holes in the outer layer; by contrast, the new keycaps appear to be merely printed. I think the travel is a bit shallower and the clear point of resistance when pressing the keys is less crisp than on the type 5, although perhaps better than the type 6. And the case quality doesn't compare to the type 5 either. And while a true keyboard power-on may be impossible via USB (best one could expect would be a wake-up which would still take some standby power), the other capability of the pre-USB keyboards, namely a keyclick from the keyboard that could be turned on or off, remains missing (although I'm having trouble determining if USB standards describe the control of keyboard audible feedback). So IMO, they're better than the type 6 but not as good as the type 5, save of course that they're USB rather than the obsolete (on new hardware) Sun-specific serial keyboard interface. And given the price for what you get, unless you need the left key group (the big key at the top and the two columns of function keys below it) or the "Unix" keyboard layout (control/caps lock reversed from usual PC keyboard, tilde/backtick, pipe/backslash and Esc keys in different locations) IMO you're probably better off with a nice but generic USB keyboard, provided you can figure out what the equivalent of L1-A is on those. Now, if for an extra $15, the quality in all the aforementioned ways compared to that of the type 5, I'd say that would be a more tempting. Nevertheless it's enough of an improvement on the Type 6 (esp. with the optical scroll wheel mouse too) that it's tolerable, although it leaves me with the feeling of getting less than full value for the price. There's a design for a homebrew Type 4/5 to USB convertor; that'd be great if I was into building hardware at that level. Unfortunately, I tend to use a soldering iron better for inadvertent cauterizing than for soldering. This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
