I’ve been looking

  

I’ve been looking at computer keyboards.  That got me to remembering old typewriters with those letter-keys on long arms that had to travel all the way up to the ribbon and whack it against the paper on a roller.  That’s what Judy and I grew up with.  I’ve recently read that the layout of the modern computer keyboard, inherited from the typewriter, the QWERTY keyboard, named after the order of keys on the left hand, was designed not for typing speed, but to minimize the number of times the next key ascending collided with the previous letter descending.  It makes perfect sense to design a system that will minimize mechanical jams and delays.  I certainly don’t miss the pauses required to untangle those long typewrite letter arms.  It also makes sense that the layout of a typing keyboard could be redesigned now to facilitate obstruction-free fast typing, but for the reeducation required of all the existing typists.  There will always be existing typists on the QWERTY keyboard, so the QWERTY keyboard may never change.  That’s okay with me because I’ve been typing this way for 60 years, thanks to that typing class in Junior High.

 

Meanwhile, my quest for the perfect keyboard continues.  The one I’m using now is made by Velocifire.  It’s a mechanical keyboard to get the action I’m looking for.  It’s pretty good, nice feel, but the keystroke is a little long; longer than it needs to be, I think.  I’d rather something more along the lines of the old IBM Selectric from the 1960s.  Short stroke.  Snappy response.  Haven’t found it yet, but as I’m writing this, I’ve stumbled across the Das Keyboard Model S.

https://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional/

 

 

That might be just the ticket.  It’s designed more for typists than gamers.  It’s offered with either blue or brown cherry switches (keys); the colors representing different touch characteristics.

https://www.cherrymx.de/en/blog/cherry-mx-switches-at-a-glance.html