Cherry's New Mechanical Switch Hails From '80s Terminal Keyboards (arstechnica.com) 35
Cherry, the original mechanical switch maker, is continuing to tap the mechanical keyboard community for new product ideas. From a report: Its new mechanical switch, the Cherry MX Black Clear-Top, is a nod to enthusiasts who would love to turn in their modern-day clacker for an old-school terminal keyboard with extra-smooth typing. Before Cherry's Thursday announcement of plans to release the MX Black Clear-Top, the switch was known to hobbyists as the Nixie switch.
Cherry made the switch in the 1980s for German office machine-maker Nixdorf Computer AG. The German switch maker was tasked with creating a version of its linear MX Black switch with "milky" upper housing, a 63.5 g actuation force rather than 60 g, and "the relatively rare solution at the time of having a diode integrated into the switch for n-key rollover," Cherry's announcement explained.The linear switch ended up being used primarily in Nixdorf's CT06-CT07/2 M Softkeys keyboards targeted at terminals, servers, and minicomputers.
Cherry made the switch in the 1980s for German office machine-maker Nixdorf Computer AG. The German switch maker was tasked with creating a version of its linear MX Black switch with "milky" upper housing, a 63.5 g actuation force rather than 60 g, and "the relatively rare solution at the time of having a diode integrated into the switch for n-key rollover," Cherry's announcement explained.The linear switch ended up being used primarily in Nixdorf's CT06-CT07/2 M Softkeys keyboards targeted at terminals, servers, and minicomputers.
Retro Man (Score:1)
Some keyboards are better than others. I use a das keyboard mechanical switch. But keyboarding also has a lot to do with muscle memory and a slight difference in separation can alter the experience
I remember coding on a terminal and at the time it was the keyboard I used most and I was very efficient. But I do like the laptops keyboards as well
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The subtlest difference can make or break a keyboard. I remember attempting to move from an old 2011 macbook which had a great keyboard to the 2017 with the super flat one and it was *horrible* (Plus that awful trackbar tended get a LOT of accidental activation from me accidently touching it), so when that laptop got stolen I just got a 2015 to avoid that godawful keyboard. When I eventually upgraded to the M1 I was anxious about the keyboard as it had a low profile, but it turns out whatever Apple did wron
Black Clear Top? (Score:3)
Would it kill these switch makers to come up with a more descriptive name for their varieties than this rainbow of arbitrary "colors"? The last time I ordered a mechanical switch keyboard, I had to keep referring to a 3rd-party cheat sheet just to get an idea of what I was selecting.
Maybe something like "Firmness-Clickiness", with the first half ranging from XXSoft through XXFirm, and the second from 1 (quietest) to 11 (loudest).
Of course, maybe that would be too boring and obvious for the hipsters they market most of these to. It also took me a while to find one without a stupid lighting scheme that looks like someone dumped out a box of glow sticks.
Re: Black Clear Top? (Score:3)
I was in Microcenter recently and sales dude walks up and says "you looking for a certain kind of keyboard?" And I'm like "I'm using blue switches now but thinking of trying red" and he nods and starts pulling keyboards he recommends. I felt like an OG geek.
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I have a Gateron red, which is supposed to be fairly close to the cherry red, and I'm always fat-fingering keys. Interestingly it feels a lot like the Amiga 500 keyboard did, and that was a mech-dome design. Next keyboard is going to have to have more resistance...
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Do you complain that when you go into Sherwin Williams the paints have names like "Resilience" and "Duration" and "ProMar 200"? Or that you can't guess whether a Ford Explorer or Ford Excursion is bigger from the name? What a dumb complaint.
Nope, your car analogy falls flat. This situation is like if Ford named all of its engine options with nothing but flavors, and never put any other description in their marketing materials.
All they tell you is that can get a Mustang with the Banana engine, or the Strawberry engine, or the Mango engine, or the Peach engine! Nowhere do they tell you the displacement, number of cylinders, turbo option, or anything else. Just flavor. You've got to find some car enthusiast magazine to locate the flavor decoder r
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Yes. I do complain. Most recent experience was trying to match a shade of yellow paint. Closest was Simon Says; second closest (almost indistinguishable) is Lemon Butter. The latter name makes some sense, the former none at all.
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But pretty much anyone who knows their keyboards knows the color scheme. Its a marketing thing, but its a fairly practical one, you know what a red or blue feels like because you've used them.
Or you haven't, in which case ask.
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They do, but it's a bit more complex than just "firm and clicky", which is why the colour names stick.
Firmness varies over the travel of the switch on tactile switches, so there is a point at which you feel the resistance change and know that the input has been received by the computer. There are also linear switches which give the same resistance all the way down. Typically there is more force required to push the switch down, than it produces against your finger as you lift off it too.
Clicky switches add
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I mean those things last forever but even then they (Unicomp) still make them so you'll never have to.
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https://www.pckeyboard.com/pag... [pckeyboard.com]
Unicomp is basically the descendant of the ibm keyboard, with USB. The model M is very nice.
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I have two Model M keyboards and one Unicomp. The Unicomp is OK, but it's at least 2 times as loud, and less satisfying in the tactile department, and the keycaps wobble slightly.
There is so much interest in this fundamental interface, I'm genuinely surprised that no one has managed to replicate the typing joy of a real IBM Model M. Soft, like Spring rain, not Unicomp hail.
(typed on an IBM Model M, assembled in January 1987 [legs still work on this one, the other has them glued in place])
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The Model Ms were definitely a thing of beauty, but my own favorite was Northgate's OmniKey. Similar action, but my OmniKey was a tad quieter and had some nebulous quality about it that I preferred. Either of them were far superior to most of the junk that's available today.
Beam Spring switch equivalent wanted (Score:2)
The IBM keyboard was incredibly robust and lasted forever. In the current world of
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There actually is a reproduction project underway [deskthority.net], but be warned you'll be spending quite a lot for the keyboard, and you'll likely have to wait a couple of years.
I bought one of the seller's "New Model F" keyboards. It was expensive, and it took me 1.5 years to get it (much less time than some people), but it's exactly as described. I'll likely be buying one of these beamspring repos as well, if only to have a smaller keyboard than my 6850.
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Sorry, but I have to disagree. The keyboard God intended has something like 84 keys--or fewer. I'm typing on such a keyboard, without the number keypad, since I never learned 10-keys, and don't have any use for it even if I did know how to type on it.
Actually, I'd like to reduce the number of keys even more. The only thing the Windows key does for me is inadvertently take me out of the application I'm in when I hit it by mistake. Likewise all those Function keys up in the top row--every once in awhile I
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In the current world of cheap throw away keyboards
I want you to right now go look to see how many different credible manufacturers of mechanical keyswitches there are, how many models of keyswitch they make, and how many cycles those keyswitches can survive. It will not take you long, because keyboard enthusiasm is a whole market sector. You will hush right up as soon as you know something.
German Cherry circa 1986 (Score:2)
Distinction without a difference? (Score:3)
People wax poetic on all the perceived differences between the increasingly ludicrously named switches, but in my experience, if you're a fast typist, you just don't notice it while you're typing. And that's a good thing. If you're constantly distracted by the feeling of your switches, you're probably not getting much work done.
It's easy to get choice paralysis, so for my unsolicited advice: decide whether you want linear or clicky. Get whatever MX linear you can find for the former and a buckling spring (Unicomp) for the latter, and stay away from the absurd (and expensive) rabbit hole that is mechanical keyboards.
(Yes, I omitted "quiet tactile", aka browns. That's because they don't feel particularly tactile while actually working; they're more like gummed-up linears. But if you really want something in this vein, look at Topre Type S keyboards. They're really just fancy rubberdomes, however, and you'll pay a pretty penny.)
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Personally I find that tactile switches are much faster for typing. The feedback you get is invaluable, and seems to work better than a clicking sound. They are also less stressful on your hands because you aren't constantly bottoming out on every press to make sure it was detected.
I once worked with a guy who learned to type on an old time sharing system where the keyboard was a bit janky, so you had to give every key a very solid press to make sure it got entered. He went through keyboards pretty fast, li
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Ditto: I have a mechanical keyboard at home, but a rubber keyboard at work. I'm much faster typing at home.
Don't even get me started about the awful keyboards on laptops. I'd gladly put up with a thicker laptop if it gave me a decent keyboard.
ASR33 FTW (Score:3)
I'll fix you all and your tactile feedback! I'll go start a company remaking the mechanical ASR33 keyboards. [vintage-computer.com] No fast typing but hell you got feedback! and bells! and noise!
My fav HP2000/access console commands all on an ASR33 when I was a student operator at a college. To actually save the typing I used the ASR 33 paper tape punch and reader and had "pre-recorded" messages.
ANN-ALL, I'm shutting this thing down in 15 min! The lab closes at 11pm!
ANN-ALL, 5 minutes. Save Now!
ANN-ALL, 30 seconds Save now!
HIB-Down for an hour for backup, don't come bugging me to save what you didn't save.
Sun Type 6 (Score:2)
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You do know you can remap control and caps on pretty much anything that's not a terminal, right?
Sun4 keyboards were fairly nice, but a bit too mushy. Sun3 keyboards were crap...
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Beamspring May Be Better (Score:2)
https://deskthority.net/wiki/I... [deskthority.net]
https://www.modelfkeyboards.co... [modelfkeyboards.com]