> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck Guzis > Sent: 31 May 2016 20:01 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: NEC ProSpeed 386 > > On 05/31/2016 11:21 AM, Dave Wade wrote: > > > I don't like the Model "M" keyboard. It's a bit like wanting a tracker > > organ rather than my Yamaha EL90. The keys require significant > > pressure to operate and if you are not used to it its actually hard > > work. I am not really used to this Lenovo Thinkpad T410 keyboard, but > > the Thinkpad laptop keyboards haven't really altered For a long time, > > even though IBM sold the business to Lenovo. > > It could be a matter of what you learned to touch-type on. For me, it was a > manual Underwood office machine. It took some time to get used to an > electric typewriter--too twitchy. One thing that's probably been lost to time is > the need for a uniform striking force when using a manual typewriter. >
Whilst I can touch type, more often than not I am in "Hunt and Peck" mode as I normally want to use the special keys all of which are "hard" from the home position. I learnt on a Smith Corona (horrid thing) from some kind of old second hand store, and a book borrowed from our local library. I spent a week just typing and I am sure it was the most effective use of time ever spent. After that it was an 026 or 029 keyboard, or a Selectric/2741 or an IBM 22xx display and then Honeywell keyboards. I don't remember any of them being as clicky as the Model-M on the PS-2. When I first had a job, I remember one of the typists left with RSI as she kept thumping her word processing keyboard as she had also spent many years on a manual typewriter and couldn't adapt to the soft feel of a WP keyboard. (That would be a Honeywell)... > With that in mind, the Model M is the best of the recent (<30 years) lot. > > Nothing wrong with tracker-action organs, IMOHO. There's an immediacy of > "feel" to them, not easily reproduced by electronic/electrical/pneumatic > keying. I'm speaking from the home town of John Brombaugh, so allowances > must be made, naturally. I well of course I live in "Historic Cheshire" (i.e. it used to be part of Cheshire) the home of Robert Hope-Jones the inventor of the electro-pneumatic action, the double diapason and a pioneer of high pressure pipe work in swell boxes, as adopted by the Wurlitzer Company for whom he worked, so I would say I prefer assisted keying... He also invented a type of Fog Horn which some says is more musical than the Wurlitzer... > > Just call me an old fossil. > Not at all, it's a personal preference. Life would be boring if we all liked exactly the same things. Model-M's are popular with gamers, and my son has one, and loves it. I was just saying there are people who don't like them and prefer a softer action. > --Chuck Dave
