Shopping for a new keyboard

Nathan

Nathan

SF VIP
Location
High Desert- Calif.
On my "main" desktop I've been using an old Dell keyboard that I got along with a DELL PRECISION WORKSTATION 530. Yea, it's been a while....2001! Lately I've been having trouble typing, probably a combination of old keyboard and old fingers, But, there's nothing I can do about old fingers so I'm focusing on old keyboard. 😅
I belong to many computer enthusiast forums, but the majority of members are much younger, see computing as **primarily** for gaming. Well, I'm not a gamer, but I am open to suggestion. There are the "clickity" keyboards, with mechanical switches, that might be fun, but are they useful?
I'm probably going to be looking at a general business or professional keyboard, with a 10 pad and Fn keys. A keyboard with an audio speaker control would be handy as well.
Any recommendations? Favorites?
 

Nathan said:
On my "main" desktop I've been using an old Dell keyboard that I got along with a DELL PRECISION WORKSTATION 530. Yea, it's been a while....2001! Lately I've been having trouble typing, probably a combination of old keyboard and old fingers, But, there's nothing I can do about old fingers so I'm focusing on old keyboard. 😅
I belong to many computer enthusiast forums, but the majority of members are much younger, see computing as **primarily** for gaming. Well, I'm not a gamer, but I am open to suggestion. There are the "clickity" keyboards, with mechanical switches, that might be fun, but are they useful?
I'm probably going to be looking at a general business or professional keyboard, with a 10 pad and Fn keys. A keyboard with an audio speaker control would be handy as well.
Any recommendations? Favorites?
Click to expand...
whatever you do Nathan..don't get this wireless Omoton keyboard... it's a horror..
 
Don't know how much use it saw before it was given to me or if it's rated good or bad but I was given a used Lenovo D0K5321 wired keyboard before I retired by our IT guy at work and it's been my daily user with two desktop computers for right at ten years....I do still have a boxed / unused Dell keyboard that came with my new computer that I bought back in mid April 2023 for backup.
 
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I have a Logitech Washable Wired Keyboard K310 that I'm very happy with.
The best part is that it can be cleaned under a running faucet with no damage done.
There's a little brush that mounts on the back of the keyboard for aid in cleaning.

The thing is though, it may no longer be available.
I purchased it on Amazon in 2013 and it's no longer stocked there.
At least the link to it from my list of past purchases doesn't show one in stock at Amazon.
Had it 12yrs now and it works and looks good as new and crazy easy to clean under running water.

I guess my point is that while the one I have may no longer be available, I highly recommend a similar one.
... a washable keyboard.
 
I'm using a Corsair K100 RGB, wired. I appreciate the 6 programmable 'G' keys. The color settings make it easy to find odd used keys quickly on a dark desk at night sessions. It's not cheap, $240 or so, but it's the best keyboard I have ever had (and I've been doing this since 1983, retired from IBM now).
 
Well, it occurred to me at 3AM this morning...as I was reviewing everything I ever did, said or thought in my life... that I should go in the garage and look in my "not quite ready for e-waste" container. sure enough there are two keyboards that escaped the trip to the dump:

keyboards.jpg

They are both in good shape, low usage. I'll hook up the Rosewill because it has the audio volume keys that I'm looking for. I didn't know until
googling, but the older PS/2 technology has slightly better latency than the USB, not important to me as I don't game.
 
I wiped down the Rosewill keyboard with a Windex dampened cloth and plugged it in. The audio volume keys work as theey should, no more need to use the mouse to to click on the volume control in the top panel. The keys feel good, smooth action. My fingers are still an issue though. Ever heard the term fumble fingers? that's me, always has been but getting worse it seems.
I bought this Rosewill keyboard in 2010, but it has low hours usage on it. I used to have many desktop computers I built while participating in Stanford University's Folding@Home project, so this keyboard must have just been for one of the "folding rigs" and not my daily driver.
 
Nathan said:
I wiped down the Rosewill keyboard with a Windex dampened cloth and plugged it in. The audio volume keys work as theey should, no more need to use the mouse to to click on the volume control in the top panel. The keys feel good, smooth action. My fingers are still an issue though. Ever heard the term fumble fingers? that's me, always has been but getting worse it seems.
I bought this Rosewill keyboard in 2010, but it has low hours usage on it. I used to have many desktop computers I built while participating in Stanford University's Folding@Home project, so this keyboard must have just been for one of the "folding rigs" and not my daily driver.
Click to expand...
Like you, I really hated having to click on the volume control, and that's why years ago I switched to this Dell keyboard. It has a little wheel to adjust the volume. However, a few years ago, I switched to a Logitech MX Master3 mouse, and it's quite programmable. It has a little scroll wheel on the side that I can operate with my thumb, that's set to control the volume. There are also two small buttons under the scroll wheel that are also activated via my thumb. One of them is programmed to do a "double click." It's amazing how much you can task it with. This is, by far, no comparison, the best mouse I've ever used.

mx master 3.jpg
 
Naturally said:
I have a Logitech Washable Wired Keyboard K310 that I'm very happy with.
The best part is that it can be cleaned under a running faucet with no damage done.
There's a little brush that mounts on the back of the keyboard for aid in cleaning.

The thing is though, it may no longer be available.
I purchased it on Amazon in 2013 and it's no longer stocked there.
At least the link to it from my list of past purchases doesn't show one in stock at Amazon.
Had it 12yrs now and it works and looks good as new and crazy easy to clean under running water.

I guess my point is that while the one I have may no longer be available, I highly recommend a similar one.
... a washable keyboard.
Click to expand...
I have a Logitech MK345. Works really great with all the features I need.
 
I have a straight Logitech wireless keyboard, without bells and whistles. But, I can pick that baby up and take it anywhere, and it adapts to the set up I choose. It has it's quirks, but good enough for me. I really don't require some of that really high tech stuff my son will try to get me into.
 
So this old Rosewill keyboard is filling the bill nicely, but now the desktop it's hooked to has gone wonky. At first upon rebooting it wouldn't bring up the boot selection screen or go to setup when hitting DEL. It would just go to the screen for entering the decryption passcode, but it would then boot the OS just fine. I resetting the CMOS several times...no dice. I pulled the encrypted drive so that it wouldn't be stuck at the decryption passcode screen, but now there is nothing to display...at all. I'm thinking a corrupted BIOS, the power supply checks OK. Luckily, I can RMA the motherboard as it is still within the 3 year parts warranty.

Meanwhile, I pulled my beloved Asrock X79 off the garage shelf and put it back in service. I've always loved this machine, built it in 2011. has an Intel Xeon E5-2650 16 core processor, 16 GBs of DDR3 RAM and, a fresh install of Ubuntu 24.04 that I installed before it went into mothballs.
Screenshot of the System Monitor

Screenshot at 2025-03-12 14-30-54.jpg
 
Nathan said:
I'm thinking a corrupted BIOS
Click to expand...
Well depending on the computer, a keyboard key will get you into BIOS as it boots up ... ESC or F1 or F2 or maybe F10 or something ... depending. But once in BIOS, you should find a choice listed to reset the BIOS to defaults. Might be worth a try.

You did mention removing a drive and I'm thinking maybe the boot records might have been on that drive ... so there's that too.

One other thing to try is a reinstall of the OS without a passcode. But you may have to set up BIOS Boot Priority depending on what media your OS Install files are on ... USB or whatever.
 
Naturally said:
Well depending on the computer, a keyboard key will get you into BIOS as it boots up ... ESC or F1 or F2 or maybe F10 or something ... depending. But once in BIOS, you should find a choice listed to reset the BIOS to defaults. Might be worth a try.

You did mention removing a drive and I'm thinking maybe the boot records might have been on that drive ... so there's that too.

One other thing to try is a reinstall of the OS without a passcode. But you may have to set up BIOS Boot Priority depending on what media your OS Install files are on ... USB or whatever.
Click to expand...
I'll do some more testing tomorrow, before I request RMA of the motherboard, but BIOS corruption(reason unknown) is my prime suspect, since I cannot enter Setup or Boot Menu.
 

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