The Old Folks Home

[1kluckychik]

What is the plural of sasquatch?

 

[Bunnylady]

Sasquishy?

 

[chickisoup]

Well, even tho we have had a much milder winter so far, it is totally normal for Valentine's week. Every year within seven days one way or the other of Valentine's we have our coldest temps, and often worst snowstorm as well. It is not uncommon to have full blown blizzards with -30+ F temps. This year, thankfully, no blizzard, and it will not be quite as brutal, but we still won't get above zero tomorrow and then the temps will begin to fall and the windchills will be in the -35 more or less range by dark. The winds aren't bad tonight and we should actually be a bit warmer than last night if the cloud cover holds and only hit around +5 to -5. Guess we will be hybernating for the weekend.

 

[chickisoup]

My new Ducky keyboard arrived today. I LOVE IT. The key switches are fantastic. Dh prefers a bit more tactile response, so he would do better with the brown switches, but I'm so glad I got the red. The backlighting is amazing too.

 

[chickisoup]

Sasquishy?

Al. you need to make casts of the prints!!!

I still run outside barefoot but get yelled at if DH catches me at it. He can't understand how I can go outside barefoot in the summer time! Silly city boy.

 

[Alaskan]

@chickisoup
About your weather.. But hybernating is romantic, right?


Your silly DH, hot weather is barefoot weather.


@getaclue
Glad you like your new doo hickey

 

[getaclue]

Quote: Most keyboards have a rubberized, or plastic mesh with dome shaped dimples, and when you press the key it depresses onto a printed circuit, which signals it to make the letter, or whatever function the keyboard is programmed to do. The keyboard can only go so fast to begin with, but over time the dimples wear down, decreasing response time. (If you've ever taken apart an old Nintendo controller you will understand what I'm talking about). Mechanical keyboards don't have the mesh, and dimples. There is an actual switch under the key, so response time is 1/1000th. of a second. The switches are each guaranteed for 500 million keystrokes, so you have many years of use without any lag.

Have you ever pressed two keys at once on your keyboard, and either no letter would appear, or only one of the letters? With mechanical keyboards, both letters will always appear. You can't out type the keyboard. Now, some people like the sound of an old fashioned typewriter, with the feel of an electric typewriter. Blue switches provide that experience. The majority of people want just a little bit of sound, and just enough resistance so they know they've pressed the keys. Brown switches provide that experience. I don't like sound, or tactile response, so I got red switches. The response speed is also customizable. What you end up with is a board that is geared to your preferences, comfortable to use, increases your keyboarding speed, is a joy to use, and will do these things reliably for a very long time.

In addition to all these things, just about all of my keys on the board can be programmed for another function as well. For example: when reading the blogs here, or doing email I like to listen to music, so I program the letter "A" key to open Media Player in my music library. Instead of it being multiple maneuvers, all I have to do is press the Fn key, and the letter A. I'm on a blog, or in my email and sometimes I want to open my picture folder, so I can post a picture. I can then program the letter "S" key to open my picture folder. Once again, instead of multiple maneuvers, all I have to do is hit the Fn key, and press the letter S. Programs you use often, or maneuvers you use repeatedly can be programmed, so it's done much more easily.

These things are some of the reasons for looking into getting a mechanical keyboard. They are also preferred by gamers because of the faster response times. Ducky is a smaller company, and have been producing some of the best mechanical keyboards in the industry for several years now. Being a smaller company means that there is a limit on the number of keyboards that they make yearly, and the number of those imported into the US has been fairly limited. A few years ago, some of the manufacturers of mechanical keyboards began introducing backlighting. Several of the companies have taken the backlighting to new levels, and Ducky is one of them. Now you know.

 

[Alaskan]

I had no idea! @getaclue thanks for the explanation.

 

[Latestarter]

Thanks, that clarifies wonderfully! Thank you! Since I hunt and peck at a rapid pace of about 10-15 WPM, key response time really doesn't make much difference. I'm not a huge gamer either, PVP anyway, so

Guess I'm just a beer kinda guy vice champagne... (actually rarely drink anything but vodka). Glad you like it though!

 

[Alaskan]

Sobieski is my friend.