«
»

Keyboard Pain

October 5th, 2008 | Posted in Random

I never imagined that getting a keyboard can be such a painful experience. I don’t think that I am a very hard person to please, but you will be surprised at how easily can stupid manufacturers mess up a simple product such as a keyboard if they really wanted to.

I just need a SIMPLE keyboard that has ALL THE BUTTONS IN THEIR RIGHT PLACES and I can’t find one. I originally bought a MS keyboard which, I swear, was placed over a shelf with a label that said it was a USB keyboard. After I threw all the bags (with the receipts) and tore the package apart, discovered that it was a PS2 keyboard. I ordered a PS2/USB adaptor and for some reason it did not work on my machine. It is a freaking Miscrosoft Keyboard and it is not compatible with Windows Vista – How can that be possible?

Anyway, I got desperate and decided to buy the first USB keyboard I find in the market. Got this one made by a generic Chinese manufacturer and it came with a mouse (It was just as expensive as the MS one and I now have three mice, not counting my laptop touch  pad). The keyboard felt nice when I fiddled with it in the store, but now that I use it at home the keys feel too flat AND I JUST HATE THE LAYOUT. How freaking common do people use the alternative slash sign for it to be right next to the space bar, and why is the backward space key smaller than a regular key – I thought it was one of the mostly used ones!?

I hate my keyboard so much I had to pull out some of the stupidly placed keys so that I don’t press the stupid slash sign each time I want to do an ALT shortcut or put my computer to sleep mode each time I wanted to delete a letter!

Urgh!!

Tags: , ,

  • There is another option. You can change your keyboard settings on your computer so that it doesn't matter what the keys on the keyboard say. I have a standard QWERTY keyboard on my laptop, but I type in Dvorak. I took me about 3 months to learn to type on it, but now it's wonderful. My wpm doubled and my hands never hurt. It confuses people when they try to use my keyboard though, because the letters printed on the keyboard don't match what shows up on the screen. But since it's my computer and I don't really want others playing with it anyway, that doesn't matter. (Plus, there's an option for quickly switching between layouts.)
    You could set your input language to a regular keyboard and still use that crazy one you bought. If you're having trouble remembering what keys are what, pull up the onscreen keyboard available in the disability settings. Then you'll be able to see where the keys are supposed to be until you learn them.
    Hope that helps!
  • AlexK
    Logitech is always a good manufacturer.. I'm currently running a Logitech G15 "gaming keyboard" which is absolutely excellent. Would recommend all logitech products :)
  • LOL @ Anon. I'm supposed to vent off in my blog. Where else do you want me to complain about this?
  • Moody, I've already spent a lot of money on two keyboards, not sure if I'm ready to spend some more on another one.

    Kutigi, there is a difference between normal alterations of keyboard forms and ones with stupid design. There is no logical reason why the backspace button is smaller than the regular key on the keyboard AND is not placed at the end of its row. This is plain dumb. We can argue that there is a difference between gaming keyboards and office keyboards and things of that sort, but nobody can argue that a random keyboard made by a generic Chinese manufacturer was actually made for a reason.

    Anyway, there is actually what you can call the 'dream keyboard' which allows you to customize all the buttons on your keyboard the way you want. It is called the Optimus Maximus (Not what I'm looking for, but thought I'll share it with you guys).
  • kutigi
    Hmmm...there is no perfect keyboard out there....and you know?...there will never gonna be one. To have a keyboard that have all the keys on the right places???...is like say build a keyboard that every user want they way the want it....it's never gonna be reality....I tell you that. All keyboard I think are unique depending on what exactly it's used for. That's it....the rest of the pain as you nicely put it,is getting used to. Case close!.0__0
  • I suggest keyboards from Microsoft and Logitech, hell even Dell keyboards are nice. The one I have is MS and been around for almost longer than 3 years.
  • This keyboard is just one big mess. Can't believe I managed to use it for about two days now.
  • Now this one weird keyboard you got there. Its like crowded, look at the arrow buttons.

    And why they have two buttons for the Windows/Start Menu?! Usually its one on the left side.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Blue_Chi's Blog © 2009 - Riyadh Al-Balushi | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License | RSS