a new Dell PC
Mike Wickham
mewickham at compuserve.com
Tue Dec 11 09:49:52 PST 2007
>> Are the wireless keyboard and mouse a hindrance?
I have a wireless keyboard on an HP laptop. It's comfortable to use, and
beats the heck of the built-in laptop keyboard. I don't use the wireless
mouse because I much prefer trackballs. There's no scrolling off the mouse
pad and having to lift and pull back the mouse to continue tracking. Just
move your thumb.
My wife has a Microsoft Wireless keyboard on her computer. I hated that one
because it automatically reassigns all the function keys to default to the
functions in Microsoft programs. If you want to use the normal O/S functions
of those keys-- F1 for help, F2 for rename, etc.-- you have to first press a
toggle key. Sheesh! I found a program on the internet to reverse that,
though.
I have to say, though, that my favorite keyboard in the world is the 104-key
Unicomp Customizer. It's the same as the original IBM 101-key keyboards that
won so many awards and rave reviews (but updated to have the Windows keys in
the bottom row). It's a real keyboard, too-- not a plastic toy. It weighs
about three times as much as the keyboards that come with computers these
days, and the keycaps are double-injected. That means that the characters
are molded into them-- not painted on or applied as decals like all the
keyboards you normally see. The only way to make the letters and numbers
wear off of this keyboard is to wear a hole right through the whole keycap!
The audio/tactile feedback is the best there is. This keyboard is PS/2, not
wireless. But that means that you can use it to do everything. Those USB
keyboards (which probably includes all wireless keyboards), don't often work
for accessing the BIOS or other startup functions, because the USB drivers
haven't loaded yet. You can find the Unicomp keyboard here:
http://www.pckeyboard.com/pdf/Customizer.pdf
Mike Wickham
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