Thread: Do You Touch-Type or Hunt-and-Peck

I think part of my problem is I'm using a Saitek Eclipse (original) keyboard. I just read a post where a Saitek engineer admitted it has poor n-key rollover - sometimes 3 keys is enough to confuse it.

And this is a "gaming" keyboard!!!!!

I started using the Saitek after I spilt coffee in my Logitech G15.

The disgusting thing is that it is so easy to make n-key rollover work properly. Even my first computer from many years ago (below) had diodes in series with the keyswitches so the keyboard matrix could multiplex properly.

I learnt to touch type when I was a security guard. It was something I could do to fill in the long hours of just sitting infront of a bank of monitors. Now I can touch type rather well, if I do say so myself.
Now if only I could spell...

Originally Posted by Rajagra

I started using the Saitek after I spilt coffee in my Logitech G15.

Now that's a sad story. I had a G15 specifically to monitor my comp's vital stats, but when I started running dual monitors I decided to pick up something that I liked typing on more.

I use a Zboard gaming keyboard that I got for free. It recognizes up to 8 inputs at once, has a nice crisp feel in all the keys, and is a cinch to clean. If/when it dies on me, I plan on getting something like the Das Keyboard. I like this a little better than the old IBM keyboards because I can fly over the keys easier. When I type more often, I can get up in the 100's, but not with those IBM models. They have to be definite keypresses, and I'm not so hot with that (at least on those models).

Originally Posted by Bruno

After the nuclear holocaust there will be 2 things left: ****roaches and IBM clickies

Nonsense. It will be *****roaches and Siemens clickies. And maybe some Big Red Switches. But that is a big maybe.

I learned touch typing by playing online games before they had graphics. I miss my MUD.

"You enter a room that looks fairly mundane. The trappings of an average life are strewn about the room. You notice a ladder leading to the attic.

Obvious exits: Up, Out, North, East"

Several posters have mentioned problems with spelling. This is a characteristic of the English language that is not so severe in other languages. George Bernard Shaw advocated spelling reform and to illustrate his case he gave the example of "ghoti" which spells "fish":

Take the "gh" from "rough", the "o" from "women" and the "ti" from "nation" = "fish"

I touch type, true touch typing by feel. I can look at a piece of paper and retype what is on it at 60 wpm without looking at the screen or the keyboard, but the way I learned is a little funny.

I took keyboarding classes in high school, and spent so much time goofing off that I really didn't learn anything, and by the end of the year, I could hunt and peck quickly, and I could do what looked like touch typing as long as I stared at my hands.

The way I learned to really touch type was playing Tribes 2. Once upon a time, that was a big hobby for me, and I was in a competitive group that actually competed in tournaments. (yes, there really is such a thing)

If I looked down at my hands to type a message, I'd get fragged every time I looked down to type. So, little by little, I learned to do it without looking.

The speed came when I got a job at the player's club at a casino, and had to do 40 hours a week of data entry. I could already touch type, but probably not more than 25 wpm. After a year, I would touch type at 40wpm, and last I checked I was up to ~60 wpm.

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

I use a Zboard gaming keyboard that I got for free. It recognizes up to 8 inputs at once, has a nice crisp feel in all the keys, and is a cinch to clean. If/when it dies on me, I plan on getting something like the Das Keyboard. I like this a little better than the old IBM keyboards because I can fly over the keys easier.

I'm torn between getting a Das or a Steelseries 7G.

The Das has up to 12 key rollover; 2 USB 2.0 ports, but they say it is incompatible with most KVM switches. I'm unclear if they mean PS/2 connection KVMs. And the phrase "up to" makes that 12-key figure rather vague.

The 7G supports "as many simultaneous key presses as there are keys on the keyboard." USB ports are only 1.1. Is PS/2 or USB connected so works with just about anything.

There is a handy tester here to see which keys you can hold down simultaneously. Shows my Siatek to be very bad.

That's one gripe about my Zboard- the USB slots are 1.1, so they're damn near useless. I'd take 2.0 slots over high multiple presses any day.