New keyboard

[JayM]

I have been having a terrible time with keyboards over the past several days. First, my spacebar started acting up due to 2 1/2 years' worth of dust and animal hairs clogging the inner works, and when I turned it upside-down and tapped it to try to clean it I guess I tapped too hard and the spacebar broke. I pulled an old compact keyboard out of the store room and was using that for several days, then Saturday it completely stopped responding. I tried it again yesterday morning and it was working again except for the enter key, which is a rather important key to have.

As I had to go do my monthly grocery shopping anyway (supermarkets are usually located inside shopping malls here) I picked up this one:
http://www.cdrking.com/index.php?mod=pr ... 5&main=167
It cost rather more than I was hoping to spend, but as I also have some vision and lighting issues I thought that the backlighting would help. Unfortunately the actual characters on the keys aren't illuminated, just the surface surrounding the keys, but it does help somewhat. Also, those characters are quite large and as the keyboard is new they're very white and visible, which is also helpful. The keys have a pleasant feel to them too, not at all spongey-feeling like the compact keyboard's keys are, so the tactile feedback is quite good.

As this keyboard is around 20% larger than my old one, and the keys are spaced further apart to allow room for the surrounding illumination, and as I'm not a touch-typist but just a two-fingered "hunt-and-pecker", I'm having a few problems with my typing and with hitting the correct letters as the keys aren't quite where I'm used to them being. So if you notice more typographical errors in my posts, or more edits than usual, that's why.

[KoO]

For $18.89c Australia you zero to complain about bro.. Their are two reviews on youtube check then out..

[JayM]

I've lived here for 10 years and I no longer think in terms of dollars, US or AU, but in terms of pesos. Php680 is a bit high for a computer keyboard when standard, non-gaming ones can be had for around 200-250 for the cheaper brands, 350ish for a somewhat better-quality one, though (not counting the compact keyboard which was only temporary) the one that this replaced is an Evolve brand that IIRC costs Php189 (around AU$5.25) and lasted for 2.5 years, and if it wasn't for my furry family (and total lack of regular cleanings and maintenance on my part) would probably last another couple of years beyond that. It wasn't a bad keyboard considering how cheap it was.

(Plus I had to plunk down Php1650, plus close to Php500 taxi fare round-trip, for a "new" 17" monitor only last week. My old one had so much compression damage from cleaning it that it was giving me eyestrain headaches and I couldn't take it anymore.)

[Eadwine Rose]

You know what they say.. all good things come in threes

That goes for bad things as well, unfortunately!

[JayM]

Great. PLEASE don't let it be my computer! I can NOT afford a replacement right now.

[Eadwine Rose]

I sure hope not!!

[srq2625]

(Plus I had to plunk down Php1650, plus close to Php500 taxi fare round-trip, for a "new" 17" monitor only last week. My old one had so much compression damage from cleaning it that it was giving me eyestrain headaches and I couldn't take it anymore.)

I really, really hope this comes across as wanting to help....

I have a couple of LCD monitors I've been using for more than 10 years and they have yet to suffer any compression damage. I clean them, maybe, twice a year. OK, I know that will cause some to say, "How can you see through all the grit, grime, dust, and crud?" and others to say, "Well, you must live in a much cleaner environment." Well, I don't live along-side a dirt road as some do (I live in a city), but I do live with the windows open about 6 months out of the year and have two dogs with all joys and issues that come with them.

I manage to reduce the dust/grime/etc accumulation on the screen surface using a couple of simple techniques:

• I NEVER, NEVER touch the screen with my hands/fingers, etc. NEVER!
• I have the top of the screen positioned just slightly above eye-level (as measured when I'm sitting normally) and have the tilted ever so slightly top-forward. It takes a bit of time to get accustomed to the way the display looks in this position, but it's amazing the extent to which the mind can adapt to changes in environment. Positioning the screen in this manner seems to help prevent accumulation of dust, etc on the surface of the screen.

When I do clean the screens, it's with a recommended solvent and a very soft microfiber cloth and very gently. If the grime and slime don't come off the first time, repeat, but always gently.

[JayM]

(Plus I had to plunk down Php1650, plus close to Php500 taxi fare round-trip, for a "new" 17" monitor only last week. My old one had so much compression damage from cleaning it that it was giving me eyestrain headaches and I couldn't take it anymore.)

I really, really hope this comes across as wanting to help....

Of course it does! Thank you for the cleaning and maintenance tips. I was just using a soft damp cloth on the old monitor and there were small specks that didn't want to come off, and I stupidly tried rubbing harder. Now I know better.

[jackdanielsesq]

Good grief, man

Does a Jeepnee cost that much these days?
Y'all make me homesick - take care, happy cooking, hombre
BTW - great job on your spanking new server - you do good work

Regards

Jack

(Plus I had to plunk down Php1650, plus close to Php500 taxi fare round-trip, for a "new" 17" monitor only last week. My old one had so much compression damage from cleaning it that it was giving me eyestrain headaches and I couldn't take it anymore.)