On 2024-01-19 19:14, Todd Gruhn wrote:
On Fri, Jan 19, 2024 at 7:02 PM Brad Spencer <brad%anduin.eldar.org@localhost> wrote:Todd Gruhn <tgruhn2%gmail.com@localhost> writes: > Ump-teen years ago there was an analog-keyboard. > It actually when 'click' when one pressed the key. > > Do these still exist?? > Do they last longer then the current keyboards?I think I get what you are asking about.. yes, they very much exist. A web search with "mechanical keyboard" or simular should find them. Thebetter ones will not be cheap. There is also a subculture out there of people building their own mechanical keyboards. There are some very nice switches that you can get, layouts, and designs, etc.. to roll your own or you can buy the bits and assemble it yourself. Not cheap, but very doable. I think "mechanical keyboard kit" might find those for you. I use a 35+ year old mechanical USB keyboard that originally was on a Gateway PC clone. It is the color of a white and black cow. It feels nice and I like the color combination.... If you have a ps/2 style keyboard that you like, say because it has a nice feel, but want it USB, there are Ardunio projects on github that implement a ps/2 to USB converter that work just fine. You may also still find converters for sale.I will assume that NetBSD would talk to these? Else they would not work ...
No one has answered this directly, but yes, they work fine.I've got a CODE keyboard from WASD keyboards with 'clear' keyswitches that's been my daily driver for nearly 10 years now. As far as the OS is concerned, it's just a USB keyboard, like any other.
If you were asking about the PS/2->USB adaptors or the Arduino projects, yeah those work too, the entire point of them is to convert the signalling into what the computer expects from a USB keyboard.
As others have mentioned, mechanical keyboards has a whole following on the Internet at large and can be a deep rabbit hole to dive down.
Welcome to the club. :)You can get some in the $50 range, check Amazon (or your favorite online retailer) for "mechanical keyboard" and read the reviews for decent ones. Once you get into it, and you start to recognize the brands of not just the keyboards, but the switches used in the keyboards, you'll find that you can easily spend in excess of $1-200 on a good keyboard. Might even find that you get a smaller portable mechanical keyboard to take with you when you travel so you can use a "real" keyboard instead of the one on your laptop. Like I said, deep, deep hole.
-- Michael Parson Pflugerville, TX