How to choose a keyboard?

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badyl
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How to choose a keyboard?

Post by badyl »

I'm going to buy a new keyboard, because the one i'm using now sometimes locks (for example when i press gas brake alo and turn at the same time). How do i know that the new one will not? What keyboards do you use?
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Orcc »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_%28key%29

N-key rollover is what you should look for.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by snajdig »

badyl wrote: sometimes locks (for example when i press gas brake alo and turn at the same time).
sometimes?:))) good for you:( - my keyboard is locks in 24 hours 8O , this is why I'm uttlery bad in pipes. It's some Genius ( costs 4 Euro )
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Bjenn »

http://www.daskeyboard.com/
else this is pretty sweet
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I have had this one for like three years and have had no problem at all. And you can press many buttons simultaneously. The ps/2 version ofc.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by badyl »

snajdig wrote:
badyl wrote: sometimes locks (for example when i press gas brake alo and turn at the same time).
sometimes?:))) good for you:( - my keyboard is locks in 24 hours 8O , this is why I'm uttlery bad in pipes. It's some Genius ( costs 4 Euro )
i mean only at some combinations of the keys but at them it happens always
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Fredrik »

Ez just stop doing gas brake at the same time
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Orcc »

Meet Fredrik, total time 41:41,98
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by 5tr1k3r »

My keyboard allows me to do any keypresses combinations, except gas+brake+left volt at the same time (I use arrows for volts, gas and brake). Gas+brake+right volt or gas+brake+alo or even +turn added to both is fine. Can't remember seeing any keyboard that behaves differently. And I also experienced this problem with the left arrow in some other games as well.

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Looks like this. Big freaking keyboard, but I like it because of its extended functionality and good overall usability.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by John »

Björn and I have the same keyboard so if you want 35tt you know what to do ;)
Björn wrote: Image
I have had this one for like three years and have had no problem at all. And you can press many buttons simultaneously. The ps/2 version ofc.
I've had mine (also ps/2) since november 2006, still works like a charm with no broken keys.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by pawq »

I have a terribly cheap keyboard (5e?), but I bought it 2 times in a row and I'm very satisfied. The first one lasted for some 4 years being covered with food/drinks all the time, then something happened that I had to buy new (don't remember what it was). I bought the same and it's again covered with food/drinks :D what's cool about it is:
1. it has a normal arrangement of normal buttons
2. it has some useful keys and few useless buttons at the top. those useful ones are: calc, pause/play and mute, plenty of more like back/forward too but i don't use them
3. its keys are low; i literally HATE those keyboards with tall keys, impsy one at a time then; this one is more like a laptop keyboard
4. its keys are covered with a very thin film of rubber, so aren't as slippery
5. its keys' strokes are very quiet
6. I guess it's just a matter of the flatness of the keys, but this is one of the very few keyboards when I can write turbofast without looking at the keyboard :)

so value for money is like huuuuuuuge
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by ville_j »

You are writing all those mysterious little facts but you're not telling the model? wtf????
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by pawq »

Hama Slim xd
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by jblaze »

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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Bjenn »

Those keyboards are so bad and useless, I remember them from highschool.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by pawq »

what's so bad and useless about them?
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by trew »

These are good keyboards. Filco is really really good. I've used both black and brown switches, and I think brown switches is by far more comfortable. There's blue and red also. Blue is like brown, but louder, and red I dunno.

http://keyboardco.com/
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by zebra »

For elma playing you don't need any expensive keyboard with lots of media keys. Look for keyboards where you can press at least 4 simultaneous buttons (N-key rollover as Orcc said) and have a good key touch. Well, it's not very easy to find such a keyboard. Some years ago I was looking for good keyboard too. At that time I had Keytronic KT-1000 which I still have and I have to say it's still quite decent for elma playing.

Then I bought Steelseries 7G. It has this anti-ghosting feature which means that you can press as many keys you want at the same time. So I didn't have any problems with that, but the keys felt kind of non-responding. That's because they were mechanical no-click keys meaning that you won't feel any click when you press them. But also you won't get any response when you have pressed the key hard enough. So that's why I felt it was after all a bad keyboard for elma playing.

Then I did some research on these flat keyboards. In them the keys are more flat and they are easier to press. After buying some keyboards I found that
Logitech UltraX Premium (Black) had best keys. It's a flat keyboard with awesome key touch. But it had one problem: I couldn't press all keys simultaneously which I had to press in elma. Then I figured out that those Ctrl, Alt and Shift buttons don't usually have that problem. So I changed my keys so that gas is now right shift, turn right is right ctrl and so on. Now I don't have any problem anymore with simultaneous key presses :)

So I recommend remapping the keys to Ctrl, Alt or Shift keys before buying any new keyboard. If you are looking for good key touch, I would go for a flat keyboard.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Igge »

I have a 10-year-old keyboard. It's non-mechanical and it doesn't support n keys. However, it does support 3 arrow keys and alo and space at once, and since you don't really need 4 arrow keys, as nowadays you have an alo button, it works fine fore elma. I'm not saying it's better - in fact, it's obviously worse, but after 10 years I've gotten so used to it I'm struggling really hard to change. I don't think I will until the one I have right now breaks.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by trew »

zebra wrote:For elma playing you don't need any expensive keyboard with lots of media keys. Look for keyboards where you can press at least 4 simultaneous buttons (N-key rollover as Orcc said) and have a good key touch. Well, it's not very easy to find such a keyboard. Some years ago I was looking for good keyboard too. At that time I had Keytronic KT-1000 which I still have and I have to say it's still quite decent for elma playing.

Then I bought Steelseries 7G. It has this anti-ghosting feature which means that you can press as many keys you want at the same time. So I didn't have any problems with that, but the keys felt kind of non-responding. That's because they were mechanical no-click keys meaning that you won't feel any click when you press them. But also you won't get any response when you have pressed the key hard enough. So that's why I felt it was after all a bad keyboard for elma playing.

Then I did some research on these flat keyboards. In them the keys are more flat and they are easier to press. After buying some keyboards I found that
Logitech UltraX Premium (Black) had best keys. It's a flat keyboard with awesome key touch. But it had one problem: I couldn't press all keys simultaneously which I had to press in elma. Then I figured out that those Ctrl, Alt and Shift buttons don't usually have that problem. So I changed my keys so that gas is now right shift, turn right is right ctrl and so on. Now I don't have any problem anymore with simultaneous key presses :)

So I recommend remapping the keys to Ctrl, Alt or Shift keys before buying any new keyboard. If you are looking for good key touch, I would go for a flat keyboard.
Steelseries 7G got black switches, which imo isn't that good for elma. As I mentioned, brown switches is much more comfortable.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Bjenn »

Pawq wrote:what's so bad and useless about them?
Nothing to press on, flat keys right? get bad response when pressing, they can break easily. I hate flat keys, I need to feel that i'm actually pressing a key down, not only touching it.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by zebra »

You are right. If I had known the difference between black and brown switches back then when I bought Steelseries 7G, I wouldn't have bought it.

I found a good site explaining the different mechanical keyboard types: http://www.overclock.net/t/491752/mecha ... oard-guide
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by badyl »

actually i already solved the problem by changing the key for brake. now everything is fine
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by zworqy »

Björn wrote:
Pawq wrote:what's so bad and useless about them?
Nothing to press on, flat keys right? get bad response when pressing, they can break easily. I hate flat keys, I need to feel that i'm actually pressing a key down, not only touching it.
Exactly.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Bjenn »

badyl wrote:actually i already solved the problem by changing the key for brake. now everything is fine
Haha all replies for nothing ;D nice one
But seriously buy a new internet 350 keyboard and you will never regret it!
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by trew »

Jappe wrote:
zebra wrote:You are right. If I had known the difference between black and brown switches back then when I bought Steelseries 7G, I wouldn't have bought it.
-.- you make it sound like they are the worst thing ever. sure maybe prefer brown for typing etc (actually i would take blue because i like clicking sounds :P) but for spel i think black overall is good
They are fine, but it's not worth it to buy a keyboard with black switches when you can get brown instead. I think brown is better for all purposes.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Bjenn »

I never heard about these different switches, but I think I have black, mine does not make any click sound. Maybe John knows?
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Igge »

Ask any starcraft player and they know.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Thundr- »

So you actually mean there are keyboards made after year 2000 that can handle elma? This is news to me. Ive purchased many keyboards throughout the previous decade and none have been satisfactory with arrow keys, space and alo pushed at once (4-5 buttons?). Tried some flat keyboards, fucking hated those, also some with real buttons with buttonclicks and shit. After that I just gave up and now have a stock of 2-3 old keyboards that all can handle teh.

Im currently using something like this http://www.testipenkki.net/atk/artikkel ... 01-022.jpg - except mine has a phonecord-like twirly cable instead. From year 1997 or sach. Very fresh. I had a microsoft sidewinder (mechanical) that was cool with red lights and such, had to give that one to my gf cuz couldnt höyl with teh
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Bjenn »

LöL at that keyboard.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by trew »

That keyboard rocks. It was the one I first started playing elma on.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Thundr- »

trew wrote:That keyboard rocks. It was the one I first started playing elma on.
Yes its comfy as nice etc, except its looks like shit :D Especially when all other computer gear is black. Even the chair/desk/house/my hair/my soul/your mom/this text, is black

I think ill get same as bjenn, looks alright
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Lousku »

Paint it black.
then again i don't know anything
maybe easier not to think abouut alöl things thought than not things thought ... or something..=?
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Thundr- »

Lousku wrote:Paint it black.
too bad there arent covers/skins/shells available for keyboards like they have on cellphones
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by abruzzi »

anyone can tip an elma-compatible wireless kb with small lag? or its better to actually buy long usb wire instead
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Ramone »

I used several whireless logitech keyboards. Never had lag, or problems with pressing several keys at same time. I always used wireless for elma, allthough Bartek always claimed my keyboards lagged, maybe I got used to it, but never noticed difference with others wired keyboards.
Anyway, when I buy keyboard I make sure I can trade it even after I tested it. I always ask that. Never bought online.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by A.K.B. »

I use a Razer Blackwidow Ultimate keyboard. Mechanical keys are incredibly fantastic to use. Anti-ghosting gives unlimited combinations practically, so I can never mash too many keys at the same time, so I can even do brake alias :3 mega sick.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by badyl »

This time i'm really going to buy a keyboard and i have a question:
Is there any significant difference between ps/2 and usb keyboards? I'd prefer usb because its more universal but bjenn and john have ps/2 and i don't know what is the reason for it.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Mats »

Ive seen more problems on usb keyboards, like less simultaneously keypresses and more laggy recognition, but I guess it depends on pricetag :P
Also loose an usb port
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by bene »

I har not seen a computer with ps/2 port since 2005 or something.

In all seriousness I have some 10 euro usb logitech fak that I bought a few years ago that is good enuf to drive internal wrs in 2014 and can handle 6 keys at the same time. Elma only needs like 5(gas,brake,volt,turn,enter) ever.

Ez to google some explanation of differences like this, go read and then you know exactly what the difference is.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Thundr- »

badyl wrote:This time i'm really going to buy a keyboard and i have a question:
Is there any significant difference between ps/2 and usb keyboards? I'd prefer usb because its more universal but bjenn and john have ps/2 and i don't know what is the reason for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_(key)

Studdy up on this above link, if a keyboard can playeth elma has nothing to do with blue red green purple cyan emerald mechanical keys, if the keyboard costs 100 billion euros, usb or ps2 or playstation 3 or kitchen fridge temperatures. Its just whether it has correct rollover tech on it (able to handle multiple keypresses simultaneusly) The ps2 keyboards generally has this tech automaticateleyely thats why old keyboards work nicely often while old usb doesn't. Some super high end keyboards have complete rollover or sometimes only at the WASD area cuz thats where you play all games mostly. Just ask tech support whether it has complete rollover or only at wasd or not at all and its easy to know if it will work with elma or not
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Thundr- »

Thundr- wrote:
badyl wrote:This time i'm really going to buy a keyboard and i have a question:
Is there any significant difference between ps/2 and usb keyboards? I'd prefer usb because its more universal but bjenn and john have ps/2 and i don't know what is the reason for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_(key)/

Studdy up on this above link, if a keyboard can playeth elma has nothing to do with blue red green purple cyan emerald mechanical keys, if the keyboard costs 100 billion euros, usb or ps2 or playstation 3 or kitchen fridge temperatures. Its just whether it has correct rollover tech on it (able to handle multiple keypresses simultaneusly) The ps2 keyboards generally has this tech automaticateleyely thats why old keyboards work nicely often while old usb doesn't. Some super high end keyboards have complete rollover or sometimes only at the WASD area cuz thats where you play all games mostly. Just ask tech support whether it has complete rollover or only at wasd or not at all and its easy to know if it will work with elma or not
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Thundr- »

Doubleposted with my own quote, dunno how to remove, kkthx
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by badyl »

Bene what logitech model? I'm thinking of buying k200.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by pawq »

An ultimate argument - compatibility; no "new" motherboards have ps/2 ports, buying one of those would be like going back in time (by some 20 years).
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by bene »

badyl wrote:Bene what logitech model? I'm thinking of buying k200.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by badyl »

I bought Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600. Quite satisfied at the moment. Possible to press 5 keys at the same time in Elma (gas brake volt/alo turn enter) BUT it is important which keys you use for playing (for example simultaneous press doesnt work for asdf and works for zxcv). I guess full n-key rollover keyboard is very expensive.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Abula »

http://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/product/ ... Brown-kytk

Bought this. Elma works. No dead combinations found.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

Post by Bjenn »

I bought a new keyboard, Steelseries 6GV2.
The buttons are quite hard to press down, but I'm used to it now, MX Black switches I think it was.
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Re: How to choose a keyboard?

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