However, I like to have the cable attached either in the center or on the left (as I face the keyboard), and some keyboards might have a flush-mounted rear connector on the right, which would not work as well for my desktop setup. 2 shows that the underside of the case has a 5-way channel for cable management some people may find this useful, but I prefer to have the connector flush-mounted to the rear of the case (rather than in a recessed area underneath) where it is more accessible. There is a decal showing the correct orientation of the USB plug, but I found this not as useful as simply looking at the connector itself.įig2.jpg (973.11 KiB) Viewed 5758 times Cable Management. 1 below, the keyboard has a generously sized recessed area for the micro-USB connector (said to be longer lasting than a mini-USB connector). Inside, the keyboard is contained in a thin styrofoam sleeve, and a rear compartment in the box includes the micro-USB cable, a wire key puller tool, a passive USB to PS/2 adapter, and a brief User's Guide with a list of the DIP switch settings and Fn commands. It is not as plain as the brown box that houses a Realforce keyboard but not as fancy as the boxes used for the Kul ES-87 or CM Novatouch TKL. The keyboard comes in a handsome black box with the company logo and WASD in red letters. Cherry mx browns cost an extra 5 USD, bringing the total to a very reasonable price of 100 USD. The base price of the barebones WASD keyboard is 95 USD, which includes Cherry mx blue switches as the standard. In contrast, my RF 87ub 55g keyboard consistently registered 6-key rollover on USB). gDemo.aspx showed that USB gave only 5-key rollover. N-key with PS/2 6-key with USB (I did not test PS/2 rollover, but my tests on the MS site.
PCB: Single layer (the WASD CODE keyboard has a dual-layer PCB). Cherry mx black, blue, brown, clear, green, and red. Another reason for choosing WASD Keyboards is their excellent customer support - I e-mailed them with several pre-sales questions, and they answered all of them promptly and thoughtfully. I especially appreciated the barebones option, because I invariably end up replacing the stock keycaps on Cherry mx keyboards.
This left WASD, which has a number of attractive features, including a micro-USB connector, DIP switches for various settings, red LED lock lights on the keyboard instead of under the keycaps, and a "barebones" (naked) option with no keycaps at a savings of 45 USD off the base price. However, I had already tried a Filco moreover, they are quite expensive and they have fixed USB cables, whereas I prefer a detachable cable. I prefer to define my own Fn key and its functions this is possible with Filco TKL keyboards. In addition, CM TKL boards have a hardwired Fn key than does not send a scan code and therefore cannot be remapped in software. This time, I ruled out CM, because I could not find a TKL with mx browns in stock. I had previously tried keyboards by Cooler Master and Filco.
The choice of keyboard brand was largely dictated by my choice of Costar stabilizers, which are found in at least some keyboards made by Cooler Master (CM), Filco, and WASD Keyboards. While Cherry stabilizers make it easier to switch keycaps on the stabilized keys (usually Backspace, Enter, Left Shift, Right Shift, and the Spacebar), I prefer Costar stabilizers, which make the stabilized keys feel less mushy. Among the Cherry mx keyboards I have tried, some had Cherry stabilizers and others had wire stabilizers (commonly called Costar stabilizers, although some people consider this a misnomer). Nevertheless, after trying various keyboards with Cherry mx blue, green, black, red, clear, and brown (ever so briefly), I decided to give mx browns another try.
In general, I prefer Topre (especially the HHKB Pro 2 and RF 87ub 55g) and IBM capacitive buckling spring (such as found in the IBM Model F XT). Cherry mx keyboards are not among my favorites. My favorite form factors are 60% and TKL.