58bits - Tech

As if anyone needed more proof.

In my quest to find the world's best computer keyboard (here in Part1 and Part2), I've recently settled on my IBM SpaceSaver II and Logitech G9 Laser mouse combination. The mouse is great - but as I wrote earlier - the key action on the keyboard was just a little off - feeling a bit 'plasticy'. Some keys were actually a little stiff and squeaky as well (it's at least five years old - purchased second hand from e-Bay).

I figured there must be at least one other IBM SpaceSaver II owner out there that has taken their keyboard apart, cleaned it up, lubricated the keys and put it back together again - and I was right.

I found this page... How to Clean, Upgrade, Repair, Mod, Disassemble an IBM Computer Keyboard, with the two links below at the bottom of the page... in Japanese.

The Illustrated link at Neko's Keyboard room saved me... because there are two hidden screws under the scroll button on the keyboard.

With the following explanation of how to remove the middle button...

既に有名な話ですが、Space Saver II Keyboard の 筐体を開ける際にはトラックポイントのスクロールボタンの下にもネジも外します。 これを知らないと最悪力任せに「ベキッ」ですので注意です。 センターボタンは下からマイナスドライバをつっこんで、テコのように外します。

This is the amazing part... thanks to Yahoo Babel Fish... the above translates into...

Already, it is famous story, but the case where the frame of Space Saver II Keyboard is opened you remove also the screw even under the scroll button of the track/truck point. Unless this is known, because “[bekitsu]” is in the worst power leaving, it is note. Thrusting 0 driver from under, like the lever you remove the center button.

Which with some creative interpretation means...

"It's really really important that you know that there are two hidden screws under the scroll button or you will never get the front panel of your keyboard off! By carefully placing a thin slot screwdriver under the front of the scroll button - it will pop off, and you can remove the screws :-)"

Not sure about "bekitsu" - but that looks like the perfect place to insert your preferred expletive.

So there was one other person out there - somewhere on the planet, that had already done what I was trying to do... and that person was in Japan. Thanks to his post, the Internet, and Babel Fish - not only did I find him.. but I discovered something valuable in the process.

Incredible.

Update: 09 Oct 2008 Well - I needed a decent mouse - and the Logitech G9 Laser mouse totally rocks. Downside.. couldn't work out how to swap the mouse on the Kensington Slimblade set.. since the wireless USB dongle reports both a mouse and keyboard. Luckily I'm warming up to my IBM SpaceSaver II and so that's the combination I'm using now.. SpaceSaver II and Logitech G9. Also received a Luxeed LED keyboard from the manufacturer in Korea.. err.. they were very kind and helpful in getting a keyboard to me,  so it pains me to have to report that there are some quality and manufacturing issues with this keyboard. I was getting phantom carriage returns, and the 'F' and 'G' keys were sticking down, so no go here. A real pity because the keyboard layout is perfect. Illuminated LED keys with separate colors assigned to control keys and letter keys - was the closest I've come to the perfect keyboard setup. Sigh.

Original post...

This is officially part two in my never ending quest for the worlds greatest keyboard. Part one is here - In Search of The World's Best Computer Keyboard

My IBM SpaceSaver II arrived today. Not sure what to say. The keyboard layout is perfect; compact but not too small. Everything is in the right place. No number pad which is important for me (as I mentioned in the first post) and helps to keep the keyboard square with the screen. 

Pros: It just works; with no special drivers it works fine in Vista (apart from an active PS2 to USB converter) - the track-point and the middle button scrolling option also works. I'm actually able to use track-point and built in mouse buttons quite well  - which was a little bit surprising (although I will use a dedicated mouse). Looks nice too (the picture doesn't do it justice) and fits well with my black theme.

Cons: Hmm.. key action feels very cheap compared to my ThinkPad T61p keyboard (ThinkPad keyboards are still the greatest keyboards in the world). Key height, action, spacing and travel also aren't nearly as comfortable or as refined as the Kensington Slimblade.

Verdict: Good but disappointing key action - so not the world's greatest keyboard I'm afraid.

Pictured left - my current top of the pile choice - the Kensington Slimblade Media Set. My only recommendation here would be to ditch the mouse. The track-ball is too small for day to day use. Bummer.

Still it's the closest there is at the moment... however...

...there's another candidate out there - one to check out for sure.. the Luxeed LED Keyboard. This one will be fun try. Amazingly - they've gone for nearly the same keyboard layout as the SpaceSaver II (and not as mad as the Maximus Optimus - which I would also have gone for had they made the number pad detachable) . CTRL-Windows-Alt - are just the way I like them all on their own to the left of the space bar (no pesky function key). If the key action is as smooth or even close to the feel of the ThinkPad or the Kensington - this could be the winner. Will report back in Part III if I manage to get hold of one...  :-)

Awesome - my new 2.5" 320GB Hitachi 7200 rpm 16MB cache Travelstar 7K320 hard disk arrived today. The drive was actually made in Thailand - but I had to order it from Singapore... grrr...

Last March I purchased a ThinkPad T61p. I love this notebook... but I made the mistake of not putting a large enough drive in it at the time.

Here are the steps I took to swapping the drive and resizing the partitions. I had BitLocker installed - with the system volume C: encrypted, so there was a S: partition for boot (as BitLocker creates) and a D: volume where I keep all my data.

1. Backed up D:
2. Did a Complete PC Backup to an external USB drive. Control Panel, System Maintenance, Backup and Restore Center, Back up Computer. This creates an image based backup (like Ghost, or TrueImage) including all partition information. NOTE: The image backup process creates a 'decrypted' backup image so you need to keep this drive safe in the case of regular backups.
3. Swapped the drives.
4. Booted from my Vista 64 bit OS DVD - and chose "Repair your computer..." (after the date and time options) followed by "Windows Complete PC Restore" - restore completed.. and reboot.
5. After booting - launched the Computer Management snap-in (right click on My Computer and choose "Manage"). Went into Disk Management - made the C: volume the active volume (in preparation for removing the BitLocker created S: volume)..
6. Reboot - you'll see an error message that boot files cannot be found
7. Boot again from Vista OS DVD
8. Choose "Repair" - and "Startup Repair" (first option) - the boot files and MBR record will be recreated on the C: volume.
9. Reboot and go back into Disk Management. Delete the S: volume (and in my case the D: data volume too). This will make room for a contiguous extension of the C: volume.
10. Then in Disk Management right click on the C: volume and choose 'Extent Volume.."  (this was the whole point of the exercise for me - I needed to increase the size of my system volume).
11. Reboot - system should be fine booting from C:. Re-run the BitLocker drive preparation tool - and re-create the new 1.5GB S: boot volume. And then in my case re-create the D: data volume.
12. Reboot - all done - restore data to D: and re-encrypt C:.

Presto - and it worked flawlessly. Another option would have been to just use the Windows Complete PC Restore - and then use a tool like Acronis Disk Director to reorganize the partitions before re-encrypting the C: volume. However in this case - it all worked without the use of any 3rd party software. I'll give MS credit for their new image based backup system in Vista. I've used it several times now and it's always worked. :-)

Boot times are much improved as well. The previous drive was a Seagate Momentus 7200rpm 160GB disk - but it always felt sluggish to me. The new Hitachi disk is much quicker (although it's reviewed as slightly slower to the new 320GB offerings from both Seagate and Western Digital).

Update: In Search of The World's Best Computer Keyboard Part II

For a couple of years now - on and off, I've been trying to find the perfect small form factor mini size keyboard. Like David Bau in his own quest to find the World's Best Computer Keyboard, I came to the conclusion that I really don't want a full length, full size, 101 to 104 key keyboard on my desk. I rarely use the number pad, and when I do -  I don't mind it being separate.

I want my posture to be straight when I'm using my computer - from my back, to my shoulders, to my arms, wrists and hands. I found that when I was using a full size keyboard with a built-in number pad on the right, that the extra length on the right side of the keyboard was causing me to reach just a few inches further than I wanted to in order to use my mouse; just enough to change my posture - and enough for me to feel it in my shoulders and wrist when using my mouse.

So that started the search... and man did I search. I tried a bunch - including an expensive Cherry POS keyboard as well as the ThinkPad Travel UltraNav, but they were all far from perfect. The UltraNav in particular was a disappointment (it's up there in my little keyboard mountain) since it was nothing like the real ThinkPad keyboard in my notebook; the quality, key action and feel was very different.

I don't understand why PC users have such a poor choice in desktop keyboards. If you took the average manufacturer's PC desktop keyboard and tried to put it into a notebook, the notebook wouldn't sell. In fact it was while using my notebook that I realized my posture was better. Not only that but the keyboard in my notebook was so much better than my desktop - it was the famous IBM ThinkPad keyboard - the benchmark in notebook keyboards.

For a while I was using a Deck Legend - and I loved the key backlighting, but this was before my quest for a smaller keyboard. I actually contacted TG3 - the manufacturer of the Deck Legend, hoping that they might be about to update one of their current small form factor models, or possibly modify a BL82 for me into the standard Windows keyboard layout. I was prepared to pay. My keyboard is a tool I use for work, just like a tool any other professional would use in their job.

The first thing you'll discover when you start looking for small form factor keyboards is that there's a variety of different keyboard layouts. That was the first big stumbling block. I'm a CTRL-S freak. I hit CTRL-S for nearly every line I write, code or otherwise - so having the CTRL key in the usual position - bottom left - is important (although I confess I've 'adapted' when using my ThinkPad, which has a function key in the bottom left position - but that's my only complaint with the ThinkPad). The standard CTRL-Windows-ALT arrangement bottom left would be great, followed by, from the top right, down the right side - DELETE, HOME, PG-UP, PG-DN, END, and then the arrow keys. This is the layout used by most notebook manufacturers these days and it would be good to have a matching desktop and notebook keyboard. The HP 8150W (shown) has a good keyboard - although I whish they'd put the Function key to the right of the spacebar.

The other thing you'll discover when looking for a keyboard of any size - is that most of the models advertised online don't have a good quality larger version picture of the keyboard. It was pretty hard to figure out how the keys (especially top row keys) were arranged before shortlisting a keyboard for purchase.

I've also looked at the growing number of media keyboards that are slowly coming onto the market. The growth in home media centers means that more people are now actually looking for smaller (and wireless) keyboards - but again - quality, keyboard layout and in particular function keys vary a lot. I've looked at the Logitech diNovo Edge - which is just a fraction wide, and the key action wasn't quite what I was looking for - but it was close. Also the Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 - another close call - but again, a little wide and poor function key support since the function keys are in a flat membrane key strip across the top.

My current keyboard (and mouse) is the Kensington Slimblade Media Notebook Set. So very very close. The layout is almost perfect. I wish the function keys were full-size - but they work. Key action is superb and the closest so far I've come to feeling like I'm on a ThinkPad. The right side key arrangement is a little odd - with END at the top-right - followed by PG-UP, PG-DN, INSERT, DELETE and then the arrow keys. It's taken me a little while to get used to the DELETE key in this position. Still - this is the closest I've come to finding the perfect small form factor keyboard. Kensington have always made good quality accessories. Want to know why? Well I think it's because they make accessories for the Macintosh as well. And Mac users, having become accustomed to brilliant design and ergonomics, wouldn't tolerate a low quality accessory (in fact I popped into a local i-Studio Mac shop recently and saw a brushed aluminum small form factor keyboard that was just lovely).

So what would my dream small form factor keyboard look like? It would be matt-black brushed aluminum, use the keyboard layout shown in the HP8150W keyboard above - but with full size function keys. It would have illuminated keyboard characters (blue back-lit LEDs) and would totally rock in terms of quality and keyboard action. Until then... my Slimblade will do nicely. I may even give the IBM SpaceSaver II a try (as mentioned in David Bau's article) if I can find one.

While searching - I came across these two very expensive honorable mentions...

The Optimus Maximums from Art.Lebedev Studio. This is an incredible keyboard - would love to put my hands on one, and if they ever make a smaller version with a separate number pad - I'll buy it.

And then there's Datamancer - not sure whether to be scared, or in love with this stuff. Maybe when I'm wealthy, one day - I'll ask this guy to make me a keyboard (the equivalent of American Chopper for geeks - so cool).

I’m not a hard core gamer, or a hardware freak per se, but in my quest to build a small form factor (SFF) PC that will last a few years before having to upgrade I decided to push the envelope on SFF PCs. I have three boxes on the go at the moment including an older Shuttle SD31P. Space is an issue, and I’ve always liked the idea of being able to grab my main box – put it in a  carry-on luggage bag and fly off knowing that my ‘office’ is in the bag (for longer journeys of course).

In December I purchased a Shuttle SD37P2 Barebones SFF (Intel 975X Express chipset). This is a very cool box. The real hard-core iron guys will complain that the audio card is slightly below spec (Realtek ALC882 high definition audio codec for eight channels of 24-bit/192 KHz), and network controller from Broadcom uses a little more CPU resource than it should at full Gigabit bandwidth. I can’t say that I notice. The auido is great, and this is a workstation class PC not a datacentre server with a NIC at full throttle 24/7 and so I’m happy on both counts.

I then thought for a while about what to do in the video card department – knowing that DirectX 10 cards are on the way. The choice was to buy an economy card now knowing I would replace it in a month or two – or go for the only DirectX 10 card on the market at the moment. I waited until January before buying the video card – having decided to ‘go for it’ and buy an NVidia GeForce 8800 series card. The longer and more powerful GTX version won’t fit in the SD37P2 and even if it did the power requirements exceed the PSU spec. So the GTS was the one. Cool Card – dual slot PCI-E card with good thermal control. I purchased the Asus version (comes with a few extra connectors and some sampler games – including Ghost Recon Advanced War Fighter).

Then came Memory – courtesy of Corsair two sets of twinned 2GB XMS2 modules for a total of 4GB.

And then the CPU. If I’d really wanted a ‘boastable’ box I would have bought the Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPU – but I just couldn’t justify the serious bucks required for this CPU. I’m not an over-clocker and for the 0.3 GHz trimmed off the clock speed – the Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 hit the sweet spot. Looking forward to trying out the Virtualization Technology and running my first VPC image soon.

There are 681 million transistors in this thing. Err.. that’s a lot. Incredible.

With all the bits coming together nicely the only thing missing was the OS. This was going to be a Vista box – but so close to retail launch, and with Vista RTM already in the hands of Microsoft’s corporate customers there seemed little point in installing the the RC1 image I’d previously tested. Somehow a Windows Vista Universal Key and DVD arrived as if by magic; with 26 days left to activate as I write, and yes – I’ll be buying my Windows Vista Ultimate license pronto… :-)

After a couple of test runs with Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit edition I decided that I just wasn’t going to be able to build a stable production machine on a 64bit OS. Not least of which Cisco show no sign of updating there VPN client for 64bit use and have only just released a 32bit beta version of the VPN Client for Vista.

A few hours on and I had a fully functional production box with all the usual tools and utils, VS 2005, SQL Server 2005 and everything else I need to work. The amazing thing is that it does exactly that – works! And does it ever – the machine is incredibly fast. Despite risking it with the VS 2005 SP1 Patch Beta for Vista, the SQL Server 2005 SP2 CTP patch for Vista, the Cisco Client Beta for Vista, Cute FTP Pro 8, FeeDemon, EditPad Pro etc. etc. etc.; it all works! Tortoise SVN misbehaved for the sum total of about 2 hours before the benevolent Stefan Küng posted a fix to the nightly build directory of Tortoise SVN (Stefan deserves a medal for his work on Tortoise SVN).

The number of major and minor improvements in Vista is incredible. Everything from a disk checking utility that actually works and provides a decent report, to the ‘not one’ but ‘three clocks’ and timezones that you can configure for the taskbar clock. The list is huge – and the best site for all the goodies in Vista that I’ve discovered so far is definitely Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows.

So with everything up and running – and real work being performed on my new machine – the only thing left were the video drivers from NVidia followed by activation to get Aero Glass. NVidia must have been scrambling to get the 8800 series Vista drivers out because they showed up on their site on exactly the same day of the official retail launch of Vista. I’d expected something there from the November RTM. And these are still listed as Beta drivers.

About an hour ago I installed the NVidia drivers and a funny thing happened – I got Aero Glass as a bonus. :-). I still have 26 days to activate Vista – and from everything I’ve read you don’t get Aero Glass goodies until you fork over the bucks. Thank you NVidia – two in one!

Aero Glass is just so cool (lurking Gnome, KDE or OSX users – pah – I scoff in your general direction). Aero Glass is the slickest OS UI that I’ve ever seen – and fun too!  I’ve been flip 3Ding for an hour now – and I’m not bored yet (sad I know). I love the blurred transparent background effect on the window frames of apps that have the focus…

Here’s a shot of Windows Media Player 11 on top of BlogJet 2.0.

Here’s the effect…

So cool….

And for the Windows Experience Index braggers out there – I’m a 5.4 all in.

:-)