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Mechanical keyboards

From InstallGentoo Wiki v2
Revision as of 01:33, 29 January 2014 by >Tanilolli (Moved intro, added common switch variants and info on Cherry MX switches.)
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Main article: Keyboards

Mechanical Switch Guide
Mechanical Keyboard Guide
Keyboard guide

The difference between mechanical keyboards and membrane keyboards lies in the switches beneath the keys. Mechanical keyboards are designed to mimic what typing feels like on a typewriter. Mechanical switches have been known to last much longer than the traditional membrane switches, as well as allowing users to type faster and more effectively, and resulting in less typographical errors.

Cherry MX Keyboards

Cherry currently produces the most popular switches for mechanical keyboards. They offer a number of clicky/non-clicky and linear/non-linear variants of their switches to suit the needs of the typist. The switch variant can be determined by looking at the color of the stem.

Many replacement keysets and novelty keys are available for Cherry MX Keyboards because of their popularity. A common upgrade is replacing stock ABS keycaps with PBT variants which are made of more durable materials.

Common Switch variants

Switch type Clicky Tactile Actuation force
Cherry MX Black No No 60 cN
Cherry MX Red No No 45 cN
Cherry MX Brown No Yes 45 cN (55 cN Peak Force)
Cherry MX Clear No Yes 65 cN (65 cN Peak Force)
Cherry MX Blue Yes Yes 60 cN (60 cN Peak Force)
Cherry MX White Yes Yes 50 cN (80 cN Peak Force)
Cherry MX Green Yes Yes 80 cN

Retro

Apple Extended keyboard.

Apple® Extended Keyboard™

Most homosexual keyboard ever made, It has a retro rainbow Apple® logo, It's a mechanical keyboard and It looks better than that geeky old-fashioned non-retro IBM® Model M™

The inner workings on a mechanical keyboard switch, with detailed information on the loudness, force required to activate etc.