more keyboards

I got my mitts on the Logitech G15 gaming keyboard. It’s working great but of course I have some suggestions for them…

1. Get rid of the macro keys on the left.
   I’ve been working on this new keyboard for more than a week now and I still… STILL… keep hitting the bottom left macro key instead of the Ctrl key when copy/pasting or opening a tabbed window. It’s very annoying to try and open a new tabbed window and instead you wind up losing the page you’re on and opening a new page in your existing window of the browser.
2. Add a calculator button.
   This should be a STANDARD feature. ALL keyboards should come with the calculator button. You make a keyboard with all these extra button and not one of them is the calculator. Sure, go ahead and make that key reprogrammable for a macro, but hunting through the Start menu every time I need to do a little math is really annoying.
3. Make the USB outbound ports 2.0 compliant.
   Perhaps I am asking more than can be done, but is it too difficult to make a USB hub that has USB 2.0 compliant ports? I love the fact that this keyboard has ports, but they become quite less usable if their response time is cut by a slower connection.
4. Make sense in your install guide.
   “There is a switch on my keyboard with a picture of a joystick on it. What is that? Let’s check the book. Oh… it’s number 8. But wait there is no numbered definition list anywhere.” Why is there a numbered list of options in the manual and no legend to explain it? (btw: I’m still trying to figure out what this switch does)

On a related topic…

Does anyone have any recommendations for a collapsible bluetooth keyboard? I have recently found myself traveling with my Mac Mini between home and work. They keyboard is the only problem as it’s… well, it’s not small enough to fit in a bag that holds the Mac Mini.

I also thought it might be cool to get a keyboard that is compatible with the iTouch. Ok, so I don’t know if the current generation iTouch has bluetooth capabilities, but expect the new one (coming in June) will have it. As a forethought, I might want to be able to use this new keyboard with my iTouch for some quick text input.

Posted in: Rants »  by: foyleman

One Response to “more keyboards”

1. supersword  Says:
   May 1st, 2009 at 7:56 am

   I don’t really like macro buttons. Then again, if I had them, I might use them. I agree with the need for a calculator button as well. I’ve had it on one keyboard and it was really helpful.

   As for the USB ports, I don’t think it’s possible without an external power source. Atleast the hubs I have seen that offer 2.0, required mains power.

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