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Das Keyboard Professional
Using the Das Keyboard
Typing on the Das Keyboard Professional got under my skin. I bought a black suit and driving gloves. I only loaded my player with music composed by dead men. I walked the streets at night, and starting small, at first, bringing in a few lieutenants, I made a name for myself. The hard part was just figuring out which of these mooks was even worth the risk. The weird thing is that I didn't get scared. I don't like going to the grocery store or the bank, those places are nauseating, but bashing in some dude's ear between the wall and a Dumpster in an alley, well that just gets the heart rate to optimal. Eventually, I was approached by this little black lady in her Sunday best [Kurtis: Oh noes, somebody call the PC-police!]. She handed me a box of sticky buns and told me to keep my schedule clear. You know, I laughed at her. In hindsight, that wasn't a genius move but it didn't seem to change her opinion of me. I'm not crazy about sweets, so I didn't know it 'til it started ringing that there was a cell phone in there, too. I can't get into all the details, but before the end of the week I was on a flight north of the border. See, charter flights, that's another thing that gives me the willies. For some reason, flying on a commercial jet feels stable, but those little planes just make me curl up in my seat. I thought I was singing to myself, but it turns out, I was on the com the whole flight. Of course, that's how they started calling me "the Tuner," and yeah, I like working with piano wire, but it's also a little embarrassing. We landed at an unmarked airstrip on the State's side of a lot of water. I think it was cut by drunk truckers drag racing back when gas was cheap. So when I get out there, it's so cold my nose hairs freeze up. The guy I'm meeting has a bunch of those little iron oxide hand warmers so my fingers work right when we get to the next place. He never used a single one, and I swear he chuckled every time I switched 'em out. I mean come on, it's ten degrees out and they only last thirty minutes. He took me across the lake in a canoe. There was only one paddle but there was also a hatchet. A little rough, but we're in the Great White and it seemed thematically appropriate, and best of all, I didn't have to do any rowing. We came ashore a hundred yards out from a cabin. And you could hear them like they were in the boat next to you. It was a bunch of bakers. They were pretty lit by the time we pressed the flesh, but they absolutely had the advantage of numbers. Turns out, a hatchet was just the tool for the job. So yeah, it's a nice keyboard.
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Add Comment
11 User Comments 1 - Posted by
Topheron
on October 16, 2008 - 6:17 pm I too, have the Das Keyboard bug. I bought the one with no letters or numbers on the keys, for a lot more money than my significant other could possibly understand a year ago. Love it. Love it beyond reason. I thought I'd like it, that it would be nice, but when I have the chance to do some extensive typing I'm grinning like a madman, a slight hint of drool coming from the corner of my mouth. Typing is an absolute joy on a Das Keyboard. Worth every penny. I plan to use this keyboard for the rest of my life. 2 - Posted by
Kurtis
on October 16, 2008 - 6:26 pm Makes you want to change professions to Data Input Specialist, eh? :-p
3 - Posted by
MichaelHarper
on October 27, 2008 - 7:56 am Max, i am writing to convey the dismay of your employers. It was thought that you had the discretion to keep the nature of your employ secret, but even this hyperbole-laden recounting is beyond the pale for those in our line of work. Your situation shall shortly change, and drastically, and not for the better.
4 - Posted by
phototristan
on November 7, 2008 - 3:55 pm This is a good keyboard but the lettering on the keys is already staring to wear off and I've only had it a couple of months!
5 - Posted by
iMav
on November 8, 2008 - 7:56 pm The folks over at geekhack have identified a significant flaw in the Das III's design. Check it I hope the folks at Metadot step up and make it right. 6 - Posted by
Kurtis
on November 9, 2008 - 12:57 pm Thanks for the feedback, phototristan and iMav.
7 - Posted by
chris_
on June 11, 2009 - 12:11 am The "Das Keyboard bug" is an unsubstantiated viral meme on Geekhack, stemming from a lack of testing of other keyboards (which produce the same result) and a lack of data regarding the proper range of sample rates for a keyboard. Without hard data these claims should be disregarded. I type over 100 words per minute on mine.
8 - Posted by
typist2000
on June 20, 2009 - 1:12 am chris_ = troll or fanboy, take your pick. Metadot themselves admitted the problem that geekhack folks talked about.
9 - Posted by
Rajagra
on June 20, 2009 - 1:21 pm Chris_, daskeyboard com is marketing the DAS III as "The best keyboard on the planet. Period." Some good typists noticed it gave key transposition errors that similar grade keyboards did not. And not completely random errors - there was a pattern. They devised a simple test that proved the nature of the problem. When the manufacturers were confonted, they (to their credit) admitted the problem and gave details - the DAS III does indeed scan the keyboard matrix slowly. This is a design flaw. It is still a great keyboard, I have one and love it, but people typing at 120wpm may find the problem annoying.
10 - Posted by
Rajagra
on June 20, 2009 - 1:43 pm For the record, DAS have said: "The detection time of the current version was designed as 100ms." So two keys pressed within 1/10 of a second of each other might get transposed, though 1/20 of a second is the average inter-keypress delay that will cause problems. 120wpm = about 10 keys pers second on average, ball park figure, but faster in bursts. Now can you see why fast typists suffer from the flaw? 11 - Posted by
smith
on June 20, 2009 - 2:00 pm http://www.daskeyboard.com/blog/?p=82 And I get transposition errors at 60wpm...not 120 Add Comment To add a comment without being a member, you may omit the password field, but you must enter your name (or nickname) along with your comment. * Denotes required fields. |
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