Keyboards with no lights
Although many of us have been frothing in the mouth over how problematic certain pieces of software have become in recent times (Windows 11 and Edge amongst them), let's talk about a really unnecessary and pathetic change on a piece of hardware we use everyday... keyboards with no lights on them. This means that you can't tell if Caps Lock is on which makes inputting in passwords a total pain in the neck, as what one of my lecturers at college had to put up with for some time in a specific classroom (where it has such keyboard with that missing feature, that we've all took for granted).
Apparently it's a cost-cutting measure but come on, does having any of its wee lights on even for Caps Lock will add hundreds to your electricity bill? Or is this all part of this "greener" rubbish I've been hearing non-stop about?
I wonder if anybody has ever encountered these little monstrocities or at least heard of them. And I thought Apple once adding RAM to their keyboards (and even allowing USB drives be docked into them) was a stupid idea...
Apparently it's a cost-cutting measure but come on, does having any of its wee lights on even for Caps Lock will add hundreds to your electricity bill? Or is this all part of this "greener" rubbish I've been hearing non-stop about?
I wonder if anybody has ever encountered these little monstrocities or at least heard of them. And I thought Apple once adding RAM to their keyboards (and even allowing USB drives be docked into them) was a stupid idea...
Comments
But, hey, if it isn't backlit with eye-blinding blue or rainbow LEDs, it still isn't all that bad.
Yea, wasn't it Apple that had a micro-controller with a little touch screen on it so it could display "custom" keys at any time? Whoever it was, someone made it run DOOM.
Heh, I'm typing this on a 1990 nan-tan keyboard with white alps sliders, and the function keys at the left where they belong.
But elsewhere I have to use a "modern" keyboard and it is forever intermittently returning the keystroke of the key NEXT to the one I pressed, even though I am not fat-fingering it (that much).
The worst part, of course is that "normal" people think we should all just quit complaining and put up with the garbage we have been given.
Then you have the software make a notification for caps lock. Which can then be used for
"Hey you pressed caps lock. Did you know that you can use a service that uses AI and other data gathering/mining methods to automatically enable caps lock for you? Please enroll in this service! *note, we will record all of your typing activity for marketing and research purposes
[Yes, rape me now!] [No,
ask merape me again when I press caps lock]"Meanwhile I have this office Dell keyboard that works fine. Has subtle, but noticeable LEDs, smart-card reader, proper number pad, works reliably and feels great to type on.