Apple IIgs keyboard review (SMK 2nd gen tactile)

[Chyros]

Striking another Apple keyboard off the list, today we look at the IIgs! Hope you enjoy the video!

[UnFocused]

Your comments about the arrow keys on Apple keyboards made me laugh.

I had an Apple //e in 1984 and then a IIgs that I used from 1986 to 1989. The arrow key arrangement was the same on both keyboards and I was quite used to it in games games and word processing. I still have no problems using that layout when I use my small collection of Apple II machines (sadly not the same ones I had in the 80s).

I have a M0116 (orange Alps) that my mom used in the 90s. I built an external converter like yours and was using it on my PC last night. The arrow keys and the non standard location of some of the other keys was driving me crazy and I gave up after an hour.

[davkol]

derp

[Chyros]

You're judging keyboard layouts from the perspective of a current MS Windows user

Of course I do, that's what I am!

[davkol]

derp

[Chyros]

Have you even bothered to read and consider the rest of the comment?

Ultimately, I have to empathize with Daniel Beardsmore, I guess.

Yes, I know that would've triggered him massively as well, heheh. I'm sure he's told you all about that. He was somehow under the impression that it's rude not to reply to every single letter of every single comment I get, and that doing so would actually be constructive instead of coming across as incredibly arrogant.

I did read it, I just didn't see the point of commenting on it. Half of the comments you cited were a jokes that you apparently didn't get, and the other half have no bearing on the review at all. It's a KEYBOARD review, not a runthrough of vintage Apple operating systems (I get enough Apple at work already :p ). Even my modern Mac isn't able to use nav commands with the numpad!

I don't understand why so many people get so defensive when it comes to Apple and their products!

[davkol]

derp

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I watched the video. I always thought Apple's arrow key layout was stupid. (I realise they came up with multiple brain-dead versions but that's the one I remember.) Then again, my first computer had a weird arrow key layout and that seemed perfectly normal at the time.

Nobody understands how to navigate with the keyboard on the Mac. All the PC bashing and Mac bashing comes from points of equal and opposite ignorance about both their preferred platform and the platform they hate. Nobody has a clue what they're talking about when it comes to the Mac vs PC.

[Chyros]

I watched the video. I always thought Apple's arrow key layout was stupid. (I realise they came up with multiple brain-dead versions but that's the one I remember.) Then again, my first computer had a weird arrow key layout and that seemed perfectly normal at the time.

Nobody understands how to navigate with the keyboard on the Mac. All the PC bashing and Mac bashing comes from points of equal and opposite ignorance about both their preferred platform and the platform they hate. Nobody has a clue what they're talking about when it comes to the Mac vs PC.

I'll admit that's definitely true for me at least. I have to use a Mac at work, but everything on it seems alien to me, and I'd rather dismiss it as "nonstandard" than try to get used to using both xD . I just don't get it! xD

[Daniel Beardsmore]

There are two distinct concepts: scrolling the viewport and moving the insertion point. The arrow keys alone move the insertion point, while the mouse scrolls the viewport.

The PC–Mac difference is that, on a PC, page up/down, home and end also move the insertion point, while on a Mac, those keys scroll the viewport — the Mac keys are associated with the scroll bars, not the insertion point. On a PC, you can't scroll the viewport with the keyboard without moving the insertion point, while on a Mac, you can. The keyboard shortcuts that davkol mentioned move the insertion point in larger increments, just as in Windows.

I don't have a huge preference over either option really — it's just whatever you're used to I suppose. I've spent years using each.

[Findecanor]

Oh, there have been plenty of Windows programs that also work like that.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Maybe, but it's not the standard way of working. Windows is rammed full of programs that try their best to violate e every possible convention and expectation.