the keys to failure

[cluebyfour]

Geek nostalgia of the day:

10 Worst PC Keyboards of All Time

There are some doozies on this list, but most discouraging is that Commodore made the list three times.  And I'm not even sure the C64 belongs here.  True, it did not have a well-designed keyboard, but it was certainly usable by a touch-typist, which can't be said for any other entrant

Comments

[_luaineach]

I didn't have much trouble with my C64 keyboard when I was typing answers in lightening fast for 'game shows' on Q-Link! The 300 baud modem, now, was a problem.

[cluebyfour]

Q-Link? Damn. That goes way back, pre-AOL, even.

I never had the modem for the C64, and at any rate online services at the time were prohibitively expensive for broke-ass high school/college students like me.

[cluebyfour]

Is there any theoretical MTBF for microswitches? The damn things just seem to last forever.

[cluebyfour]

You can totally give an intruder a good wallop

And if that doesn't work, you can always strangle the guy with the keyboard cable!

[deadpansev]

I didn't mind the C64 keyboard. My uncle had the timex with the bubble keyboard, now that was a piece of crap.

[cluebyfour]

Oh yeah.

In fact, I inadvertently convinced my parents to buy me a Commodore VIC-20 (which I had first, before the C64) by showing them the Timex Sinclair in a store. I figured they might go for it because it was a lot cheaper. But they saw how flimsy it looked (you could see through its case if you held it up to a light) and decided to get me something that looked more substantial!

[flainn]

I really thought the Atari 400 had the worst keyboard.

The 800 was far better, though.