Help! Unfortunate coffee-keyboard incident

[by]

Hello ladies and gentlemen:

Like a fool I am, I spilled a few fluid ounces of coffee
into my beloved Stealth Black IBM Trackpoint IV keyboard (with PS/2
connectors) early this morning and keys started to go nonfunctional.
I immediately unplugged it from my home PC but am afraid to replug
it in any way. What should I do and what are my chances of success?

The same fate also befell the keyboard of an old Inspiron
7500 from Dell. I quickly powered it down but am also afraid to
turn it on. What should I do here (alas I am now in Taiwan, with
very little in the way of Dell service) and what should I expect?

-- shame-faced clutz

 

[Norm Dresner]

Hello ladies and gentlemen:

Like a fool I am, I spilled a few fluid ounces of coffee
into my beloved Stealth Black IBM Trackpoint IV keyboard (with PS/2
connectors) early this morning and keys started to go nonfunctional.
I immediately unplugged it from my home PC but am afraid to replug
it in any way. What should I do and what are my chances of success?

The same fate also befell the keyboard of an old Inspiron
7500 from Dell. I quickly powered it down but am also afraid to
turn it on. What should I do here (alas I am now in Taiwan, with
very little in the way of Dell service) and what should I expect?

Most of the keyboards I've watered have eventually recovered just fine.
I've used coffee, Diet Coke(R), and plain tapwater and the damn keyboards
refused to grow any more keys ;-) --- but it could take a week or two to
completely dry out. Perhaps, a warm, dry environment might help. You
could, if you have a lot of patience, try the lowest setting on a hair
drier, but don't get too close with it, you want to keep everything cool
enough for you to keep your hand on it.

Norm

 

[balanced]

Had the same problem and drying it is not enough when you spill anything but
water because then you still get "stickykeys" which are no fun.

I had success with soaking the keyboard in the bathtub with hot water for a
couple of days and then allowing to dry for a week. However, if you use a
hair dryer after the soaking you might be able to use it the next day - I
just wasn't in a hurry - had a spare keyboard but good luck anyway.


Hello ladies and gentlemen:

Like a fool I am, I spilled a few fluid ounces of coffee
into my beloved Stealth Black IBM Trackpoint IV keyboard (with PS/2
connectors) early this morning and keys started to go nonfunctional.
I immediately unplugged it from my home PC but am afraid to replug
it in any way. What should I do and what are my chances of success?

The same fate also befell the keyboard of an old Inspiron
7500 from Dell. I quickly powered it down but am also afraid to
turn it on. What should I do here (alas I am now in Taiwan, with
very little in the way of Dell service) and what should I expect?

-- shame-faced clutz

 

[Rob Stow]

Had the same problem and drying it is not enough when you spill anything but
water because then you still get "stickykeys" which are no fun.

I had success with soaking the keyboard in the bathtub with hot water for a
couple of days and then allowing to dry for a week. However, if you use a
hair dryer after the soaking you might be able to use it the next day - I
just wasn't in a hurry - had a spare keyboard but good luck anyway.


Hello ladies and gentlemen:

Like a fool I am, I spilled a few fluid ounces of coffee
into my beloved Stealth Black IBM Trackpoint IV keyboard (with PS/2
connectors) early this morning and keys started to go nonfunctional.
I immediately unplugged it from my home PC but am afraid to replug
it in any way. What should I do and what are my chances of success?

The same fate also befell the keyboard of an old Inspiron
7500 from Dell. I quickly powered it down but am also afraid to
turn it on. What should I do here (alas I am now in Taiwan, with
very little in the way of Dell service) and what should I expect?

-- shame-faced clutz

I've had good luck with opening up the keyboard and rinsing
it under a running tap, and then giving it a final rinse
with distilled water. If the gunk has hardened or become
sticky before the keyboard gets to me I'll add some ordinary
dish soap and let the keyboard soak for a while - I'll
do a test rinse every ten minutes or so until I can see that
all the gunk has come off. In desperation, I once did some
gentle scrubbing with a soft old toothbrush - and that was
the only time I had to send the keyboard to the trash bin.

Sometimes I have to remove the key caps and put them back
on later, but most of the time I can just leave them on.

I dry them out by leaning them against a radiator - usually
overnight does the job.

Needless to say, I don't make this kind of effort for the
el-cheapo keyboards from Fujitsu - only for the good ones
where the user cries at the prospect of using a Fujitsu for
a few days until I get his baby back to him.

 

[George Macdonald]

Needless to say, I don't make this kind of effort for the
el-cheapo keyboards from Fujitsu - only for the good ones
where the user cries at the prospect of using a Fujitsu for
a few days until I get his baby back to him.

Talking about keyboards... what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand
name(s), models? There's so much junk on the market and the $$ difference
in prices only seems to get sucked up for stupid Internet keys, useless
trackballs, wireless interface, etc. etc.... all combined with mushy
mal-placed keys. I recall paying ~$80. for Keytronics keyboards years ago
(80s) but those things felt good and lasted for years.

Every time I have to get a keyboard now it's such a hassle deciding and
just when I find one which is tolerable, it disappears from the market the
next time. I looked at Comp-USA, to hopefully compare, a few weeks ago and
everything was just rubbish.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

[Rob Stow]

Talking about keyboards... what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand
name(s), models? There's so much junk on the market and the $$ difference
in prices only seems to get sucked up for stupid Internet keys, useless
trackballs, wireless interface, etc. etc.... all combined with mushy
mal-placed keys. I recall paying ~$80. for Keytronics keyboards years ago
(80s) but those things felt good and lasted for years.

Every time I have to get a keyboard now it's such a hassle deciding and
just when I find one which is tolerable, it disappears from the market the
next time. I looked at Comp-USA, to hopefully compare, a few weeks ago and
everything was just rubbish.

The users I've dealt with who have the contoured/ergonomic
MicroSoft or LogiTech keyboards swear by them.

They seem to tolerate coffee spills well ;-)

As for the "internet" keys, etc, most people just ignore them
but a few idiots will tweak their configurations endlessly.
As you seem to realize, they are a marketing tool rather than
a productivity one.

At home I like my two month old IBM model 31P7415.

I also frequently use a system with the "Logitech Cordless MX Duo".
Nice feel to the keyboard but the shape of the mouse takes some
getting used to. Noisy - and my preference is that keyboards
should be seen and not heard.

 

[jack]

: On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 10:08:42 -0600, Rob Stow <[email protected]>
: wrote:
:
:: Needless to say, I don't make this kind of effort for the
:: el-cheapo keyboards from Fujitsu - only for the good ones
:: where the user cries at the prospect of using a Fujitsu for
:: a few days until I get his baby back to him.
:
: Talking about keyboards... what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand
: name(s), models? There's so much junk on the market and the $$
: difference in prices only seems to get sucked up for stupid Internet
: keys, useless trackballs, wireless interface, etc. etc.... all
: combined with mushy mal-placed keys. I recall paying ~$80. for
: Keytronics keyboards years ago (80s) but those things felt good and
: lasted for years.
:
: Every time I have to get a keyboard now it's such a hassle deciding
: and
: just when I find one which is tolerable, it disappears from the
: market the next time. I looked at Comp-USA, to hopefully compare, a
: few weeks ago and everything was just rubbish.

George, back in my Altos Computer days (88-90) and then later when I was
installing servers as an "independent", my favorite supplier for
keyboards was a company called Focus. At that time, my favorite for
it's reliability and ruggedness (not to mention **excellent** tactile
key response) was a model called the Focus 2000. Hell, it even included
this great see-through plastic cover which was on hinges that you could
simply pop off if the cover wasn't to your liking.

So just for the heck of it, I went and Googled Focus and yep, they're
still in business. And ohmygod, they are STILL offering the "2000"
model, which I was using 12-14 years ago! Toooooo funny. I also see
they have jumped on the "multimedia keyboard" (read Crap, IMHO)
bandwagon, but they still offer up line of standard, rugged mechanical
keyboards. So why don't you check 'em out, just for the heck of it. Go
here:
http://www.focus.com.tw/products.htm HTH some. Later.

J.
--

 

[Keith R. Williams]

Talking about keyboards... what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand
name(s), models?

Model-M (are there any others?) ;-)

 

[Scott Alfter]

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Talking about keyboards... what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand
name(s), models?

If you have to get a new (as opposed to used) keyboard, Focus FK-2001s are
fairly decent. Try to find the older 104-key model instead of the current
107-key model...the 107-key model has some useless power-control keys in the
place of PrtSc/ScrollLock/Pause.

If you don't mind a used keyboard, an IBM Model M is always a good choice.
The last one I bought cost $1 at a computer-surplus store. Another one was
obtained at a fairly low cost from an eBay vendor.

_/_ Scott Alfter (address in header doesn't receive mail)
/ v \ send mail to $firstname@$lastname.us
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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[Keith R. Williams]

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Hash: SHA1

If you don't mind a used keyboard, an IBM Model M is always a good choice.
The last one I bought cost $1 at a computer-surplus store. Another one was
obtained at a fairly low cost from an eBay vendor.

They're still being made (though not by IBM or Lexmark):
http://www.pckeyboard.com/customizer.html

 

[Tony Hill]

Talking about keyboards... what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand
name(s), models? There's so much junk on the market and the $$ difference
in prices only seems to get sucked up for stupid Internet keys, useless
trackballs, wireless interface, etc. etc.... all combined with mushy
mal-placed keys. I recall paying ~$80. for Keytronics keyboards years ago
(80s) but those things felt good and lasted for years.

Every time I have to get a keyboard now it's such a hassle deciding and
just when I find one which is tolerable, it disappears from the market the
next time. I looked at Comp-USA, to hopefully compare, a few weeks ago and
everything was just rubbish.

Just head over to Keith's garage and pick up a half-dozen or so of his
old Ford Model-T keyboards... err, I mean, IBM Model-M keyboards. He
must have enough of the things now that he wouldn't notice if 6 or 7
went missing! :>

Seriously though, I've had great luck with my Logitech keyboard. It's
got about a dozen of those internet keys which I just totally ignore
(I don't think they even work under WinXP, they definitely didn't in
Win2K). It's essentially just an old version of their current "Access
Keyboard" (PS/2 model). Plug it in and ignore any drivers or extra
keys and it should do the trick. Microsoft's "Internet Keyboard" is
pretty much the same deal.

 

[Debug]

I also frequently use a system with the "Logitech Cordless MX Duo".
Nice feel to the keyboard but the shape of the mouse takes some
getting used to.

I have this combo and I like the mouse but I'm not too keen on the
keyboard because of the way they placed the lettering for the F
function keys on the inside of the keys and not on top. The top of the
keys they put the F-Lock function key labels which I don't even use.

 

[by]

Needless to say, I don't make this kind of [cleaning] effort for the
el-cheapo keyboards from Fujitsu - only for the good ones

what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand name(s), models? There's so
much junk on the market and the $$ difference in prices only seems to
get sucked up for stupid Internet keys, useless trackballs, wireless
interface, etc. etc.... all combined with mushy mal-placed keys.

Any of the IBM trackpoint-equipped keyboards are nice to have. I have
bought a total of six of them, gave three of them as gifts, and those
who received them liked them as much as did. I just bought two used
ones for insurance on the cheap ($50 total). One of those that I had
bought were USB and three-button, the rest were PS/2 and two-button.
Two of them did not have windoze keys, which I use in emacs as Super
modifiers, but otherwise works fine.

They now have a USB keyboard with three-button navigation *plus* the
touchpad (with buttons). I think that is somewhat of an overkill. I
would not mind a scrollwheel however (Linux does not do scroll buttons).

 

[George Macdonald]

Needless to say, I don't make this kind of [cleaning] effort for the
el-cheapo keyboards from Fujitsu - only for the good ones

what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand name(s), models? There's so
much junk on the market and the $$ difference in prices only seems to
get sucked up for stupid Internet keys, useless trackballs, wireless
interface, etc. etc.... all combined with mushy mal-placed keys.

Any of the IBM trackpoint-equipped keyboards are nice to have. I have
bought a total of six of them, gave three of them as gifts, and those
who received them liked them as much as did. I just bought two used
ones for insurance on the cheap ($50 total). One of those that I had
bought were USB and three-button, the rest were PS/2 and two-button.
Two of them did not have windoze keys, which I use in emacs as Super
modifiers, but otherwise works fine.

They now have a USB keyboard with three-button navigation *plus* the
touchpad (with buttons). I think that is somewhat of an overkill. I
would not mind a scrollwheel however (Linux does not do scroll buttons).

I'm afraid this is exactly what I don't want. From my POV, trackpoints,
touchpads etc. are a tolerable 2nd choice to a separate mouse when
traveling with a laptop, otherwise....

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

[George Macdonald]

: On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 10:08:42 -0600, Rob Stow <[email protected]>
: wrote:
:
:: Needless to say, I don't make this kind of effort for the
:: el-cheapo keyboards from Fujitsu - only for the good ones
:: where the user cries at the prospect of using a Fujitsu for
:: a few days until I get his baby back to him.
:
: Talking about keyboards... what is a good keyboard nowadays - brand
: name(s), models? There's so much junk on the market and the $$
: difference in prices only seems to get sucked up for stupid Internet
: keys, useless trackballs, wireless interface, etc. etc.... all
: combined with mushy mal-placed keys. I recall paying ~$80. for
: Keytronics keyboards years ago (80s) but those things felt good and
: lasted for years.
:
: Every time I have to get a keyboard now it's such a hassle deciding
: and
: just when I find one which is tolerable, it disappears from the
: market the next time. I looked at Comp-USA, to hopefully compare, a
: few weeks ago and everything was just rubbish.

George, back in my Altos Computer days (88-90) and then later when I was
installing servers as an "independent", my favorite supplier for
keyboards was a company called Focus. At that time, my favorite for
it's reliability and ruggedness (not to mention **excellent** tactile
key response) was a model called the Focus 2000. Hell, it even included
this great see-through plastic cover which was on hinges that you could
simply pop off if the cover wasn't to your liking.

Yep, among modern low-cost keyboards I liked Focus for the feel of the
keys. In fact I'm typing right now on a FK6200 I've had for ~5years but
the scripting on the keys is either gone or fast disappearing on many keys.
That's one of those which is difficult to find now as the on-line vendors
seem to be switching to cater to the "multimedia" fad. Though Focus still
seems to exist in Taiwan as a mfr, I'm not sure they have much of a U.S.
presence/distribution currently - the on-line vendors I've looked at seem
to have dropped the line.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

[The little lost angel]

They now have a USB keyboard with three-button navigation *plus* the
touchpad (with buttons).

Frankly, I find these things, esp the touchpad, a royal PITA.
Why can't they just give us decent clutterfree keyboards? I hate it
when I'm trying to do things fast at some office and keeps hitting
snares with odd keys all over the place, or function keys that don't
work right because the keyboard has yet another key that toggles
special functionalities for them.
--
L.Angel: I'm looking for web design work.
If you need basic to med complexity webpages at affordable rates, email me
Standard HTML, SHTML, MySQL + PHP or ASP, Javascript.
If you really want, FrontPage & DreamWeaver too.
But keep in mind you pay extra bandwidth for their bloated code

 

[Rob Stow]

Frankly, I find these things, esp the touchpad, a royal PITA.
Why can't they just give us decent clutterfree keyboards? I hate it
when I'm trying to do things fast at some office and keeps hitting
snares with odd keys all over the place, or function keys that don't
work right because the keyboard has yet another key that toggles
special functionalities for them.

Maybe we need another newsgroup: alt.simple.functional.keyboards.

My pet peeve with the fancy keyboards is the inclusion of
buttons to power up/down your system. *I* know enough to
leave them alone, but once or twice a month some idiot in my
office or in my home will reach over my should and press it
while saying "I wonder what this one does ?".

 

[The little lost angel]

Maybe we need another newsgroup: alt.simple.functional.keyboards.

My pet peeve with the fancy keyboards is the inclusion of
buttons to power up/down your system. *I* know enough to
leave them alone, but once or twice a month some idiot in my
office or in my home will reach over my should and press it
while saying "I wonder what this one does ?".

Oh yes!!! I hate those buttons too! On some keyboards I'm forced to
use, they pop at weird locations. Because of my style of typing (I
don't do official touch typing, my hands and fingers criss crosses), I
inevitably have accidents hitting buttons I don't expect to be THERE.
And the system goes into hibernation or shut downs on me....
irritating...!!!

--
L.Angel: I'm looking for web design work.
If you need basic to med complexity webpages at affordable rates, email me
Standard HTML, SHTML, MySQL + PHP or ASP, Javascript.
If you really want, FrontPage & DreamWeaver too.
But keep in mind you pay extra bandwidth for their bloated code

 

[George Macdonald]

Frankly, I find these things, esp the touchpad, a royal PITA.
Why can't they just give us decent clutterfree keyboards? I hate it
when I'm trying to do things fast at some office and keeps hitting
snares with odd keys all over the place, or function keys that don't
work right because the keyboard has yet another key that toggles
special functionalities for them.

Yep we've had to turn the touchpad off on some recent Thinkpads - I had one
guy who swore his keyboard was faulty... kept getting the cursor jumping to
the top of his document "at random", until we figured his sleeve was
brushing the touchpad.

The "clutterfree" keyboard was what I was trying to get at... especially
when the $$ are spent on all the fluff added to a keyboard which has lousy
feel to start with and lasts a couple of months before the keys go even
worse.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

[John Seward]

count me as a MS ergonomic keyboard lover.....got it with the system I
bought in 99 and still going strong....wish they'd listen to me at
work though, and get some for us there....

I just bought a new GW system to use as a digital darkroom, and
discarded the keyboard that came with it, preferring instead the xtra
MS ergonomic that I had.