Blew up the keyboard...

[Airbozo]

OK I did not post this in the tech section because I really don't need help. I am just commiserating on the death of my Z-board...

Last night while sneaking around in BF2 Special Forces Ghost town, playing as an anti tank soldier, I had just used the grappling hook to get me and my sniper to a good perch. There were already a few baddies up there who did not see/hear us coming. Snuck up behind one of them and took him out with a knife, my sniper partner did the same with the other guy, just as another squad member spawned on him, the surprise of it all made me jump up and start firing, while avoiding his attempts to slay me, I was hammering the keys, got off an anti tank round right at the baddies feet! In my excitement I did not realize that the "strafe right" button on my BF2 special keyset (a freebie, oh so long ago), stopped working. I kept trying to move right, but no go. BF2 was done with me for the night.


Tore apart the keyboard this morning and found a couple of burned traces on the plastic membrane. :( Guess it's time for a new keyboard.

Anyone need any spare zboard inserts? I only have the 2 original ones (the gaming one is showing it's use) and the BF2 insert...

[Scotty]

Don't you hate it when something makes you jump, always do something wrong like look up and can't see my enemy...

Unlucky about the KB though

[Crimson Sky]

That sucks man!

I wore out my standard Z-board key insert, and its unusable. Seems it wasnt as robust as I thought for general typing. I have one for Doom, and one for BF2 that are holding up OK.

[jdbnsn]

Terry, you should post this in the front page blog section. This is a great visual!

[Airbozo]

As much as I have tortured this keyboard (and the occasional spillage of the cider), I am still pretty happy that it lasted so long I am just sad to see it go and the money I will have to spend to replace it. Oh well, keyboard today, Crysis next month...

Anyone have any good _gaming_ keyboard recommendations? I am purchasing today and have been looking at the Merc Stealth (http://www.ideazon.com/us/products/mercstealth.asp). I will look around Fry's today for my options...

[Airbozo]

Terry, you should post this in the front page blog section. This is a great visual!

Hehe I even re-wrote it because I got too wordy...

[jdbnsn]

I went ahead and took the liberty of addding it... ;)

[Omega]

I find that the best keyboards for gaming are your run-of-the-mill generic kind

I've been using this same keyboard since I was 9 =p

It's holding up fine, except the left control button is kind of picky but that's it.

[Scotty]

My G11 does everything i need for games, although i don't use the G Keys for games.

[HackSore]

I find that the best keyboards for gaming are your run-of-the-mill generic kind

I've been using this same keyboard since I was 9 =p

It's holding up fine, except the left control button is kind of picky but that's it.

Agreed, i am using a keyboard that my dad got with his first computer, which was a 386 i think! its a weighty packard bell KB, and i cant use anything else for gaming, its just too comfy!

The space bar packed up a few years back and started sticking, so i pulled it apart and found that the rubber membraine had split and folded, so luckly i managed to fix it!

Gonna have to try and track down another one just incase i cant fix it next time!

[XcOM]

i haved used the same microsoft keyboard for about 7 years now, still works fine, even after me modding it,

And i agree that a simple keyboard is all you need,

[Airbozo]

I have tried gaming on a regular keyboard and just could not get used to it. After an hour or so, my hand would start to hurt, so I switched back to the Z-board. Now that that KB broke, I replaced it with a Merc Stealth. I have not played with it other than to check out the nice backlight. The keyboard itself is pretty durable feeling with a nicely weighted base. A quick look at the backlight and it looks like it will be nice to use during nighttime gaming. I will let you guys know how I like it.

I did check out the G15, the Saitek (I and II), I even looked at the Woflclaw but did not like the cramped feel of the gaming pad (Might be better after actually using it...).

I have pounded the hell out of my last keyboard and I am still satisfied that it would have lasted much longer except I was a bad owner and forced my Z-board to consume small but lethal quantities of Blackthorne Cider. I am sure that is why it failed...

I will fill you in on my experience when I give it a try.

[OvRiDe]

I would be really interested in your review of the Merc Stealth. Maybe even a light video review would be nice so we can actually see the ergonomics of it in action. :D I mainly ask because I just not sure that game pad looks natural and comfortable, but then again I have been gaming on regular keyboard for so long, there may be no hope for me. :/

Hope it works out for ya!

[Airbozo]

I will try to post up some pictures and maybe even get adventurous and make a video or a proper review.

I spent only an hour or so playing with the keyboard last night and I am happy with my purchase. I was a little worried looking at the picture on the box, since it shows a bright glow from behind the keys and not much of a glow from the keys themselves. It turns out that there really is no glow from behind the keys and the letters on the keys themselves glow nicely! Even in total darkness there is barely any back glow with the led intensity turned all the way up. The option of 3 colors is a great feature too. The blue led is an exact match with the blue led fans in my computer case and the keyboard fits in perfectly with the case and monitor because of the black on blue theme.

Of course I had a grudge to settle on BF2 and I went looking to do just that. What better way to test out my new input device than to jump right into a round and start fraggin'! I loaded the BF2 file for the keyboard, printed out the key assignment sheet so I could see what buttons I needed to remember and fired up BF2 SF. Since I truly do not remember the name of the guy that helped punish me in my last round, any old baddie would do for some revenge. Loaded the SF Ghost Town map, joined a squad and spawned on my leader. He was capping a base and I took a defensive position guarding the ladder. ZING!, I hear a bullet hit close by me and I hit the "prone" key. Woops, I thought I hit the prone key, but hit the weapon key and I stood there holding a grenade as a sniper bullet took me out. OK try again, spawn on the leader this time with the Anti-Tank kit. Spawned just in time to use my Grappling hook to scale the next building to cap the next flag. Squad leader followed me up and we moved towards the flag just as the commander lit up the UAV in our area. Nice! Got 3 red blips ahead defending the flag. Equipped the rocket, and dropped prone (this time I hit the right key). Slid sideways fell off the edge of the building and fired just as I hit the ground and took out 2 enemy forces. The SL was peeking over the edge and popped the third guy as he came around the corner. Revenge! Felt good too! My first kills with the new KB.

Summary; I like the new keyboard. The base is weighted nicely, the keys have that solid feel. The led lighting is just what I had hoped for, not too bright, but useful enough to use in medium lighting. The gaming pad keys have a decent feel but will take a little getting used to since the location of commands are different than what I am used to. Downsides; BIG! this keyboard is about 2" wider than my Logitech multimedia keyboard. The USB ports on the keyboard are very useful, but IMO they are in a bad place. I would like to see them tucked closer to the main KB cable for aesthetics and the ability to combine the cables.

BTW: this keyboard gets the thumbs up from the SO because it has a "normal" qwerty keyboard without having to swap keysets like on the z-board. She was able to type at her blistering speed without any mistakes while talking on the phone and listening to my distractions. She hated the z-board but the upside of that keyboard was that I did not have to worry about the SO being on my system long...

[LiTHiUM0XiD3]

heh i got a zboard merc that i jus love..... does everything i need... and looks good doing it heh..... aint usin it right now tho... jus got a logitech media series keyboard..... where im sittin right now is too narrow for the zboard heh