Jis Tactile Pro For Mac

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• Jis Tactile Pro For Mac Download

German Matias Tactile Pro for Mac - FK302-DE Legendary Feel & Speed of Alps mechanical keyswitches. Mac users who crave the feel of Apple's legendary Extended and Extended II keyboards will love the Tactile Pro. Unlike other keyboards made today, each key is built on an individual Alps Mechanical Switch. They feel better, and you'll type faster.

Version 4 - Mac-friendly function keys. This latest Tactile Pro model brings tighter integration with Mac OS X. Just like an Apple keyboard, the Tactile Pro’s function keys now let you control screen brightness, volume, iTunes, and more. There's even an Fn key, that lets you momentarily change the function keys back to their traditional duties, when you need them. ™ € £ ¥ © are easy to find. The Tactile Pro makes it easy to find ™ € £ ¥ © and other hard to remember symbols - they're all printed right on the keys. Simply hold down the Option key for the bottom-right characters, or Shift-Option for the top-right characters.

Laser etched keys. All those symbols are handy, but what happens when they wear off?

They're laser etched - burned into the keys with a laser - so they'll never wear off. Sculpted keytops. The latest trend in keyboards is to have very flat & wide keys, with little or no space between them. You see this a lot on laptops and netbooks. While they look great, they can also be a little tricky to type on. The flatness makes it very easy to slide out of home row and lose your bearings.

The Tactile Pro bucks this trend. It has traditional sculpted keytops, curved to fit your fingertips, and keep you from sliding out of home position. 3-port Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hub. For quickly attaching USB peripherals, nothing beats the convenience of an in-keyboard USB hub. No more reaching through the tangle of wires behind your computer to download photos from your digital camera. Just plug it into the keyboard and you're ready to go.

Works great with MP3 players, keyring hard drives, joysticks, and mice too. It won't charge your iPod/iPhone, but for syncing it's perfect. No ghost in this machine. Most keyboards allow only a certain number of keys to be pressed at once, and often cannot keep up with very fast typists.

The result is called ghosting - letters missing from what you actually typed, or additional letters that you didn't type. The Tactile Pro has special Anti-Ghosting Circuitry (also called n-key rollover) to eliminate these problems. You can type as fast as you're able; the Tactile Pro will keep up.

With a good keyboard beneath your fingers, typing is a joyful experience. Particularly when you pick up a new keyboard — or upgrade an old one — you just want to type for hours. You could write that novel you’ve always had in the back of your head but how about some games instead? Here are a selection of our favourites.

Epistory Epistory is billed as ‘an atmospheric adventure typing game’, where you sit atop a magical three-tailed fox and explore beautifully drawn landscapes. Exploring a paper-craft fantasy world, you type words to defeat monsters, unlock new areas and bash open treasure chests. It’s a relaxing experience, right up unto the point that monsters start pouring out of the woods and only machine-gun-style typing will push them back. The game starts slow, with three or four-letter words, but intelligently ramps up in difficulty to match your abilities. You can upgrade your vulpine mount’s speed, set monsters ablaze or pinpoint areas of interest, each new ability bringing new tactical possibilities. While the typing action is a satisfying test of your abilities, the world itself is the biggest draw here. The beautiful origami art style, occasional voice over from the protagonist and haunting music all add to the atmosphere.

Of all the games on this list, it’s Epistory that I’m going to back to and finish — I need to know what happens! Epistory is available for. ZType ZType is a typing space shoot-’em-up, where you have to defeat waves of alien invaders with rapid typing skills.

The retro graphics and sound effects fit the theme well, and the action ramps up smoothly to accommodate novices and challenge experts. Unique among its peers, ZType is available on phones and tablets as well as on the web. This is achieved through a clever keyboard software embedded in the game, which allows you to type at speeds resembling a full keyboard. Of course, you can also use a Bluetooth mechanical keyboard if you really want to hit that high score. ZType can be, and is also available on. The Typing of the Dead: Overkill The Typing of the Dead is a classic game from ’99, first on arcade machines and most famously on the Sega Dreamcast.

A simple conversion of a light gun arcade shooter called House of the Dead, you’re tasked with typing out words and phrases to dispatch on-screen (mostly zombified) opponents and progress through each plot-light, action-heavy episode. Overkill is a modern remake for PCs, and it provides a pretty decent workout for your fingers. The developers have made plenty of DLC too, so once you get tired of the (fairly substantial) base game, you can check out themed collections on the topics of science fiction, television, Shakespeare and many more. Be warned that the game is largely NSFW, thanks to both profanity and violence. It’s for £14.99 Type Racer Sometimes the classics are the best. Type Racer is one of the best-known typing games, a multiplayer web game that challenges you to write a passage of text as quickly as you can manage.

You’ll see your car zip across the screen as you go, and there’s a lot of pressure to keep pace with the other racers in your game. As well as randomised multiplayer matches, you can also challenge your friends or practice in a single-player mode. Signing off Those are our favourites. What are yours? Let us know in the comments below!

What is n-key rollover? N-key rollover is commonly cited as an advantage of choosing a mechanical keyboard over a rubber dome alternative, but the concept often isn’t well explained.

In this article, we’ll explain what we mean by rollover, how keyboard rollover is classified and show you how to test rollover for yourself. We’ll also give some hints on what you should look for when you’re buying a new keyboard. What does rollover mean? Rollover is simply how well your keyboard can correctly register multiple keys being pressed simultaneously. When typing slowly, you’re probably typing one key after another, but if you’re writing more quickly or playing a game, it’s very likely that you’ll be holding down, pressing and releasing multiple keys simultaneously. Musical instrument emulation and Plover (a stenotype software) also require many keys to be pressed simultaneously, and therefore require sufficient rollover. How are keyboards classified in terms of rollover?

Not all keyboards are created equal when it comes to rollover. Where one keyboard might be able to handle half a dozen or more inputs, others might struggle to correctly recognise three keys pressed simultaneously. Rollover is quantified as n-key rollover, where n is the minimum number of keys that can be correctly registered when pressed simultaneously. This is often written in its short form KRO.

For example, 2–key rollover becomes 2KRO. Many inexpensive keyboards have only 2KRO, while higher-end keyboards (and many mechanical keyboards) have 6KRO or higher. If a keyboard can register all of its keys being pressed simultaneously, then this is called NKRO. Note well that this limit doesn’t include modifier keys like Ctrl, Alt, Win or Shift. Note also that not all 2KRO keyboards are equal, as their rollover may be quite different (or optimised towards different expected usages). For example, a 2KRO keyboard marketed towards gamers might take extra care to ensure that the commonly used WASD movement keys don’t cause rollover issues, allowing it to perform better when playing games that use these keys than keyboards built for general purpose use.

What happens if you exceed a keyboard’s rollover limit? Two things can potentially go wrong if you press more keys simultaneously than a keyboard can handle.

The first is called ghosting, where a unpressed key is erroneously registered as having been pressed. For example, on a 2KRO keyboard, pressing down three keys simultaneously might cause four key presses to be registered. Modern keyboards include ‘anti-ghosting’, a feature which essentially blocks additional keys from being registered once the rollover limit has been reached. Here, when three keys are pressed on our 2KRO keyboard, only two are registered, and the third one is blocked. This is why anti-ghosting is also called blocking or jamming.

How do I test rollover? Rollover can be tested using apps that you download or run online. Run the program, and press and hold an increasing number of keys. Ensure that each key is correctly shown on-screen when pressed and released. It’s important to test as many key combinations as you can.

Keys next to each other are often prone to not being recognised, so these make good targets. It also makes sense to test for the combinations that you’re likely to use. An FPS gamer, for example, might hold W, D, Q, Shift and Space. It’s important to remember that rollover is a minimum, not a maximum.

If your keyboard can correctly register some six key combinations, but it can’t correctly register one three key combination, then it is a 2KRO keyboard, not a 6KRO keyboard. We like, a free program for Windows,. You can find, courtesy of the mechanical keyboards subreddit. You can also find, or ask for help in the comments below. How do I get NKRO on my keyboard?

For a long time, keyboards could only achieve NKRO over the older PS/2 connector. This is why some mechanical keyboards come with a USB to PS/2 adapter in the box, even as PS/2 ports started to disappear from computers. If your keyboard comes with a PS/2 adapter and is marketed as having NKRO, you’ll almost certainly need to use that adapter to achieve full NKRO on your machine. Recently, more mechanical keyboards are able to offer NKRO over USB, often using the full-speed USB standard.

These keyboards often come with a DIP switch or key that switches between 6KRO and NKRO, as the NKRO mode sometimes doesn’t work in non-Windows operating systems or in a computer’s BIOS. If your keyboard comes with NKRO over USB, ensure that the NKRO mode is turned on and test it using the programs linked above to ensure it’s working. What should I look for in a new keyboard? 6KRO is enough for rapid typists, competitive gamers and computer users of all types. There are some rare exceptions though — like two people using one keyboard, extremely rapid music games, music emulation or stenography. For these users, NKRO keyboards, whether over PS/2 or USB, may be worth looking for. Most mechanical keyboards come with 6KRO or higher, while most rubber dome keyboards have less, but there are rare exceptions in both directions. If the rollover isn’t stated on the product page, try doing a search for NKRO or 6KRO plus the name of your keyboard, e.g. “Filco Majestouch-2 NKRO”.

You can also ask us in the comments below, although we can’t promise to know this stat for every keyboard! Here are some rollover figures for keyboards we sell: Keyboard Rollover (USB) 6KRO (NKRO on PS/2) 6KRO NKRO NKRO 6KRO 10KRO 6KRO 6KRO 2KRO NKRO 14KRO Wrapping up Thanks for taking the time to read through our article. We hope it answered your questions, and we welcome your comments or further questions below. Hello Everyone. The last few months have flown by, it seems like yesterday I was writing about how we’re working on the website design and looking forward to Christmas.

And here we are now, the website is up and running and we’re all looking forward to some better weather. The new website Speaking of the website, please and please don’t be afraid to feedback with any ideas. We need people to tell us how it works for them. Although the main design is complete, we are working on added functionality. A screenshot of the new website.

We have made it display equivalent US Dollar and Euro prices. So we will still take payment in UK Sterling but you are able to quickly check how that compares to other currencies. We have set it to calculate VAT as it would typically be in those areas, so the US Dollar price is without VAT, but the Euro price is with VAT. After much deliberation we decided on this as it represents what you would pay.

But please feel free to let me know if this is not what you want to see, we can tailor it easily. Mechanical & ergonomic keyboards remain popular ‘Surprise!’ – We’re still selling keyboards – Mechanicals are flying out the door., and in particular. It seems that once people find a keyboard that really is well made and uses the best components they are only too keen to buy. Our customers are very discerning and tend to know what they want.

Quality keyboards and good service being top of the list. A keyboard that is a joy to use all day long is like gold. Are making good ground and to go with them. In many ways the mouse is more of a likely source of problems in an ergonomic sense. We ‘mouse’ so much more now, it can cause neck and shoulder pain and using the thumb-wheel scroll can cause finger troubles too. The RollerMouse is one of several ergonomic mouse replacements.

There are some companies now who like to give you ergonomic advice and then offer to sell you the solution in the form of a mouse they just happen to have in stock. The professional ergonomists and physiotherapists that we work with are very uncomfortable with this, it is a conflict of interest. Do they want to fix your neck problem? Or do they want to sell some stock Most of these guys do a one week course, after which they call themselves experts. We always stress that if you are feeling pain and you think it may relate to your computer use you must see your own GP or a qualified medic. They may suggest a product we don’t have, or they may find that you are suffering for some completely unrelated reason.

New wares from CBS Coming soon we hope to have a range of Monitor Arms and laptop stands and ergonomic accessories from UK Manufacturer. CBS for short. We’re teaming up with popular YouTuber LowkoTV to give away a Filco MiniLa 60% size mechanical keyboard. Enter using the Rafflecopter box below!

You can get more entries for following Lowko and KeyboardCo on Twitter, visiting our Facebook pages and tweeting about the contest. Thanks for entering and please share the competition with your friends! The keyboard comes with black switches and is available in USA (ANSI) or ISO (UK, Nordic) layouts.

For more information about the Filco MiniLa, please see of the keyboard or our product pages linked below:. Today we’re looking at Red, an ergonomic alternative to a mouse. The RollerMouse is an interesting peripheral, with a design that isn’t like most other mouse replacements. It sits below your keyboard, with a textured bar that sits along the track the width of the average keyboard and number pad. The bar can run along the track, and also may rotate, giving you two axes of movement. In addition, you can also press down on the RollerMouse to do a left click. Dedicated keys for left and right click (as well as double click, copy and paste) are found just below the roller.

There’s also a clickable scroll wheel here, completing the functions you’d expect to find on a mouse. Using the RollerMouse is surprisingly natural – I expected it to be a bit hard to control, but instead it was quite simple. The tracking feels precise, and this no doubt helps a newcomer to quickly become acquainted with the device’s method of operation. It takes a bit of time to train yourself to move below the keyboard instead of to the right when you’re looking for your mouse, but once you’ve achieved this then you’ll benefit from rapid access to a pointing device.

Jis Tactile Pro For Mac Download

The RollerMouse feels as accurate as a high-end gaming mouse; I had no issue playing games like Civilization V as well as surfing the web, typing documents and even using Photoshop. As well as being faster to reach than a mouse sitting to the right (or left) of your keyboard, the RollerMouse is also ergonomically better than a traditional mouse. You can put your keyboard and RollerMouse directly below your monitor, and keep your wrists at a comfortable orientation. Combined with changing your position and taking breaks as you work, you should feel much better after a day with the RollerMouse than with a standard mouse.

The integrated wrist rest helps here as well, letting you get a bit of relief while typing. This saves damage and stress to your shoulders, neck, elbows and wrists. If you struggle with RSI (or want to avoid it), then the RollerMouse should help. The RollerMouse is made from all high-quality materials: aluminium for the body, leatherette for the (removable) wrist rest, and solid-feeling plastic for the rollerbar. It feels solid and weighty for its size, and I would expect that to translate into rock-solid durability. It’s also relatively stylish, which isn’t surprising for a product that won a red dot design award in 2013. It’s also highly adjustable.

Of course, you can adjust the speed of the RollerMouse, letting you trade off between speed and accuracy. It goes everywhere from 800 to 2400 DPI, thanks to a “twin-eye” laser sensor. You can also adjust the volume of the clicks made when you press down on the roller, letting you get a comfortable level of audible feedback. The force required to register a press on the roller can also be adjusted; I ended up disabling presses entirely because I was using left and right mouse buttons below. You are also encouraged to get the positioning between the keyboard and the RollerMouse right; you even get risers for your keyboard to make sure it’s at a comfortable height.

It was really nice to have this level of customisability. Is a breeze; just a case of taking it out of the box, removing the thing that says ‘remove’ and plugging it in. There are no special drivers required on Windows or Mac, and everything just works. You can then adjust the default settings if you like (as above), but you may choose not to do so. Even the box feels premium, with tough plastic surrounds for each component. Combined with the longevity of the RollerMouse itself, I feel that it could last for decades, even being passed down from generation to generation! The RollerMouse Red is available from The Keyboard Company via the links below.

You can also pick up the RollerMouse Red Plus, which comes with a longer wrist rest for enhanced support. We actually offer the RollerMouse with a 30 day money back guarantee; you can try it out for a month and get your money back if you decide to return it.

Please see the product pages linked above for the full details! Update July 2017: Good news, everyone! Full-size Convertible 2 keyboards with MX Brown switches will be available this summer in UK, German or Swedish layouts (ISO). MX Blue switches will also be available, for UK layouts only.,.

Today, like many days, I’m writing a lengthy article on a full-size Filco keyboard. I’m hitting around 80 words per minute, lovingly listing specifications and technical tips.

Normally I’d be at home, but today I’m on the train – and I’m typing on my phone wirelessly. The keyboard I’m using isn’t a standard Filco; it’s the Convertible 2. It’s called the Convertible because it can work like a traditional USB keyboard when a wire is plugged in, but it’ll just as happily connect to a phone, tablet or laptop over Bluetooth when you’re sitting on the couch or on the move.

Getting set up Connecting to the Convertible 2 for the first time is pretty simple – just turn on the Bluetooth switch, then press the ‘clear memory’ button, and you’ll be able to pair the keyboard with your phone or laptop as usual. Using the keyboard again is simpler – just turn on the keyboard, and you’ll automatically reconnect. If you want to connect to multiple devices, you can.

Just use Ctrl + Alt + Fn, then 1, 2, 3 or 4 to switch to one of the four profiles, and you’ll automatically connect to the saved device if it’s within range. This works really nicely for switching between your laptop and a phone, or a phone and a tablet. You can be typing on your laptop, get a text on your phone and instantly be able to bang out a lengthy reply. Of course, sometimes you might prefer the simplicity of a USB connection. Simply connect the provided mini USB cable to your PC or laptop, and set profile 5 with Fn + 5, and you’re back to a completely standard USB keyboard.

Once connected you’ll automatically use the USB source for power, saving your AA batteries, and you can even switch back to a wireless connection while continuing to get power from USB. You could even use a USB wall adapter, like the one that came with your phone, to get the power you need. Rock solid reliability After you’re connected, you’ll get precisely the same excellent typing experience as you would on a standard Majestouch-2 keyboard. You get a full layout, including numberpad, and your choice of Brown, Blue or Red switches. The chassis is the same too, so you get that traditional solid plate-mounted feel and rock-solid reliability. Actually, the typing experience will be a little better on the Convertible 2, as the inclusion of the Fn key has also let Filco include a set of media controls on F1-F3 and F5-F8.

You can adjust your volume, skip forward and back, play and stop. It’s pretty darn convenient.

As the layout is identical (with the Fn key replacing the little-used Menu key), you can easily pick up custom keycaps for the Convertible 2 as well. The Convertible 2 is rated to operate for 6 months on a single charge from the pair of AA batteries before that low battery LED starts showing. And of course, if you’re ever running low then you can always choose to use USB power instead. My hands-on impressions The Convertible 2 has been a blast to test. After trying so many crazy gaming, ergonomic and compact keyboards, it’s felt great to get back to the standard for mechanical excellence. The full-size keyboard feels great for typing and gaming, with a standard layout, light keycaps, a sturdy plate-mounted board and no distractions.

If you’re going to use your Bluetooth keyboard primarily on the move, then it makes sense to pick up a compact board that can travel with you easily. On the other hand, if you want to have just one keyboard wherever you are, you can’t do better than the Convertible 2. Full size, top quality, at home or on the go.

Links for more! For more details on the Convertible 2 or to place your order, check the links below:. Update July 2017: Good news, everyone! Full-size Convertible 2 keyboards with MX Brown switches will be available this summer in UK, German or Swedish layouts (ISO). MX Blue switches will also be available, for UK layouts only. Click here for the full EU range, or here for USA layout keyboards.

Ergonomic keyboards have been a kind of holy grail in the mechanical keyboard industry for a long time; many companies have produced one, but none has become a standout success. Naturally, when we heard that Matias were working on an ergonomic keyboard of their own, we were intrigued.

It’s called the, and I’ve been lucky enough to try out an early USA production model for the past two weeks. Here’s what I think. Design The Matias Ergo Pro comes in two halves of roughly equal size. The split enforces correct hand placement for the main keys, while leaving ancillary keys on the outside. The two halves are connected by a 3.5mm cable, which sounded weird initially but actually makes a lot of sense – they are easily and cheaply replaced, and the version provided with the keyboard has a spool to minimise cable clutter. Here’s the layout of the US version of the Ergo Pro.

The advantage of this design is that it keeps the width of a keyboard to a minimum, while still including all of the keys that you’d expect. The keyboard uses Matias’ Quiet Click mechanical switches, an Alps variant. The switches are super quiet, yet retain satisfying tactile feedback.

This makes them ideal for typing even in quiet environments, and they’re quite nice for gaming as well (as I’ll mention later). The keyboard features N-Key Rollover, meaning you can press down as many keys as you like simultaneously, and all will be correctly registered. Tenting Finally, the keyboard is connected to your PC using a micro USB cable. Two such cables are provided, both with a handy right-angle jack on the micro USB side. The Ergo Pro also includes three USB ports for connecting additional devices like mice, USB drives and game controllers.

Impressions Writing The Ergo Pro is designed as a writer’s keyboard, so it seems only natural that we talk about this first. The keyboard certainly delivers on this front, immediately offering a more intuitive layout and better-feeling switches than all other ergonomic keyboards I’ve tried over the years.

The sole problem I had was the placement of the key to the left of ‘n’ – for whatever reason I am accustomed to pressing the ‘b’ key with my right hand, so I kept reaching over and hitting ctrl instead of b as I intended. I slowly trained myself to type the b using my left hand, but it did take a while. I’d say that the closer you are to the standard ‘home row’ typing method, the easier you’ll find the keyboard to adopt. Of course, there are more keys on the keyboard beyond the letter keys in the middle.

I found the modifiers and ancillary keys well-placed and easy to hit, which was my biggest issue with other ergonomic keyboards in the past – there’s little relearning required here. The home/end/page up/page down keys are a little unusual in their size and placement, but I quickly adapted here. In terms of ergonomics, I definitely found the Ergo Pro more comfortable than standard mechanical keyboards. Being able to choose the width of the keyboard at any time is a great perk, and it’s also nice to have a little space to put your cup of tea.

The palm rests are great as well, much more comfortable than resting your palms and wrists on your desk. It just feels cool too – it reminds me of operators in The Matrix and its sequels, cooly summoning information and dispatching advice in front of a bank of monitors. Gaming Being a big gamer, I of course had to try the Ergo Pro in a few games. I played Counter-Strike and Heroes of the Storm on the keyboard, and found it quite pleasant. The keys were largely on the left side of the keyboard in these two games, so I could just keep the left half of the board at the front of my desk and push the other to the back, leaving me plenty of space for my mouse. The keyboard kept up even in hectic moments, and I felt my wrists were in much better condition at the end of a session than they would be normally.

A convenient place for tea. Please excuse the clutter. Conclusion The Matias Ergo Pro is a comfortable keyboard that’s great for typing and gaming alike, and I’d definitely recommend you check it out. Its near-standard layout really makes it easy to use without a long training period, and also ensure that it doesn’t take up a lot of space. Overall then, a quality mechanical ergonomic keyboard. Update: Hidden DIP switches The Matias Ergo Pro also contains hidden DIP switches, allowing you to remap either of the spacebars to backspace, swap Ctrl and Caps Lock (for.nix systems) and even swap between Mac and PC layouts.

The DIP switches can be found underneath the right-side Alt key. Links The Matias Ergo Pro is available from The Keyboard Company Store in the UK, and all are in stock at the time of writing. Please see the links below to place your orders, see more information and check prices:.

Here is a glossary of mechanical keyboard terms. Let us know if we missed a term or we didn’t explain something as well as we could have done! 60%: A style of keyboard which is about 60% the size of a full-size keyboard, by means of omitting the top function row, the navigation cluster and the numeric keypad. Access to the missing keys is typically achieved through a Function layer. The Filco Minila is an example of this style. ABS: a material used for keycaps, provided by default on most Cherry MX keyboards (including Filco and Max Keyboard) and also available as standalone keycap sets. ABS keycaps are generally lighter than their PBT counterparts.

Actuation point: the point at which a key press is recognised by the keyboard. The amount of force required to reach this point is used as a measure of the switch’s stiffness.

Alps: a mechanical switch that was once produced by a Japanese company of the same name. Today, the switch is out of production but has been adapted by companies like Matias into their own switch designs. ANSI: the standard physical keyboard layout for the United States and the Netherlands, among some other countries. Modern full-size ANSI keyboards generally have 104 keys, including wide Enter and left Shift keys. Buckling spring: a loud and heavy mechanical switch that uses a large spring that buckles at the actuation point, hence the name. Used by IBM in their Model M, and has since become rather rare.

Modern equivalents are produced by Unicomp. Cherry MX: mechanical switches made by the Cherry Corporation, featuring a distinctive cross shape. Named by their colours (e.g. Cherry MX Red), each of which has a unique combination of weighting and feedback. For more, see our.

Adapted by Kaihua into Kailh and Razer switches, among others. Cherry MX are the most popular mechanical switches worldwide.

Click: a keyboard or switch that makes an audible “click” sound when pressed. Clicky switches often include a tactile bump as well (see Tactile). Examples of clicky switches include Cherry MX Blue and Matias Click. Debouncing: as a switch reaches its actuation point, it will bounce around a bit before it comes to rest. Debouncing is the act of correctly interpreting when a key is pressed, without reporting multiple actuations. This is largely a solved problem in modern keyboards.

Full-size: A full-format keyboard, which includes a numeric keypad (for the opposite, see Tenkeyless). Also called by the number of keys included (e.g 105-key for a full-size British keyboard). The Filco Majestouch is an example of this style. Ghosting: an issue where pressing a combination of three or more keys results in the registering of an addition, unpressed key. Ghosting is prevented by manufacturers by blocking any keys which might be ghosts, but this limits the number of keys that can be pressed simultaneously.

See Key Rollover. ISO: the standard physical keyboard layout for most of the world, with the notable exception of the United States and the Netherlands (see ANSI) and Japan (see JIS). British, German, Spanish, French and Nordic are all examples of ISO layouts, although each has a different logical layout (e.g. The first six letters are QWERTY in the UK and QWERTZ in Germany). Modern full-size ISO keyboards have 105 keys, including tall Enter keys and small left Shift keys. JIS: the standard physical keyboard layout for Japan (for western layouts, see ANSI and ISO). A modern full-size JIS keyboard has 109 keys, including additional keys to the left and right of the shortened space bar, in order to facilitate entry of characters from various Japanese alphabets.

Key Rollover (#KRO): a limit to how many keys can be simultaneously pressed and correctly registered by the keyboard, often expressed. If you press more keys than your keyboard can register, some key inputs will be missed.

Low numbers like 2KRO are typical of low-cost rubber dome keyboards, while 6KRO is the usual standard for a mechanical keyboard. Some keyboards are capable of more; other common figures are 10KRO and NKRO. Modifier keys (e.g. Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Win) do not count towards this limit. Linear: a keyboard or switch that lacks a tactile bump or click – instead, the resistance increases linearly as the key travels downwards. Examples of linear switches include Cherry MX Red and Cherry MX Black.

Mechanical: a high-quality keyboard or switch that utilises a mechanism with a metal spring in order to register key presses. Many different switch designs fall into this category, including Cherry MX, Alps, Buckling Spring and sometimes Topre.

N-Key Rollover (NKRO): a keyboard with NKRO can register as many keys simultaneously as you care to press down. See Key Rollover. PBT: a material used for keycaps, provided by default on most Topre and Unicomp keyboards and also available as standalone keycap sets. PBT keycaps tend to wear better and have a slightly more abrasive feel than their ABS counterparts. Rubber dome: a non-mechanical keyboard that uses a rubber dome to provide resistance and tacticality, mounted above a membrane sheet that registers the key press. Rubber domes are found in the vast majority of keyboards sold, thanks to their low cost.

Tactile: a keyboard or switch that provides feedback you can feel, normally a “bump” or sudden increase in resistance that occurs as the key reaches its actuation point. Examples of tactile switches include Cherry MX Brown and Matias Quiet Click. Topre: electro-capacitive switches, consisting of a slider in a housing, above a rubber dome, above a coiled spring, above a circuit board. While the switch includes a rubber dome component, it is normally considered a mechanical switch rather than a rubber dome. Tenkeyless (TKL): A keyboard that does not include a numeric keypad, in order to minimise size and weight. These keyboards can allow for a more comfortable hand position and are more portable, a reasonable tradeoff if you do not often use the numeric keypad.

The Filco Majestouch TKL is an example of this style. For the opposite of Tenkeyless, see Full-size. Travel: the distance that a switch moves from the top to the bottom of a key press.

On an average laptop keyboard, key travel is noticeably lower than on the average desktop keyboard. We’ve recently received stock of a great Matias keyboard, the. Unlike many of the latest Matias keyboards, the Tactile Pro doesn’t use Quiet Click switches.

Instead, it uses original Matias Click switches – a “full fat” option that provide noticeably more tactile and audio feedback. Our fearless leader Bruce recently told me that the Tactile Pro is one of the closest keyboards to the original IBM Model M. Typing on it now, I can see what he meant. While the Alps switches here work differently than a buckling spring, the overall effect is very similar – you get loud, crunchy key presses with a heaped helping of tactile feedback.

It surpasses even the effect of a Cherry MX Blue keyboard, which is usually known as “the loud mechanical keyboard” these days. The Tactile Pro includes quite a few nice bonus features too.

You’ll find 10KRO on this most recent version, meaning that ten keys can be pressed and correctly registered simultaneously. Lesser keyboards often neglect this feature, which can mean your inputs aren’t registered, which is annoying whether you’re typing or playing games. Another useful feature are its USB 2.0 ports – you’ll find three ports in all, one each on the left, right and back sides.

This makes it easy to connect mice, gamepads, smartphones, cameras and even other keyboards. The redesigned numpad is another bonus, which trades the number lock for a much more useful tab key. This is incredibly useful for data entry, and number lock key is still easily accessible just one key above. You’ll also find volume controls here, allowing you to raise, lower or mute the volume with a single key press. There are also media controls (play/pause, forward, back) accessible via an Fn layer. The Tactile Pro looks good too.

Its piano black colour scheme looks slick and professional, with easily legible legends and indicator LEDs tucked into their respective keycaps. The keycaps used here are ABS with laser-formed legends. The layout is fully PC-compatible; of course a Mac version also exists in white (see links below).

Writing a few rapid sentences on the Tactile Pro made me grin unabashedly – this was fun. I use a lot of different keyboards for reviews and other work, but the Tactile Pro won’t be leaving my desk after I finish this article. Try the Tactile Pro and you’ll see what I mean. We have keyboards available in UK, German and Nordic (Swedish / Finnish / Norwegian / Danish) layouts:. You can also pick up the Mac version in white:.

Thanks for checking out the article, and be sure to let us know what you think of the Tactile Pro! Update: We have our winner! Thanks to everyone that entered. Want to win a Filco MiniLa mechanical keyboard? Enter using the Rafflecopter box below! You can get more entries for visiting our Facebook page, following us on Twitter and tweeting about the contest.

Thanks for entering and please share the competition with your friends! The keyboard comes with black switches and is available in USA (ANSI) or ISO (UK, Nordic) layouts.

For more information about the Filco MiniLa, please see of the keyboard or our product pages linked below:.