Monzool’s Personal Publishing

MY T2000SX LAPTOP had been a trusty computer for many many years, but all good things come to an end, and now with mixed mind I’ve tossed it out.

My dad brought it home from work where it, after many years of usage, had depreciated to be worth nothing for a busy corporate business. But for me it was perfect for things like writing homework assignments, playing a game of Gorilla or Pacman, do some programming or connecting homemade electronics to its various ports.

It was a fine machine. It had no color screen or big harddrive or lots of RAM, but it was quite small, handy and low-noised. Some specs. can be found on the Toshiba site about the T2000SX.

In the beginning I mainly ran DOS on it, PC-DOS 5.0 I think, but later it was perfect for experiments with FreeBSD or Linux. I’ve mostly run Linux on it, but lastly it ran a multi-boot between the famous combo installation of PC-DOS 7 + Microsoft Windows 3.11 and an installation of Minix 2.0.0. Fun stuff, and both boots in a few seconds.

SO WHAT IS more annoying than having to listen to a constant high pitch noise at work all day? Having to listen to two high pitch noises at work all day!.

My Lenovo T61p laptop at work emits a terrible high pitch noise. The level of the noise varies depending on the running configuration of the computer. When not in the port replicator the noise level is just ridiculous high. Installing the laptop into the port replicator reduces the level a bit, but the noise is still unbearable irritating. Eventually I’ve ended up running with the lid down and using only an external monitor. The noise is less audible this way, but still irritating. I’m still waiting on the IT department to take action on this.

The second source of a high pitch noise was from my Logitech Mx518 mouse. With the noise from the laptop, it went a while before I realized that the mouse was also emitting a high pitch noise. Today I finally received a replacement mouse, a Logitech G5 Laser mouse. But guess what… that also emits a high pitch noise. Bummer. Two broken mouses in a row. Well, apparently this is a familiar issue with Logitech mouses.

IT WAS TIME to finally replace the old dinosaur keyboard. My Microsoft Natural Keyboard at work had sustained some unfixable sticky keys after many years of writings, so a replacement had to be found.

Once more I was thinking of finding another used Microsoft Natural Keyboard (done this before to have a keyboard both at home and at work), but then by coincident, I had a hands on experience on another Microsoft keyboard, the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. Instantly it was clear – I had to have one!

This is truly an absolutely awesome keyboard! It really feels as good as it looks. Its has some cool features, but most important is that your hands and fingers simply just “fits” the keyboard, and all the frequently used keys are easy accessible. It is clear that it was made for hardcore typing (more information on the design can be found at Microsoft).

Features include:

1. 1. Programmable shortcuts.
2. 2. USB connection.
3. 3. Additional calculator keys.
4. 4. Function indicator LED’s.
5. 5. Back, Forward keys.
6. 6. Zoom/Scroll pin.
7. 7. Padded hand rest.

The keyboard has just the right amount of special features. No bloating, but keeping it simple with only the most essential functionality (an USB hub could have been nice though).

A killer feature is the “leather-imitate” padded hand rest, which provides really good hand support. This I’m sure will be a relief to my hands when doing long work-stints.

In general I like that the keyboard its not that different from my old Natural keyboard (you know what they say: “If it ain’t broken. Don’t fix it”) so the transition has been easy. However, I did read several reviews noticing the slimmed Enter key. I agree that such a modification is not for the better, but on my Danish keyboard layout the Enter key is placed vertically like on the Microsoft Natural Keyboard. I find this layout to be much more friendly for locating the Enter key, so the slimming is not is not that big a deal for me.

As a final note, then I’m sure this ends with me having to buy another one, so that I have one at home for my Linux-box too ;-)

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