Back in the ancient days where Intel 486 and Pentium processors were state-of-the art, monitors were vacuum tubes, 3 1/2" floppy disks were the the best option for transferring data between computers, and the best options for connecting between computers were by dialing into BBSs (Bulletin Board Services) via telephone and shareware called "QModem", I had an interesting realization: that someday, all this wonderfully advanced -- and quickly advancing! -- computing technology will mature to the point where most people wouldn't feel pressure to upgrade every six months, or lament over the expensive computer that became out of date a month after purchasing it (which always seemed to happen whenever anyone purchased anything).
How did I reach that conclusion? I realized that keyboards and mice were already there, and it would only be a matter of time before everything else got to that point, too. It took about two or three decades to do so, but we're at that point today! Well, monitors can probably advance a little bit to Augmented Reality setups that would essentially make 5-monitor systems portable -- or, for physical monitors, to have full-color movie-capable electronic ink (and now that the patents are close to expiring, maybe we'll finally start seeing advances in that direction!) -- but we have somehow even reached this point for silicon chips! While I expected this to happen for silicon eventually, we didn't quite reach that point for the reason I expected: I thought that processors would just get "good enough" to the point where most people wouldn't care, but instead, via the magic of Moore's law, we pushed them to the limits of our knowledge of physics. I don't think I fully appreciated the role that 3D video games in particular, and the heavy computing needed for engineering and meteorology in general, would push technology to this point.
So, naturally, knowing about this technology plateau, I've given a lot of thought in how I'd design a keyboard and a mouse.
Wait, what?!? Why the heck would I spend so much time and energy on stale, mature technology??? Do I expect to significantly advance the state of the art of these input devices?
No, no I don't. I am interested in keyboards and mice because I want to customize them -- and, perhaps, to make it easier for others to customize their input devices, too. Granted, this isn't for the faint in heart -- anyone who is perfectly satisfied with their $15 squishy keyboard and plain $10 mouse probably won't be interested in pushing these things to their limits -- but it can be fun for those who wish to explore, and may even make using these things a little more comfortable, particularly for those of us who are using these devices for several hours a day.
When I started working at my last position, the IT Department (aka Joe) set up a nice computer with a GPU, two monitors ... and a spongy computer and simple mouse. My wife (who was also a co-worker at the time) suggested I ask Joe for a better keyboard and mouse -- but I didn't do so, for two reasons.
First, I have a perfectly serviceable keyboard and mouse that I had chosen both for their features and for their portability.
My keyboard, something like this Keychron K8 with blue key switches, was "only" $50 when I purchased it several years ago -- at the time, I was expecting to pay $200 when I finally decided to pull the trigger on a mechanical keyboard -- and before I pulled that trigger, I purchased a "sampler" of twelve different kinds of keyboard switches, each with their own levels of "tactileness", "hardness", and "clickiness" -- ultimately, I chose the blue keys, because they had a nice internal tactile "click" that lets me know I made contact without having to bottom out, they required only the softest touch to be activated, and they had a nice loud "clickity-clack" sound while typing.
My mouse, a VicTsing Pioneer, "only" cost $35 -- this mouse no longer seems available, and as far as I can tell, but is similar to this Rapoo MT760 mouse, which looks like it's $50 -- and it was chosen for its a nice horizontal thumb scroller I use regularly, a couple of thumb buttons I wish I could figure out how to use better, and overall was pleasant for me to use except when it froze up (which, unfortunately, it does fairly regularly, particularly when the power is getting low).
Second, to the degree I'm interested in getting a different keyboard and mouse, I want to get something significantly different! I want a split keyboard with staggered columns instead of staggered rows, with each thumb having half a dozen small keys available (as opposed to just a giant spacebar and a couple of hard-to-reach modifiers), lots of layers, and the ability to attach several devices via Bluetooth and USB so that it could pass everything on to the computer the keyboard is attached to -- essentially, making it as if the keyboard, mouse, and headphones all shared a single dongle or Bluetooth connection -- and I want a mouse that has three push-button horizontal scrollers for my thumb, two buttons each for my two fingers, and a vertical scroll that could be tipped left or right as well as pushed straight down -- or, perhaps even have three vertical scrollers, each being tippable either direction -- and the mouse should have a wireless dongle that can fit into the keyboard. Lately, I've been wondering if I could make all the buttons pressure sensitive -- allowing any one button to play the role of "Wacom tablet pen", but for mouse movement.
Oh, and I'd like to try a Space Mouse as well! (Which was potentially relevant for my internship!) I'm not entirely sure if I'd like it, but I like to experiment -- it's just that I haven't yet been sufficiently immersed in the 3D world to justify the expense!
So, yeah. I opted to choose to bring my own keyboard and mouse, rather than ask for equipment I would like (and would have had to leave behind, anyway). I had to buy a Bluetooth USB dongle to get my setup to work, but everything worked fine! (Except when it didn't.) I want too much customization, and for what little customization I had, I was comfortable with what I have found so far.
Incidentally, I used to hate Bluetooth, but it's grown on me. While I would still rather use a USB wireless dongle than Bluetooth, I'm to the point where anything I make that has a dongle, is going to have Bluetooth, too.
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