PC hardware links

Keyboards

KeyTronic http://www.keytronicems.com/ Dell http://www.dell.com/: It's getting hard to find standard "101" style keyboards in stores, that aren't wavy, or compacted, or in two pieces, or with trapezoidal keys, extra controls nobody needs, or otherwise messed-with. Both of these companies will still sell you one at a decent price, and you can even have it in black if you want. If you want the old style with the big L-shaped Enter key, KeyTronic can help you. You can probably find stacks of black Dell 101 keyboards at your local computer recycler, cheap.
Saitek Eclipse keyboard http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/eclipse3.htm: Another very cool keyboard line with standard "101" layout. The original Eclipse keyboards have eerie blue or red LED light shining up through the cracks between silver-coated keys and illuminating laser-cut keytop labels. USB interface, very nice quiet key action. Since the first Eclipse they have in succession come out with Eclipse II and Eclipse III models, but I like the first one.
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3498&cl=us,en: Another light-up keyboard. This one also has a pivoting backlit LCD text screen and a bunch of extra gamers' keys, but it lists for $100.
I-Rocks KR-6810 X-Slim http://www.i-rocks.com/Product_detail.aspx?CLASS_ID=1018&PRODUCT_ID=1085: This keyboard has bright electroluminescent keys backlighting; about US$30. Not "101" layout.

HandyKey: The fascinating $200 Twiddler2 one-handed chording keyboard and pointing device was often used for wearable computers, but never really caught on for general use. It used the IBM Trackpoint, PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors, and could also connect as a USB device. Unfortunately they can no longer get the Trackpoint parts, and there's no development money for the Bluetooth/accelerometer Twiddler3 they envisioned.
Wearable Computing at the MIT Media Lab http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/: These people have made great strides in creating experimental wearable computers.

Believe it or not, people with keyboards full of some combination of cat hair, cigarette ashes, food crumbs, and gummy residue of various spilled beverages, will still call software tech support when they poke a key and don't get the expected result. Fortunately, ordinary keyboards are relatively cheap, even new ones, and you can often find perfectly good used keyboards at thrift stores or your local computer recycler for less than $5. You can even use a PS/2 keyboard and mouse with a computer with USB ports but no PS/2 ports, or vice versa; there are inexpensive adapters available.

Mouse related

Microsoft Arc™ Mouse: As much as it pains me when Microsoft does something clever, I have to admit it. This may be the ultimate mouse for mobile users: a folding wireless laser mouse. Folding it turns it off to save the batteries, and also secures its tiny USB transceiver in its snap-in magnetic cradle. When folded, it's as compact as any of the typical small awkward laptop mice, but when open, it fills your hand comfortably like a desktop mouse. Symmetrical, except for a side button that doesn't get much use anyway, so it's about as good for lefties as anybody else. Uses two standard AAA batteries (you can see the battery-compartment cover in the picture) with a discreet green/red status LED between the buttons. Mine came with a nifty fake-leather travel pouch, or you can just put it in your pocket. Reviews: Everything USB, CNET.
KeyTronic Lifetime Mouse http://www.keytronic.com/: This was a simple ball-less electromechanical mouse you never had to take apart and clean; just wipe off the outside occasionally. Apparently no longer available. No lasers, and no special mouse pads needed; in fact, if you felt like it, you could use it against the wall, or the underside of your table, or even on a glass tabletop, which won't work with a laser mouse. A low-tech solution to an essentially low-tech problem.
3M Precise Mousing Surface http://www.3m.com/product/information/Precise-Mousing-Surface.html: A $10 mouse pad that makes ordinary ball mice tolerable. It has a surface micro-texture of tiny pyramids; dust particles settle between them and the ball rolls on the points. Doesn't sound believable, I know, but they work. I used two of them with two Compaq ball mice, doing full time tech support (hardware changes verboten) and never had to clean the mice, for more than two years. This product line is likely to disappear along with ball mice.

The problem with old-school ball mice was that the rubber-coated ball tends to pick up some of everything it rolls over, typically ambient dust, oil and dead skin flakes from your hand, and maybe textile fibers from the mouse pad. It all builds up on the rollers inside the mouse, eventually leading to spastic mouse-pointer behavior. When you take the ball out and scrape the crud off the rollers, some of it can end up loose inside the mouse, maybe leading to more problems later. Of course, new systems now will probably come with a laser mouse anyway, and if not, they're cheap, less than US$15 for the non-wireless sort.

I don't care if my keyboard is wireless or not, as long as it works, but once you get used to a wireless mouse, the drag of the cord when you have to use a wired mouse becomes quite annoying and distracting.

If you're using a netbook and wireless mouse a lot at places like coffeehouses, you may want to have some sort of slim mousepad in your bag, just because sometimes you wonder what sort of goo might have been wiped across the tabletop you're working on. Also I've encountered some table finishes that didn't agree too well with an optical mouse.

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Joysticks

In the early years of my interest in PC stuff, I rather disdained fancy joysticks as being irrelevant to business applications, which of course they are. More recently I started seeing them more as a form of practical art, and scrounged a bunch of cheap used ones, most of which even work. PC joysticks and game pads originally had their own 15-pin connection called a game port; current models are USB. There are adapters to connect a game-port stick to a USB port, but I can't tell you how well they work.

Joystick (7K)
Early Gravis joystick

Gravis (British Columbia) Wikipedia: Very early PC joystick and gamepad makers, and later they had a number of joystick models with very nice ergonomics. Gravis was acquired by Kensington in 1997 and the joystick line was dropped,* but there are lots of them out there. The gravis.com site was still maintained for drivers and docs into the mid-2000's. A Google search on the keywords gravis joystick driver worked for me.
Logitech http://www.logitech.com/: Many earlier Logitech Wingman sticks are nice for people with big hands. I have a later USB ambidextrous Attack 3 that fits me pretty well.
Saitek http://www.saitekusa.com/prod/joysticks.htm: Interesting line, including models adjustable for different size hands by raising and lowering the shelf the heel of your hand rests on. All Saitek sticks I've seen so far have been ambidextrous.
Thrustmaster http://www.thrustmaster.com/: Nice ergonomic joysticks; the best I've seen for me, of what you can buy in the box now.

When people try to design ambidextrous joysticks, in my opinion it tends to result in a joystick that's equally awkward for either hand. On the other hand (?) probably nobody is going to build left-handed ones, so if there weren't some symmetrical sticks available, I guess lefties would be out of luck.

Other

Cyberguys (Rancho Cordova CA) http://www.cyberguys.com/: Great resource for all sorts of geeky computer widgets: drives, external enclosures, media, cables, adapters, cases, helper fans, and you name it. Online and phone shopping, or request their paper catalog.
TigerDirect.com http://www.tigerdirect.com/: A source for cheap hardware, including corporate lease returns.
Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/: More cheap computers and components.
ZIP-LINQ (Concord CA) http://www.ziplinq.com/: Zip-Linq makes compact retractable cables including USB, FireWire, network, modem, and hardware-specific. See the resellers page for outlets.
How DSL Works http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dsl.htm
How Cable Modems Work http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cable-modem.htm
Dan Kegel's ISDN Page http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~dank/isdn/
SCSI FAQ http://www.faqs.org/faqs/scsi-faq/: Frequently Asked Questions about SCSI.
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Charles Spurgeon's Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) Web site http://www.ethermanage.com/ethernet/ethernet.html: Resource for LAN techs.

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