21–30 of 47 posts
But Control key position isn't good for Emacs users and there seems to be no alternative key to replace it with Control, like CapsLock on standard keyboards.
I have a Happy Hacking and a DasKeyboard, and often I prefer the Das because I like the clicking sounds it makes. They are both excellent, but the keys do feel much nicer on the HHK. You have to learn to live without easy access to the arrow keys on the HHK. On the HHK arrows, pgup, and pgdwn requries holding the FN key.
It's a mouthful, but the important points are 1) mechanical switches (mine has Cherry brown switches), 2) heavy -- it feels solid and stays put on your desk, and 3) no numpad. I guess there's also 4) it looks cool. It's the best keyboard I've ever used.
What makes you believe there is a negative correlation between keyboard age and keyboard goodness?
Case-in-point, this is the exact keyboard I use to this day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MS_Natural_Keyboard_Pro.JP...
It's ancient, but I love it!
Here's an excellent (and funny) overview from Ars Technica of different kinds of switches in keyboards. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/02/ask-ars-ergonomi... The "Happy Hacking" keyboard looks very nice, and has no numeric keypad. But it's ridiculously expensive. edit: apparently RMS http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?13526-Richard-Stallman-%2... and Bjarne Stroustrup http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?1855…
They offer keyboard skins designed to fit the keyboard: either translucent (with no labels, to work with all variants), translucent with labels, or black with labels. An anecdote: the translucent skin I first got with the keyboard had worn through in spots, so I ordered two of the black Dvorak skins. They arrived, and happily fit far more snugly over the keyboard than the first had--but after a few minutes use, though, something was clearly wrong. Turned out I'd pressed the num shift key, but the skin covered the LED that would have shown the problem. A call to TypeMatrix turned up that it was a communications issue with the company that did the skins--they recommended a leather punch of appropriate diameter as a temporary fix, and said that once they have corrected skins, I should contact them with explanation and email address, and they'd send replacements back at no cost, no questions asked. IMHO, that's service. (Now if they'd just get it out of their head that blue for labels for Fn functions is some kind of standard and make them orange on the black skins, it would be perfect--though they are aware of that issue as well.)
UPDATE: Once I am again among the employed, I will ask my employer whether I can bring in my own keyboard (just as I'll ask about being able to bring in my spare Logitech trackball to use instead of a mouse), and if I can, buy a second TypeMatrix for the purpose.
Do not try to go vertical immediately. The Ascent is nicely notched, start at notch 1, work yourself up every 1-2 days. I know some people stopping before getting fully vertical. That's still better than all the horizontal keyboards.
I bought the standalone Thinkpad keyboard [1] and love it. It's compact as it doesn't have a separate number pad, and feels just like the legendary Thinkpad keyboards. At $59 it's not cheap, but IMO is worth it. FWIW it also includes a TrackPoint, but I never use it as I prefer a mouse. 1. http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPo...
The first version was also significantly more expensive.
If I can ask you, how large is the palm rest in front of the keys, on your model?
I was tempted by this model, but I have trouble when the front edge of a keyboard extends so far in front of the keys that it presses against my wrists, particularly when I'm typing on a surface whose height I can't control, e.g. a standard table where my forearms end up pointing somewhat upward instead of being level. (A design that, unfortunately for me, is quite prevalent in laptops, these days.)
Two best are Dinove Edge & IBM model M... I have both and I prefer IBM (buckling spring is priceless when you grook it)
