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The Joys of Unix Keyboards

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41–50 of 144 posts

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#41
post #11

I always remap Caps Lock to Control on every system I use.

Same here. Unfortunately iOS does not have that functionality, so I am still looking for a decent BT keyboard with programmable keyboard.

This might present itself as a suitable contender, compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS and Android:

https://www.keychron.com/

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#42
post #11

I always remap Caps Lock to Control on every system I use.

Same here. Unfortunately iOS does not have that functionality, so I am still looking for a decent BT keyboard with programmable keyboard.

the easy (and free) answer on mac is to use karabiner elements to remap keys.

https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/

Between karabiner and hammerspoon you can 'program' almost any keyboard.

edit: misread the 'iOS' but will keep this here for mac users

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#43
post #6

There are several Sun to USB adapters if you really want to use an old Sun keyboard on a PC or Mac. There even used to be inline devices that filtered the L1-A /STOP signal. Because if you hit that key on a Sun server console, it paused the whole server.

You can get a Sun type 6 keyboard with native USB, no adapter required. [1] I went through a few over the years before giving up on "new old stock" because they had a tendency to fail. As I recall we have IBM to thank for the Ctrl/capslock swap. The IBM PC keyboard featured that change and was a carry over from the selectric typewriter and possibly other IBM terminal keyboards. It was very annoying for those of us wi…

In fact, it all started with the AT keyboard if I remember correctly. The original PC keyboard had it where Caps Lock is these days.

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#44
post #4
post #3

> The ~ and \ have moved to the usual location of the Backspace. Working exclusively on UNIX systems now, I don't mind the \ being harder to reach. I could understand a Windows user finding this irritating. This guy has clearly never used LaTeX. I mapped my \ to a more accessible location and it improved my typing speed by factor 2 or so.

Also as a vim user I would like the esc instead of the control here but that is non Unix standard as far as I know. I also use Windows quite a lot so having the \ somewhere close is nice to have. Though I really dislike the meta key next to the space-bar but that is just me not being old enough to have used non IBM compatible keyboards. As you might have noticed, everybody's preference is different.

You can also use ^[ as escape, which on this keyboard is a very small motion away from the home row.

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#45
Author here, weird to see this ancient post on HN :)

I now primarily use a WhiteFox True Fox [1] I’ve purchased from Massdrop and customized at work and a Unicomp Sun Unix SpaceSaver [2] at home.

The aforementioned HHKB Lite 2 however is still the keyboard I bust out when I’m setting up a new machine or just testing one. It’s handy, light and nearly indestructible.

[1]: https://kono.store/products/whitefox-keyboard-kit-byo

[2]: https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/40PSA

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get a Sun type 6 keyboard with native USB, no adapter required. [1] I went through a few over the years before giving up on "new old stock" because they had a tendency to fail. As I recall we have IBM to thank for the Ctrl/capslock swap. The IBM PC keyboard featured that change and was a carry over from the selectric typewriter and possibly other IBM terminal keyboards. It was very annoying for those of us wi…

In fact, it all started with the AT keyboard if I remember correctly. The original PC keyboard had it where Caps Lock is these days.

You may be right. I was selling PCs and UNIX machines from a MicroAge and remember IBM trying to get us to also flog their System/34 and Displaywrite systems along side their PCs and looking online the Displaywrite keyboard I found has control in the middle row. IBM was all over the map trying to keep PCs from gutting their minicomputer sales and their approach definitely flip flopped a few times, maybe the keyboard layout did too.

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#48
post #19

Unicomp (the company that took over IBM/Lexmark's buckling spring tooling) makes a Sun layout keyboard which is also worth mentioning for those who like a larger keyboard: https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/40PSA (Not affiliated with Unicomp, I'm just a fan of the Sun keyboard layout)

Is it the same 1980's quality, as in you can defend yourself with one if necessary? I have a 1986 M that's still going strong with USB adapter.

I would say there is a reasonable dip in quality. It's lighter than my old Model M's and the plastic is not as nice, but all in all its still a very high quality keyboard compared against others today.

My biggest knock against it is that my keycaps are... strangely printed. The letters are not perfectly aligned with each other vertically, so that have kind of a jagged look. That could just be a problem with mine however, it's been a couple years since I bought it. Other than that however I love it.

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#49
post #38
post #25

For those of you, looking for a keyboard with backspace right above the Enter key, look no further than on basically any European keyboard. We have tall Enter instead of wide one on american keyboards, so backspace it directly above it. It basically looks like that: https://i.imgur.com/OtPxJSF.png You can find any number of different keyboards from different manufactures. I once had american keyboard with wide enter,…

While you're strictly and literally correct, I think you're missing the point. The vertical position of the Backspace/Delete key is still the same on US-ANSI and EU-ISO. The advantage of the Unix layout is that it brings the Backspace/Delete key down a row, to be opposite the Tab key. That puts it within the main bank of keys, and within easier reach -- a definite benefit for such a frequently used key.

More to the point, I've usually found those double tall Enter keys to be a detriment because if you hit it on the bottom half like a regular Enter key sometimes it binds up and doesn't register.

It's a waste of space IMHO and I tend to shun any keyboard that uses it. Especially when it shoves the |\ key to some really inaccessible location, like to the right of the right shift key or obnoxiously puts it where the backspace key should be and makes backspace even harder to reach.

Re: The Joys of Unix Keyboards

#50
post #37
post #31

Does anyone ever use Caps Lock? It seems like such a waste of space.

I've seen quite a few people that, either or of habit or due to it being less error-prone to type for them, use Caps Lock for typing capital letters. Instead of Shift+letter, they'd type Caps, letter, Caps. One keystroke more, but no two keys held at the same time, which is difficult for some people. I'm sure there are superior accessibility options, but those have to be found first, whereas Caps Lock just works the…

Isn't that what StickyKeys is for?
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