Ask HN: What keyboard and keyboard layout are you using?

6 points by psychoslave ↗ HN

40 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 71.7 ms ] thread
logitech mx mechanical with qwertz layout
I've always enjoyed the M Series by Unicomp. It's the original tech from 1986. Perfect for this touch typist.
Logitech G12 I think it's called (gaming fullsize keyboard with a blue togglable backlight and extra rows of function keys on the left side), had it for years and it works great, no reason to contribute more to our global trash and pollution problem by buying a marginal upgrade.

qwerty, because my home keyboard isn't the only one I use and I don't want to bother with changing to dvorak or colemak or whatever (I used those two at various points), and even though I'm typing somewhere almost every day, including occasional transcriptions, I'm fine with 70-80 wpm and and having to reach a bit.

Microsoft Sculpt Ergo keyboard in standard QWERTY, without the numpad (so the mouse can sit naturally next to it). It has soft laptop keys, the opposite of a mechanical keyboard. Used it for more than a decade and can comfortably type for hours at around 130wpm.

I used to have really bad hand cramps and this saved my hands (and probably my career). Best keyboard I've ever had, by a large margin (both ergo and not, mechanical and not).

Same here. I just wish the quality was a bit better.

What mouse do you pair it with?

It's not made out of any fancy materials, but it's held up for years without issue for me.

I use a Magic Mouse for work because it's the only thing I can click repeatedly without pain (using my pointer and middle finger together to left click is a lot easier than the pointer finger, over decades).

For gaming I use a SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless. It works great and is light.

Das Keyboard Model S Professional Wired Mechanical Keyboard

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008PFDUW2

It was the only mechanical keyboard I could find that fit the following requirements:

* no fancy RGB lights * full 101+ keyboard - meaning it has a numpad on the right

Das Keyboard for me too. I have two UK layout keyboards, one for the office and one for home.

The lack of RGB lights was a huge plus point!

Keychron K2V2 hot-swappable mechanical keyboard - 75%, Gateron brown switches, RGB backlight, aluminium base.
Apple Wireless Keyboard (love it).
I use a split keyboard with a magic trackpad in the middle between the two halves-- for me, it's so much more comfortable and ergonomic to move my hand toward the middle for mouse stuff, instead of off to the side, and using a split keyboard lets me keep my shoulders in a more natural position with my hands farther apart.

I built my keyboard using this: https://keeb.io/products/quefrency-rev-4-65-split-staggered-... and I've been happy with it for the last few years.

I am using a keyboardio model 100 with the default layout.

I have had it since it came out (I think that has been about 2 years now). It has had the best ergo layout I have tried for programming. I think a big part of it is the palm (fn) button is so nice for getting to alternate characters without feeling like I have to strain for a modifier key.

https://shop.keyboard.io/products/model-100

Um... dumb question, but where is the space bar (key?)
Under the right thumb there are four buttons, one is the space key (shift, alt, space, ctrl).

When I got this keyboard I transitioned from a standard (non ergo) layout, and thought the thumb clusters would take getting used to. They felt surprisingly natural.

I found the ortholinear layout harder to get used to (the straight vertical rows the keys are laid in). For a long time when I wanted a `c` I got an `x`.

HHKB Professional Hybrid Type-S with eng-us layout, despite being danish. The various symbols are just better placed for programming than on the scandinavian layouts :)
Logitech G613 wireless gaming mechanical keyboard and logitech G305 wireless gaming mouse.
A KMI Qunexus with version 2 firmware layout.
Logitech MX Keys with Qwerty layout
Apple Wired Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (MB110LL/B) + Colemak
I am using the keyboard built into my Thinkpad. While I have tried out a couple of mechanical keyboards, they did not especially impress me.

I am using the Dvorak layout, as I have done all my life; it works well enough that I have never bothered to try anything else.

WFH office: Ergodox EZ

Office: ZSA Moonlander

Both programmed with a slightly adapted US layout and ESC instead of caps lock. Plus I have "hold down ESC" as a layer for very primitive vim binding simulation for Windows (e.g. mapping hjkl to arrow keys or b to ctrl-left and e and w to ctrl-right).

I used Das Keyboard (Ultimate) and Filco Ninja before, but recently I discovered Asus ROG RX switches (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZwDqL5f4x8) and fell in love. The keyboard I'm typing on now is ROG Strix Scope RX TKL with RX red switches. It's a "tenkeyless" layout but otherwise everything is in the "right" (classic) position, no funny business.

What's so special about these RX switches? The PBT keycaps are mounted on 4 corner posts absolutely eliminating any key wobble while having a very decent amount of travel. The switches are optical and tuned to very light actuation (this being a gaming keyboard). After typing on this keyboard every other keyboard feels somewhat sluggish and wobbly.

For the layout I use the typical QWERTY.

Keyboard: SK-8815 Enhanced Performance USB Keyboard from Lenovo (technically from the IBM PC department) with swiss layout. And I use the hungarian layout because I have to type in hungarian.