I have an IBM, a little newer than the one you pictured, that I've had since 1999 when I purchased a very solid IBM PC.

This keyboard has shown no signs of giving up!

Our CTO swears by Kinesis Contoured keyboards. They're pricey, but apparently really awesome. His already insane typing speed increased to beyond insane speeds once he got accustomed to it.

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/contoured.htm

Specifically this one:

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage.htm

I use MS Natural 1.0 keyboards exclusively. Of course since these haven't been made in over 10 years, and they do sometimes break, I've amassed quite a collection of them. They're rare to find even on eBay anymore, but it's worth it.

Note to keyboard industry: build a copy of the Natural 1.0 with mechanical switches and I'll buy a dozen!

I have to disagree with the first one, after purchasing a Logitech Wave keyboard (which I absolutely love). I actually like having the significantly bigger delete key, because I use that far more than insert or page up/down. and I use home/end a lot, and they're easy to get to as the only 2 buttons on the top.

The Apple keyboard is the best keyboard I have ever owned! Just perfect for typing, feels great and looks stunning.

I had a kinesis for many years, and really liked it. It took only a day or two of retraining for me, and significantly improved my typing comfort. I'm an emacs user, and having the control key down at my thumbs instead of out beyond my pinkies was a huge improvement. I should probably get a new one...

My keyboard at home is a 17-year old Samsung with standard PC layout from before Windows special keys (pretty much like the IBM Model M). It weighs a ton so it doesn't slide across the desk. No point in replacing something that works. :)

No. No no no. The Mac keyboards are freaking horrible. My college has them (together with Macs, for some reason, running Debian or Gentoo or something... I think Debian).

The keys are spaced too far apart! I can't touch type on it! I can't even look-type at normal speed and it's extremely frustrating to have to code on them. To the point where I actually was considering buyingmy own USB keyboard and bringing it in..

Stick to the bloody standard spacing between keys! I know Mac users are stereotypically clueless marketing execs who want to look cool/trendy.. but... wait, that seems to be quite fitting.

I will mildly disagree with #3. Not because I want my function keys remapped, but because it's really not a big deal to always have F-lock on.

#4 for your list of bad keyboards:

Thou Shalt have a double-sized Backspace key.

Maybe you missed the most pretentious keyboard ever:
http://www.essell.org/journal/index.php?id=479

I agree with Paul and disagree with Jeff on point 1. I've used MS keyboards with "mangled home clusters" for years and I believe the Home-End/Delete-PageUp/PageDown arrangement is much more productive than the native 104 keyboard layout. It takes a bit of getting used to but it feels much nicer to me.

In reference to point 3, leaving F-Lock on should keep you from having any problems with your F keys unless you don't like them being arranged in different groups.

I wholeheartedly agree with point 2 though. The few keyboards I've used with the goofy arrow layout have driven me absolutely nuts.

I've got one of the old style Northgate keyboards (OmniKey Ultra). It's super clicky - great feel for touch-typing, with function keys across the top and on the left (where $Diety intended them to be), and supplemental '*' and </> keys. The only downside is no Windows key, but it can be keymapped to take care of it. It's apparently indestructible, since it's over 15 years old.

The Apple keyboard is excellent. Beware the wireless one however; it doesn't have a numpad.

What the heck is the "Caps Lock" doing there next to the "A" key?!? That is an abomination. That is the holy place reserved for CTRL, and only he may reside there. "Caps Lock" must be relegated to the outer reaches of the keyboard. Long live OmniKey!

And stop waltzing my tilde! ;-)

I have the Apple keyboard at work with my iMac. Love it surprisingly. I thought for sure it would suck but I love it. Very easy to type on and doesn't make a ton of noise. Just enough to let you know you are typing.

The Apple flat keyboard is what dreams are made of, if they ever ruin it I will continue to buy up any I find forever.
Not the fanboy talking because I can honestly say I REALLY REALLY hated the dust viewing window keyboard they had before it and its unreliable return and shift keys.
One before that was ok but nothing I'd write home to my Dad about

Jeff,

Your timing is as immaculate as ever - I've spent a serious amount of time this morning considering just how stupid the home key cluster is on my keyboard.

Having built a new PC a couple of months ago, I opted for the Logitech Easycall keyboard - mainly because the keyboard and mouse are both wireless, communicating with the PC via a smart - wired - speakerphone that supports skype and MSN messenger.

The end result is a very clean desktop layout with no wires trailing across the surface of the desk.

I've been vaguely aware of how annoying the Home key cluster layout is (I *Never* hit the End key when I want to) but have become even more aware of it today, due to a snow induced 'working from home' session. (The snow isn't that bad, really, but I'm in the UK, so it gets translated into - "We're all gonna die!!!")

Now that I'm doing my first serious stint of typing at home, the Home key cluster layout has become even more annoying.

Should I consider sticking with it long enough to develop a muscle-memory for the new layout, or will this just conflict with the habits developed on the normal keyboard layout at the office?

Having had a quick peek at the Logitech site today, not only is the Easycall discontinued, most of their wireless keyboards use this strange layout.

It's a shame really, as this one small point ruins an otherwise excellent keyboard.

Why do companies have to change things that not only work fine, but people have become very used to?

I want one of these:

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/

I want a wireless keyboard that is split into 2 and is rigidly affixed/attached independently to both wrists. So, it is like part of my body. Does anything like that exist?

funny I rarely use the arrow keys, home cluster, or function keys when programming. probably something to do with using vim but it shows that the keyboard is not really good for programming per-se, but good for a particular piece of software

I'm thinking of replacing my 13 year old keyboard (apricot - a by then Mitsubishi company) - not because its broken, but because it doesn't match the colour of my new LCD monitor!

The new monitor replaced a 13 year old 17" monitor (also Mitsubishi) that also still works (even more unbelievably than the keyboard in my opinion).

Since I mostly write code in Emacs, I'm not so sensitive to the home/end/paging, cursor and function keys. I rarely use them. That is one benefit of using a programmer's editor like Emacs or Vi - they use mostly standard keys for all of these basic cursor movement operations. So it's more important to me on the feel of the keyboard than the size and placement of these special keys.

The holy grail of keyboards was the MSFT Natural I bought in 1997. Hands down the best keyboard ever. Classic layout, no stupid media keys, ergo form factor. LOVED IT.

Tried to restore it last year. Failed :(. Now using a newer basic Natural keyboard that is...ok.

My problem with the Media Natural keyboards is the ergo form does not seem as pronounced. The last one I bought broke relatively quickly, too...only lasted a year or two.

If you're in the UK, a double height Enter key is pretty much essential too. I've been a fan of Logitech keyboards for a long time, but they've taken to mangling the home cluster lately. Except on their awesome G15 that is, which I can recommend if you have the money.

I own a Logitech G15, and even though the extra buttons on the left are a bit awkward to reach, they sometimes pay off in VS2008 ([Ctrl]+[Shift]+[B] versus [G12]?).
What I love most about the (old) G15, are the media player controls under the LCD (which displays what I'm currently listening to). Extremely convenient.

Happy Hacking keyboard *anyone*????
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard

#5 (for vi users at least):

Thou shalt not muck with the position of the escape key.

I love my 14" Thinkpad T61 *except* that they positioned escape above F1. This also is an abomination. Thankfully I'm not programming on the laptop keyboard itself that often. I guess laptop keyboards are in a class of their own ...

Stop talking crap
"3. Thou Shalt Not Remap the Function Keys"
What do you think your "beloved Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000" does?

"I think all programmers can agree on these three. Beyond that, it rapidly becomes a matter of personal preference"
I think your three are personal taste because they are not mine.

For me, there's really no keyboard like the Microsoft Confort Curve 2000.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=040

For a Microsoft keyboard, it does a surprisingly good job *not* mangling the arrows/home cluster/function keys.

It even has volume keys and back/forward keys (which I remapped to change desktop in KDE).

It's curved, but not split, so it provides a nice comprimize between an ergonomic and standard keyboard.

(It's also got low profile laptop-style keys, which I tend to go for.)

Thou shall likewise tit not, with the Shift nor with the backspace keys.

As a unix programmer, I do not agree with your idea of a bad keyboard. I don't need the home key cluster, I have ^D, ^A, ^E, etc. I don't need the arrow key cluster either, I have hjkl (or ^F ^B ^P ^N when I was still using emacs).

I also stick to microsoft natural keyboards though, I just wish someone would make a similar keyboard without the numeric keypad and without the home key and arrow key clusters so the mouse isn't as far away on those occasions I need it.

ah, the never ending struggle to find the perfect keyboard.
I agree with all your points as what makes for a bad keyboard, plus I have a bigger issue that I grew up using a Spanish layout keyboard, so finding the perfect keyboard takes double effort.

I specially like gaming-grade keyboards like the Razer Lycosa and the G-15 but those only come in English layout, which more than messing with Spanish punctuation, kills my right hand by moving the < and > key from the bottom left of the keyboard and also moves the semicolon one row up.

My current favorite is the Samsung Pleomax PKC-700B which is like a perfect classic layout keyboard. (except for the oversized return key, which makes the right brace key to move next to a tiny backspace key)

I really like Cherry. Try G80-3000 (the http://www.cherry.de/deutsch/produkte/kabeltastaturen_G80-3000.htm). Longlife, gold contacts, good response, etc...

My biggest complaint about a keyboard is where the CTRL keys are...
I 'grew-up' with the CTRL key where the modern day CAPSLOCK is.
Luckily I can remap that in X11 via .xmodmap, or skip that entirely in windows by mapping it in the registry.

Travel greatly affects my happiness with a keyboard, as does the feedback. I never understood how folks could love the collapsable spring keyboards... I've always been a collapsible rubber dome kinda-guy.

Laptop keyboard for me please.
Once you get used to it there is no going back especially because the keyboard is smaller hence all the keys are closer. Dunno if it makes a difference for anyone else but I just love everything about my laptop keyboard.

I completely agree that the MS Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 is the Holy Grail of keyboards. There are at least three of us in my office that have purchased them. The unmangled Home cluster is a must, along with the unmangled arrow key cluster. Unlike previous models, the remapped Function keys actually START as function keys and have to be switched to the remaps by pressing the F-Lock.

I ended up buying a Logitech G15 "gamer" keyboard in a pinch a few years back. It was literally the only one I could find without the mangled home/end cluster.

I don't use any of the extra programmable keys, or the LCD (well, I didn't with my old desk, since on the keyboard tray I couldn't see it - I don't have a new desk yet, still building a new office). What I do really like about it is the feel, it is solid and yet very easy to type on. The backlight is also surprisingly nice, especially since I tend to work with just a light on behind my monitors, reflecting off the wall.

@warp: Your dreams are answered:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Wireless_Keyboard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard

You missed one important rule: the double-sized backspace key is mandatory.

@warp: Your dreams are answered:

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Wireless_Keyboard">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Wireless_Keyboard</a>

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard</a>

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good Dvorak ergonomic keyboard? I currently use a G15 at home (which I love - reprogrammed the LCD display to show CPU/MEM/HDD/BW usage, time, uptime, volume, current winamp track) and an IBM at work. I've popped the keycaps off both and rearranged them into Dvorak, but they're a little uneven since the caps aren't all identical.

My own cleansing process, no silly compressed air..

1) detach all keys
2) place all keys into very hot bleach bath for a few hours
3) rinse keys thoroughly in warm water
4) bake keys in oven for 20 minutes on low
5) re-assemble keyboard

WIN :-)

I still have 3 or 4 old metal-cased Zenith keyboards that are built like a tank and weigh almost as much. Great feel, classic layout - but the built-in "click" speaker/amp will drive everyone else in the room a little bonkers. I had to disable a couple of those clickity-clackers.

Got them surplus years ago $1/ea.

Of course to use them now you need a PS2 adapter, if not a PS2-USB adapter totem-poled behind that too!

I don't recall ever using that "home key cluster", and if I was even better in Emacs than I am, I'd never use the arrow keys either.

Just curious - what do you (or does anyone) depend on the home key cluster for?

Recently got a Logitech Wave, absolutely love it, curved layout but not split is my ideal, yeah the home cluster is "mangled" but doesn't bother me at all, don't use those keys much I guess, just personal preference really.

Of course, if you have $1600 to spend on a keyboard you could go with this one: http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/9836/
Little OLEDs on every key, sounds really cool, although I've heard they are actually very comfortable for typing on.

I've got both an IBM model M and a Das Keyboard ... they're freaking awesome! Problem arises when you get used to that clicky feeling and you can't use them (like when're not at your place, they're kinda loud)

Following Christian Wyglendowski idea:

Thou shalt not muck with the position of the escape or ctrl key.

Who told IBM/Lenovo to place that stupid Fn key where the Ctrl key is supposed to be? Yeah, people will turn that stupid LED light more than using Ctrl+C. Oh well, this come bundled with Windows, what can you expect.

I also disagree with the first point. It has taken me a bit to get used to the long delete key at work - but I do use it a lot more than the insert key and find it quite handy. At home I have a G15 logitech, which has the normal delete-insert layout. What I find interesting is that I have had no trouble switching between the two after I got used to the big-delete keyboard I have at work.

I do agree with the other two points - I'm very lucky of being the only one in the office who uses linux for development - I never have to press F-Mode in the morning to get my F keys to work. That was annoying on Windows.

Two other things I think are a must: a long backspace and a big enter key. I don't mind the small shift as much, though it would be nice to have it the other way around - the reason why modern keyboards have the "|\" key twice still eludes me.

Following Christian Wyglendowski idea:

Thou shalt not muck with the position of the escape or ctrl key.

Who told IBM/Lenovo to place that stupid Fn key where the Ctrl key is supposed to be? Yeah, people will turn that stupid LED light more than using Ctrl+C. Oh well, this come bundled with Windows, what can you expect.

+1 on the Kinesis Advantage. Got one less than a year ago and have never looked back.

A lot of people I recommend it to are afraid of trying something new, or that they won't be able to use an old style keyboard again. It's simply not true. While there is an adjustment period, once you get the hang of it, it's wonderful. It took me about a week to adjust. Just put away your old keyboard and pretend it doesn't exist. Otherwise you'll want to switch back and forth and you'll never get the hang of it.

I got the keyboard because I had arm/shoulder troubles. Once I started using the Kinesis, my problems improved significantly (over the period of about a month). Now I do get fatigue, but not even as bad as before.

I also use Emacs, and mapped control to the caps lock key, and turned off caps lock altogether. Having control right next to the home row makes it even easier on my fingers.

A great investment, and it should be something all programmers should consider. You use a keyboard all day. It should be something that helps you get your job done more efficiently, and keep you comfortable and pain free.

P.S. I'm in no way affiliated with Kinesis :-)

Because I use Vim as my main code editor, the home cluster and f-keys dont really bother me. This is partly because Vi (of which Vim was based off) was written back in the days of terminals. As a result, those keyboards did not have the home cluster, or even arrow keys (i think?)

My saitek eclipse has two big benefits for me, it feels great to type on and has lived longer than any other keyboard I've ever had (currently; twice as long as the previous record-holder, but I am egregiously harsh on my keyboards).

When it comes to keyboard layouts I really wonder: Why do they make non-standard keyboards at all? Is there any possible reason for flat enter keys? Is there a purpose imaginable for odd arrows? Is there a meaning behind deviating from the standard delete key?

Sometimes, sometimes I just think; Jesus... How freaking hard can it be: http://img.systemaxdev.com/productmedia/htmlimages/cten/accessories/128076.jpg ?

Ah, yea, i need a new keyboard. And I agree with the red flags you look out for.

+1 vote for the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000. So good. So cheap. I have three. One had a clicky spacebar when I bought it, but I sent it back and the replacement was just fine.

I have the Mac keyboard and it works well as a SECOND keyboard because it is so small and light and has a USB port built in. It tucks away nicely under the iMac I have sitting next to my PC monitor. But my hands hurt after using it for any longer than a few minutes.

> As a unix programmer, I do not agree with your idea of a bad keyboard. I don't need the home key cluster, I have ^D, ^A, ^E, etc. I don't need the arrow key cluster either, I have hjkl (or ^F ^B ^P ^N when I was still using emacs).

Ahhh thank you, this explains the mysterious Deck keyboard

http://www.dansdata.com/deck.htm

Perhaps it's just me*, but I found that once I'd gotten used to the home key cluster layout pictured in your #1 hate-a-thon, that it was an amazing, amazing timesaver.

I'd hit Insert repeatedly, randomly, when reaching for the Home or End keys, and end up in overtype mode. No more.

I hated it at first, but then came to see that a) I never used Insert for anything except self-annoyance, and b) um, that first point was probably enough.

Sigh.

I think FLock is possibly the devil incarnate, though.

Sorry about that, my last post was un-finished. What I meant was ...
(i think? I wasnt even alive when Vi was first written). Also, this is why Vi(m) has the method of moving around via the home row keys "hjkl", which, as it turns out, is pretty useful (and quick!)

Ooh, and story of hate: the Toshiba I was given for work had a Windows key at the top right.

Yes, the top right.

Combine that with generally awful typing ergonomics, and that was it - I sent it back, and lived without a work laptop for two years.

(Shortly thereafter I got a P1610, with the best damn cursor key layout on a subnotebook I've ever experienced. Everything should have Home, End, PgUp, PgDown mapped to Left Right Up Down with accelerators, respectively).

By far my favourite keyboard of all time was the BTC 53-Series, made since the early 90s. Their defining chacteristic was the fact that you could mash down every single one of its 105 keys at the same time. Absolutely fantastic for gaming (Descent!) or multiplayer action (Star Control II - Melee), etc.

Also, I hammered and pounded the shit out of it while programming and debugging. They withstood many hours of sheer teenage frustration. Tough as nails.

> when you get used to that clicky feeling and you can't use them (like when're not at your place, they're kinda loud)

I'm a little scared by the horror stories I'm hearing about noise on the clicky spring keyboards. My typing is already pretty, uh, "forceful"..

Man, talk about timing ... on my to-do list for today is "replace keyboard."

I loves me those old IBM keyboards: stiff and clicky, tons of travel -- the pushbutton equivalent of positive feedback. But then, I learned to type on manual typewriters.

I hatehatehate split and ergo keyboards with the fire of a thousand suns. (A thousand petty little suns, apparently.) I've learned that (for me at least) "ergo" = "wrist busting." But I also prefer to sit eight hours a day on a folding chair and drink my coffee black. So YMMV.

I was really wary of those Apple keyboards but after using a MacBook I've been pleasantly surprised. They have excellent feedback despite the lack of travel, and somehow I never mash multiple keys which is the bane of my typing existence on lesser keyboards.

Arrow keys? But h j k l are directly under your right hand :-)

> "3. Thou Shalt Not Remap the Function Keys"
What do you think your "beloved Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000" does?

Yeah, but the f-lock actually works on it, and survives power offs and reboots. Not really an issue.

If you like the Model M, you can actually get a new one here:

http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/

This guy used to work for IBM, and he bought the rights and equipment to the keyboards and now makes them custom. They are pricey, though, and $69.99usd

You missed the irritating laptop key combo, where the lazy designers put the Fn key where god said the ctrl key should be because they could fabricate it easier. You can get used to it but if you're an emacs user it drives you nuts for a while, and who wants to schlep a keyboard around??

Sorry, I don't understand your rules. Just because one day one company decided to arrange keys in a certain way, we must now keep it like that forever? That's absolute nonsense! I hate the standard home key cluster. For me the one of Logitech (that's the one on your picture) seems much better and it removes this stupid insert key, that has no function in most application and on my favorite OS (it's almost completely pointless in OS X). Actually I like compact keyboards. The MS Ergonomic 4000 is a nice one, it would be even nicer if it had no num block at all, no home home key cluster and the arrow keys integrated into the main block. This one here gets very close to a perfect keyboard IMHO:

http://www.fentek-ind.com/hhlite2lrg.jpg

Except that it's not ergonomic.

It has everything you need. All missing keys could be easily emulated using CTRL+<key>. The great thing is Mac OS X has the classic keyboard bindings. You don't expect me to ever hit backspace, do you? Nope, Backspace is CTRL+H (backward delete) and the delete key of the home row block is CTRL+D. These shortcuts were already effective at the days where keyboards actually all looked like in the image I posted above. And using CTRL+W you can delete a whole word backwards. This works in almost any Mac OS X version and that's how hacker codes. Hackers couldn't car any less how the Home Key Block looks like, because they actually never even get close to the block.

And the more compact the keyboard is the closer the mouse moves to its right, which is much more ergonomic than having plenty of useless keys there and move the mouse far away. Actually a mouse is also not ergonomic, I have a full hand trackball (you move the pointer by moving your fingers across a big ball), as moving the fingers is ergonomic (nature designed your fingers for fine grained movement), moving your hand wrist is not.

I was going to comment on how you should use vi and not have to worry about these issues, but other beat me to it.

So here is my complaint....

The function keys should be arranged in two columns to the left of the main key area, not over the top. In this way you can use the functions keys combined with Ctrl/Alt/Shift with only one hand.

Best keyboard I've ever experienced was on the IBM 3101 terminals. (IBM also made some 3270-type terminals with similar keyboards, but I never used them) These keyboards were similar to the venerable IBM PC keyboards of the day, but they also had a "kick" solenoid built in that would optionally activate when you pressed a key. The resulting feedback was similar to typing on an electric typewriter.

This rich and powerful feedback made typing a joy -- you always knew exactly when you had kit a key, because the kick solenoid would produce a pleasing jolt to your fingers. The keys were well sculpted and positioned. The keyboard was also heavy and stayed in place.

They don't make keyboards like this any more -- the preference today is for cheap plastic keys and lightweight plastic housings, and keys with little movement, and barely any click.

The Apple Extended Keyboard II (the old ADB one) would probably meet your criteria as well. That was one damned nice keyboard, but not as good as the IBM 3101....

Take a look at the Cherry Stream.
Very nice kb, using it now :D

Curiously, I don't mind too much about rule 1. Certainly if anything, I've chosen a keyboard with several properties programmers wouldn't like, that being the MS Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 keyboard. Chosen largely for its backlight along with light ergonomics and light keys. It has a completely strange Homekey area, the F-keys are touch based and its got a strange Windows orb button rather than key.

But really, once you get a new keyboard and work with it everyday, you adjust to it and your muscle memory resets. Likewise, having one laptop layout and one desktop layout I can deal with also. But more than that and I get confused. :)

I've become very partial to the Sun UNIX keyboard layout. Getting the Esc key closer and having the Control key bump the Caps Lock key out of the way makes for much easier use as a programmer.

I love my Apple keyboard. It feels almost as an extension of the fingers.

I have an old Elonex keyboard from around 1992. It works perfectly; I don't use it anymore because it's DIN connector can't connect to any computer I own, but I did use it for an old linux box up until about two years ago, and it worked perfectly.

I currently use an IBM SK-8820 for my work desktop, and my (IBM) laptop's keyboard - I don't have any working desktops at home, unfortunately.

I also like Microsoft's old 'simple' keyboards the ones that had a few extra small round non-intrusive buttons (back, forward, calculator, my computer and a few others) and that's it; but I think they've been discontinued.

"Two other things I think are a must: a long backspace and a big enter key. I don't mind the small shift as much, though it would be nice to have it the other way around - the reason why modern keyboards have the "|\" key twice still eludes me."

This. Normal sized enter, backspace, \, and shift keys is a MUST. Anything else is just an unholy abomination.

The DAS is not buckling spring it's Cherry-mx switches.

The reason the Apple slimline is quite good is that it uses scissor switches like many laptops. Switches and scissors are much better than any amount of Microsoft and Logitech rubber-mat mushy nonsense.

[)amien

I have to disagree with the first point as well. It took only a short time to get used to the new layout and I find I like the new one a lot more than the old one. The layout feels more natural given the behavior of the keys (mainly Home/End, but the larger delete key is nice too).

I suppose if you use the Insert key often it could be annoying, but I almost never do so I didn't even notice its disappearance.

I've got a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 as well, and I've blogged about how you can hack at an XML file from the IntelliType Pro driver to change the "zoom slider" into a "scroll slider". In other words, that little thingy in the middle suddenly becomes useful again and you don't need to move your hands off the keyboard to scroll up and down the same way your mouse's scroll wheel would let you.

http://oliiscool.blogspot.com/2006/11/hacking-microsoft-natural-ergonomic.html

HTH,
- Oli

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126012

There you go. Under $10. Normal layout. Only "fancy" keys are separate specific mapped keys like Calculator and Volume, which are out of your way if you don't need or use them. No special drivers needed. Feels just fine for coding and gaming.

Pictures: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?Image=23-126-012-02.jpg%2c23-126-012-03.jpg

Yowza. As a model M user, it boggles my mind that someone could think that three years is an acceptable amount of time for a keyboard to last. My keyboard was made during the Reagan administration and it's still going strong.

"Thou shall always provide both right- and left-side Windows keys."

Makes for an easy one-handed Win+L (lock computer). Very few keyboards have this anymore.

I too am a Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 follower. I have tasted the kool-aid and it is good.

I'm using a IBM model M right now! Manufactured January 18, 1988. I have a few more spares at home I've picked up. They are awesome! People are always shocked that there's no "Windows key" on it! ;)

In know not of these standard keyboard things of which you speak. We've gone to laptops in our house. Yup, 6 lappers and no two of them have similar keyboard layouts. Arggg.

Also a curious note, the kids won't use a mouse. They prefer the touch pad.

As someone who does all their programming within Eclipse and vi, I never, ever use the function keys.

Does anybody know a bluetooth ergonomic keyboard?

I know there's the apple wireless keyboard, but it doesn't have the wrist rest pad and is not "V-shaped" to make typing more natural, like in the Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 of the post.

[I don't want to use an usb port and rely on an undisclosed protocol and manufacturer's wireless encryption utilities - just use the features already in my computers]

I've used Das Keyboard since some time in 2006 or 2007 and I'm not going back. I had to replace it (spilled soda into it, couldn't get the sticky stuff out well enough) and after looking at various ones I ended up getting another Das Keybaord. The G15 was the other closest contender, but I tried it in a store and didn't like the keypress action, it felt as if it took too much effort to press the keys. Another close contender was the Apple keyboard Jeff listed, simply because I really like the keyboard on my Macbook, it's by far the best laptop keyboard I've tried.

To the people who like having Ctrl where Caps is on most PC keyboards today: What fingers do you use to depress it? I can't imagine using my left little finger to press it, nor any other finger on my left hand. I have to press it with left hand and then type letters with right hand to use a Ctrl key at that position.

I personally use a brand new "model M" style, USB, very noisy, but very pleasant to use. I bought it online.
At work, I have a Cherry, which is still pleasant but quiet.
I personally have a distaste for the ergonomic keyboards. To me, they are bulky and unpleasant to use.

Another important thing I always require when at work is a US keyboard. I worked in many different European countries, and in each and every case I was offered a local keyboard. I refused to do any coding until I had a US layout.

@WilyHacker, Sun keyboard layouts are a whole other topic. Type 4, type 5, and type 5c are all different layouts. I think you're describing the type 4, while I prefer the more PC-like type 5 (but hate type 5c).

I have yet to find an ergonomic keyboard that does not have some caveat. The Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 is the closest, but the F-Lock annoys me and sometimes the drivers choke.

Still, it's worth it to have my wrists comfy all day.

I also have to say that once you get used to the touch pad, it's not bad. Having to use one under pressure a few times on site when you don't have a mouse available will teach you to get the hang of it.

There are some tricks you can use to make those things fast (such as using two fingers), but they will never be quite as fast as a mouse.

As others have pointed out, using emacs/vim makes you pretty unaware of such keyboard luxuries. In fact, I learnt vim because I got a laptop and couldn't do anything at all in the editors I had been used to work with.

After learning vim I can go to any keyboard layout and still be proficient.

I have to say the huge enter keys are evil. I use backslashes all the time, and accidentally hitting enter when I am trying to type a backslash causes all kinds of crazy commands to be entered.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=110

MS Wireless 6000, laptop-style, with short-travel keys. I found myself typing much faster, and if you can learn a lighter touch (as you usually do with a laptop) it does wonders to reduce physical stress.

Based on the comments on here, the three or four MS Natural keyboards which I have in the loft might be worth something on eBay.

When I find a keyboard that I like I try and buy 2 or 3. Currently also using the MS 4000.

"I think all programmers can agree on these three."

Not me! Well, one of those can be mildly annoying, but no more so than any of the other dozen mutilations that every keyboard does, like making the keys different shapes/sizes so I can't rearrange them into Dvorak positions so they actually mean what they say.

Arrow keys? Function keys? Home key cluster? I've barely touched these things since I started using Emacs 15 years ago. All they do is make my keyboard take up more space on my desk/lap.

I haven't figured out any benefit to a key whose defining attributes are (a) a completely abstract name, like "F9", and (b) being further away from where my hands are. The letter keys are under my fingers already, and I can remember alphabetic mnemonics a lot easier than trying to remember an "F-number" tuple.

+1 on the Kinesis Ergo Advantage. Having Ctrl/Alt (along with Enter, BackSpace, and Space), at your mighty strong thumbs has to be experienced rather than explained. I have a few posts over the years on how much I dig this keyboard:

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=kinesis&as_sitesearch=cwinters.com

I love my 1996 IBM KB-8923. It's fairly quiet, with wonderful feel, and the perfect layout. (Wide backspace, backslash below it, Enter below that.) (Which reminds me, I was wrong above; my favorite Sun keyboard is type 5c, which has a similar layout.)

I understand and respect the motivation for Logitech's modified "home key cluster", since I rarely want the insert key, but my problem with it is that adding another level of height screws up the way I use those keys (three fingers that can each easily feel which of two keys to hit).

I have trouble finding keyboards I really like because the good-quality ones are designed by people who like older-style keyboards than I do, like loud clickies or Esc where tilde should be or no Meta/Win or Compose/AltGr keys.

I used to love Microsoft Naturals, but I don't consider them particularly ergonomic since I fell in love with Goldtouch keyboards:

http://www.goldtouch.com/p-64-goldtouch-adjustable-keyboard-black.aspx

These have helped lower my RSI symptoms quite a bit more than the Microsoft keyboards did. Also, I love the layout. Now I *really* hate using ordinary boards because of their awkward location of Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down. Having them not on the same hand as the arrow keys is fantastic.

Keytronic E03600U... Damn good keyboard, only about $30. For being a membrane switch it works surprisingly well, better than anything from Microsoft, Logitech, etc.

Over the years I have had the IBM Model M, and the Northgate Omnikey Ultra. Both are good in different ways. The IBM prevents n-key rollover by forcing your hands into correct position. The Omnikey though has a light touch and allows for tremendous speed.

I'd prefer an Omnikey, but the Keytronic is a good substitute and is inexpensive.

Microsoft lost me when I bought their office keyboard years ago. It was the first one that remapped the function keys and it was bloody annoying. That they haven't learned from this is failure is sad.

I too use the MS Natural 4000 and love it! And, like you, I'm on my second one already.

I hate Microsoft "Natural" Keyboards with a passion. Maybe in Redmond, "Natural" means "slow down your touch typing while you accidentally bash the empty space in the middle of the keyboard again and again", but not around here it doesn't.

I love IBM Ms. You can smash them with a 14lb lump hammer and they'll survive. Mine even has num/caps/scroll lock LEDs on it!

I'm a Linux guy, so I grok the shell, and I use WM's with handy keyboard shortcuts (Openbox and XMonad). My mouse usage has decreased a lot over the years.

I found the Logitech "Playstation 3" Bluetooth Gaming keyboard about a year ago, and it's been awesome. For what little I use my mouse, it's right there on my keyboard, so I never have to move my hands and break my flow.

I do keep a USB backup keyboard around, in case an update eats my bluetooth config or the batteries run out. But by and large, this keyboard's been perfect. You hardcore keyboard-junkies might want to give it a try.

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-Logitech-Cordless-Mediaboard-Pro/dp/B000W5RBQE/ref=sr_1_13/177-2177666-1978544?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1233593808&sr=8-13

FWIW, my preferences:

* Ergonomic or <<standard>>?
* Clicky or <<quiet>>?
* Low-profile or <<normal>>?
* <<Minimalistic>> or extra function keys?
* With backlights and LEDs or <<plain>>?

My IBM Rapid Access II Keyboard is in the neighborhood of 8 years old. And as long as it ain't broke I don't fix it. Fits like a glove.

All 3 good and true commandments. I've had to wait YEARS to get a new keyboard at times because MS keeps falling prey to the stupidity that is 'make it smaller so it fits in a keyboard tray'.

Thankfully, they usually come to their senses when most people refuse to buy the damn things mangled like that.

As for the "f-lock" - My wife is not a power user and she is CONSTANTLY being tripped up by the fact that her fkeys are not fkeys (when the feature first came out, the fkeys were in their 'off' position by default, thankfully that is not the case with the 4000)

And speaking of the 4000 - you can have it when you pry it from my cold, dead hands, or until MS futher pulls its head out of its ass and makes an even better one. One with all the newest extra buttons AROUND the core goodness of the MS Natural Keyboard, preferably with backlit keys (I code in near dark a LOT of the time, sometimes I like to peek...)

You can probably extend your keyboard's life with some judicious surgery. Don't EVER EVER EVER put it in the dishwasher - you will rot the metal traces on the plastic membrains.

I suspect you either have too much crap collected under the keys and neeed to seriously clean house (pop off the keys, get a vacum. Once removed, you can dump 'em in a colinder, wash em, dry em and replace them) . OR if you have grit IN the membrane, you can go that extra mile and decompose the keyboard CAREFULLY, clean and reassemble it.

Depending on how much your time is worth to you, it might just be easier to buy a new one. The 4000 is the second hardest keyboard to clean I have ever found and it has lead to a forced replacement on one keyboard so far, so if you have budget room...

And then you get bright new keys too (mind you, you loose the mirror like finish you get on keys like the space bar)

I used to use the same keyboard as you, I then switchted to using a Kinesis Advantage keyboard when my old keyboard died. I made the switch as I wanted something even more ergonomic and comfortable. I also bought the optional three switch foot pedals and I would recommend this set-up to anyone: I have the same set-up at home!

Jeff,

I have the Mac aluminum keyboard that came with my iMac. When I first saw it I thought I would hate it. However, after using it I quickly decided how much I liked it.

Now I am seriously considering getting the bluetooth version for the iMac and moving the wired one to me work PC. This really is a great keyboard. And the small key travel and "flat" style really makes it esay to type on.

I just hope on my PC I can map the Command key to alt and the Alt/Option key to be the windows key.

BOb

I have the MS Natural 4000 at home and it is my favorite keyboard by far. However a good mention that falls in to the IBM Model M category is the Dell SK-8135:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/acc/P76379/setup.htm

Not only can you pick it up on e-bay for around $5 to $10. But it is well designed, compact, the keys are firm, and have a nice feedback, and it has a nice out of the way assortment of extra keys that don't effect the design or feel. Including a couple of extra USB ports on the top.

It is a great keyboard all around, and I usually take one with me on contracts.

I've had my Kinesis keyboard for 12 years now. It not only helped my carpal tunnel, but it keeps people from taking over the typing when I'm working with someone. As soon as they go to grab the keyboard, they recoil in confusion. The only thing not working well is my F5 key, which sucks for applications that use it for starting a debug session.

The downside is that it's so unique looking that I have the same "isn't that a cool and bizarre looking keyboard" conversation with everyone who stops by my office.

BTW, look for the Kinesis in the Men In Black movies.

I agree with points 2 and 3. However, I find the 'mangled' home key cluster makes more sense - not the one where delete takes up two keys and insert is removed, but the same shape. It's a heck of a lot easier to use Home and End, since you just have to find the left or right edge. Page down is easy - bottom-right edge - and page up is right above it. that's the nice thing - everything important is on a corner.

My keyboard is beat to hell, but I refuse to give it up. Nothing I hate more than when they mess up my non-standard keys' layouts.

I've got a Logitech Media Keyboard. Picked it up for $25 when the keyboard of my LX300 suite stopped working. (I now know that one of the battery terminals fell out, but I have no reason to replace it now)

I've been looking at either getting a G15 or some type of ergonomic keyboard.

I've always loved the feel of an ergonomic keyboard, but I've also used a G11 and if the G15 has anywhere near the same key feel, I'd fall in love with it more than I fell in love with the good old buckling springs of the model M.

Das Keyboard is not buckling spring.

I personally own two of these: http://www.alphagrips.com/features.html
(Though I must admit my speed on them still isn't as fast as on a "normal" keyboard.)

With that ";" key broken, it's the perfect time to switch to Python! :D

"In particular, the semicolon key is now infuriatingly difficult to use"

You could start programming Python and keep that old keyboard. BTW is it me or is the captcha code always 'orange' to submit to this blog?

Microsoft's 'engineers' committed a cardinal sin 10 years ago when they created the first Natural keyboard, and every ergonomic keyboard manufuacturer has been aping them ever since. For some reason known only to the two-fingered typists and Bill himself, they chose to put the '6' key on the left-hand side of the split.

Now as any touch typist knows, when you learn touch typing you learn to hit the '6' key with your right index finger. Oh, sure, if you want to learn how to 10-key you can use the keypad, but that still leaves the '^', or you have to think about what you are doing whenever you type digits in the middle of normal typing (as opposed to straight number entry).

Now, I will grant you that the reach to the '6 is a stretch for the right hand, but it isn't much better for the left hand. A reasonable compromise would have been to make it a bar key (like the space bar), so that the choice would be optional. Now we are stuck with a bad design decision for eternity. I'll stick with my flat keyboard, thank you very much.

Other than that, I think that Jeff's 3 rules are spot on.

At 120wpm, I can vouch for the Das that I'm typing on right now. It's probably one of the easiest keyboards to type on that I've ever used.

I also own an Avant Stellar. I think the keys are slightly more resistive, and they're shaped differently than on the Das, but it's also a very nice keyboard. If you like the programmable aspect of the Stellar, that's something it has over the Das.

I'm really not quite sure which one I like better--but maybe that's just because I paid twice as much for the Stellar as my housemate paid for this Das, and so I want to like the Stellar... :-)

-Max

Got to agree on keeping the home cluster standard. Was in an internet cafe somewhere in south america where the keyboard had a power on/off key where the DELETE key should be. I accidentally pressed it after ten minutes writing an email and the whole computer shut down, I lost everything of course.

BTC laptop-style keyboard - I live a thin wall away from a Tibetan nun who meditates a lot. The BTC is absolutely quiet and has those scissor-like switches with the nice laptop feel. Best keyboard I've used. BTW, function keys should be on the left where God intended, not up top where Bill Gates decided better - specifically, to kill off WordPerfect in the early nineties.

I've recently got a Macbook (did have a Mac Mini). I really miss the Home Key cluster and number pad. The keys I miss most are 'delete' and '+'. I'm getting used to 'shift =' instead of '+', but the lack of 'delete' requires a change of editing style which is difficult to do.

I've heard that some programmers use the numeric pad exclusively for numbers and the top row on the main keyboard just for the symbols. I've never felt that comfortable with the numeric pad - I think this is because I'm left handed.

I know you can buy USB numeric keypads, but can you buy USB keypads with home key cluster, arrow keys and numeric pad? Such a device would be awesome for programming at a laptop.

As a Friday afternoon exercise recently - we tested the typing speed of a bunch of touch typists in the office including myself with wired Apple vs standard HP US 101 keyboards. People were roughly 20% slower on the Apple Keyboards - net typing speed over 5 one minute tests each. Accuracy was poorer. Normal keyboard for these users was 6 on HP vs 5 on Apple - so about even.

We already had anecdotal evidence that folk who were typing-in-anger all day didn't like the Apple keyboards as much - so this seemed to support their claims a little.

It's a big deal since we buy a lot of keyboards. And, yes, trying to suit everyone with one (or even two) keyboard types is a nightmare. The wrong choice has real effects within an organisation (even a small business!) and can also make the lives of support guys a misery.

Our verdict - if you do a lot of typing - the Apple keyboard is more than likely not the best choice for speed / productivity / general happiness sake.

I agree with Nick Berardi - that Dell keyboard is underrated, IMHO. I swear by it, personally. Just clicky enough (but not TOO clicky) and I like having the volume control close at hand (as I code to music pretty much all the time). And those 2 USB ports are handy too - a great place to plug in mice or other things with short USB cords.

Mine is very well used - the keys started with a matte finish, but many are now worn and shiny!

I've used my trusty MS Natural 1.0 for 15 years now and am very happy with it. Many of the keys are now without decals so you have to be a "typist" to use it. I came across one in our local geek recycling store a couple years back and now have a spare, should this one ever die.

Several years ago I bought my wife a Logitech ergonomic keyboard, similar to the MS Natural, I thought. The Page Down key is where the Delete key is on the Natural. When I have to use that keyboard it drives me nuts. Logitech used 2 columns of three keys; the first column is Home, Page Up, Page Down. The Natural has 2 rows of three keys; the lower row is, Delete, End, Page Down. With enough use I could get used to a different layout, but why should I have to.

Honestly, I'm not that picky about the type of keyboard I use. But I do like:

* Wireless (for pair programming)
* Not too noisy (so I don't disturb those around me)
* Similar board at home & at work (probably the most important)

That last one is the most important.

I end up using Logitech wireless boards and am totally happy (just don't install the crappy driver-ware).

The new mangled home cluster is actually pretty nice once you get used to it. After all, when is the last time you used the insert key on purpose? The rest of it makes sense too: big delete key, home & end side-by-side, P.Up & P.Dn top-to-bottom.

My "Coder's Weapon Of Choice" is the Cherry STREAM XT:
http://www.cherry.de/english/products/home_office_eVolution_STREAM_XT_Corded_MultiMedia_Keyboard.htm

If you ignore the 6 MM buttons on the top ... which come in handy if you like to listen to your ambient tunes while hacking away ... like I do ... the STREAM has a standard layout, keys with superb tactile feeling to them, an extremely sturdy build, a low profile so you put far less strain on your wrists even without any type of cushion ... oh and it's cheap ... like really cheap (17€ here in germany).

Hope you find the right one :)

"Old mouses aren't nice to use"
Shouldn't that be
"Old (computer) mice.." ?

I've got an IBM Model M on my desk. I might clean it one day, it's a bit brown looking now.

The arrow pad must remain in an inverted T shape, it's what tells me where it is. Years of playing Doom and editing text have trained my fingers to find the arrow pad.

It's like how I can find my mouse using nothing more than peripheral vision. Sometimes this goes wrong and I try to control my PC with a mobile phone or cup of tea :)

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Sidewinder-X6-Keyboard/product/DA79495D

I'm getting this. I would prefer if it were split but i love that you can put the numpad on the left. It's also back lit. I don't care for it's design but it's not terrible.

I'd like to see Das Ergonomic Keyboard. Maybe one day...

@Ed: Yeah, as a vi user, I don't need any of those fancy schmancy-arrow keys. H,J,K,L were good enough for my father; they're good enough for me!

I used to use an IBM Type-M in college. While I loved the feel of it, the damn things are LOUD. Especially when you are typing at 80WPM... it sounds like a hurricane is ripping the roof off your dorm room. Tends to wake up the roommate.

I'm using a Microsoft/Razer Reclusa right now, and absolutely love it. Very good feel, backlit keys, and ten programmable keys on the left and right sides of the normal keyboard. The right side ones control Itunes / Winamp (pause/play, next track, previous track), the left side ones launch: firefox, thunderbird, and Itunes or Winamp. If they annoy you because you hit them occasionally when playing games, you can just disable them. They keyboard is also fully macro-able, which is very nice for programmers.

I don't know the exact model off-hand, but up until recently I had been using a fairly heavy duty black IBM keyboard with a Thinkpad style trackpoint for about a decade. I bought it from some eastern European fellow at a computer show for $10, but I remember looking for replacements online and they were all pretty pricey. A few years later, I spotted and picked up another one, which I eventually had to cannibalize.

Being able to quickly do minor mousing without removing my hands from the keyboard was priceless, great for precision stuff in Photoshop, too. Rugged as hell, too. Unfortunately, my current desktop is all USB, and I can't be bothered to pick up a converter.

+1 Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 ALL. THE. WAY.

It's simply the best of all worlds.

-non mangled layout.
-Slightly warped for ergonomic comfort, but not 'grotesquely' ergonomic or split.
-Profile is modest, weight is light.
-Key profile is the perfect middle ground between the low laptop feel and the high typewriter feel.
-At $20, there's no reason why this keyboard shouldn't be given away at every programmer's convention.
-Love the calculator launch button over the num pad.
-Volume controls are super convenient gravy.

The only reason I held out on this keyboard for such a long time is that I refused to believe that programmer typing zen could be achieved for only $20.

Don't put your 4000 through the dishwasher! There are ribbon cables inside that water will infiltrate, and the conductive material (whatever it is) will dissolve.

I found that out when someone took a shower in our guest bathroom and left the curtain outside the tub. My office desk in the basement is pretty much right underneath the bathroom. Drip drip drip...

Another vote for the Avant Stellar. It's not quite as good as the old Northgate's that it's derived from but it's still good.

The old Northgates--I'm typing this on one. It's old enough it has the old AT connector! Still works, though.

Love the Canada comment you threw in on your blame list.

I'd suggest to get the apple keyboard, I have one myself that I use with my PC and its simply amazing, I absolutely love that thing. It is also surprising how little space it takes up compared to other keyboards. Though it is a little pricey for a simple keyboard.

I have a major keyboard concern that I haven't seen listed here. (I did skim through the previous comments, though, so I may have missed something.)

Does anyone else out there have a recommendation for a "big and tall" keyboard? I've got large hands, and I haven't been able to find a standard keyboard to my liking. And let's not even mention laptop keyboards.

Does anyone else have this problem? Have you found something that works well for you?

As a Lisp programmer, I am somewhat surprised my bracket keys haven't gone yet...

I've one of the IBM Model Ms from the early 90s, though; they seem to be basically indestructible.

That Apple keyboard is actually surprisingly nice. I just assumed it would be terrible due to being laptop-like, and the dreadfulness of all Apple's recent conventional keyboards, but it turns out to be pretty good. Has Apple's evil version of the UK layout, though.

Absolutely can't STAND those weird split MS keyboards, or any other sort of deformed keyboard for that matter.

Here's my keyboard: http://i42.tinypic.com/w4h8m.jpg (before it was cleaned for the 109th time)

I think #1: "Thou shalt not deviate from the standard layout." would be enough.

My keyboard had extra useless keys (shut down, sleep, wake up; I think) which I removed, in addition to those pesky Windows and Menu keys. Unfortunately, being a Turkish-Q keyboard, there's another extra key where the rest of my backspace should be. Removing it wouldn't help much.

Oh, and as it turns out, the Function key I've quite ungracefully removed had a purpose after all: This stupid keyboard doesn't comply with software typematic rate settings. Pressing Fn+F1~F7 seems to be only way to change them...
Come to think of it, I think it's time to change my keyboard.

I really, really like the cheap but excellent Logitech Ultra X keyboard:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/business/products/keyboards/devices/587&cl=gb,en

Stick with Natural 4000.

Had it and switched to wireless Natural 7000 bundle - what a mistake to make. 7000 is less responsive, slower and receiver can act funny (at least on Vista 64).

I love the Model M but not as much as its "Space Saver" 84-key variant, sans numpad. I play Nethack using the vi keys to move, so I can't think of why I'd ever need a numpad.

I have the DIN-5 version. I wish it came in USB. I'd never use anything else.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126043

I use the Natural 4000 at work because I like the split design for when I do tons of typing at once (plus it helps my Emacs pink), but the keys themselves on the Logitech are sooo much nicer to strike. Plus the backlight looks awesome especially in the dark, and it's incredibly thin yet sturdy.

Interestingly, it actually messes with the Home Key Cluster a bit, which worried me when I was trying to decide to buy it, but in my opinion they actually managed to make it better!

If you want to go really retro, a company called Unicomp <http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/> still makes the IBM Model M <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard> "clicky" keyboard from the original molds and tools. They are updated with USB interfaces and sell for $70 each. There was a story on NPR about this on Fri., 01/30: <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100076874>.

I have arthritis in my hands, so I prefer a keyboard with a good tactile response but still relatively soft and not requiring much force or travel. I also like large-ish keys because at high speed I can be a bit inaccurate.

The IBM Thinkpad keyboards are pretty much perfect for this. I have a Japanese X32 (12" screen) and despite the compact size the keys are big and have a perfect feel to them. They are also a lot sturdier than most laptop keyboards. You really have to try one to believe how good they are - I can type faster and more accurately than on any other 'board.

You can get desktop versions too, with a built in "Ultranav" (nipple) which IMHO is also far superior to a trackpad. It means you have to spend less time moving your hand to the mouse just because no-one wants to implement a replace-last-misspelt-word-with-first-suggestion keyboard shortcut.

The only thing they lack is multimedia/programmable keys. I make my own USB 8 button keypad just for that. I'll post details on my web site eventually.

The Apple think keyboards are horrible. There is very little travel or resistance to the keys, which makes them feel "hard". Your fingers crash against them rather than being cushioned like normal keyboards.

I'm tempted to try the MSNK 4000, but it's a little bit expensive to take a chance on. If they do a Japanese version I'll be able to find a shop with one over there.

For a really cheap but much better than average keyboard try HP or Dell business keyboards. They are surprisingly good for something that comes free with a system.

At least one programmer disagrees with all three of your keyboard rules. My only rule is "control key directly to the left of 'a'". Happy Hacking Keyboard works for me.

The Model M is not the "granddaddy" of all PC keyboards.
Granddad had the function keys (F1-F10) in two columns on the left side, where they belong! ;-)

http://www.vintage-computer.com/images/83key.jpg

I'm quite happy with my model M. According to the sticker on the back, it will be 20 years young in June, and it's still going strong. Completely reliable, although I probably ought to give it a clean at some point...

The only (occasional) downside is the noise: mostly as my study's next to bedroom, and I'm in danger of waking t'other half up late at night or early morning if I'm not careful with it... :-)

I agree with most of what you say - the arrow keys and home cluster. But I really don't care in the slightest about the function keys - developing in Eclipse, F3 (drilldown) is the only one I use, and that could be remapped easily.

I like the Home/End key layout on the Microsoft "Basic" keyboard.

It has Home on the left and End on the right, but it doesn't have those new-fangled function keys, so Insert, Pause/Break, and Scroll Lock still work, as do F1-F12.

They're only about $25 Australian, so they would be cheaper in the US.

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/systembuilders/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=009

I was using the Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboard for about 18 months (also the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000), which is a great step up from the standard non-ergonomic keyboard.

3 weeks ago I decided I needed a more ergonomic keyboard/mouse setup for work and found the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 package. After setting it up at home to test I immediately bought a second, so I could have one for work and one for home.

AUD$180 for the bundle but worth every cent for *anyone* that spends 9+ hours a day in from of a computer. My back, neck, arms and hands already feed better from the released tension.

I've been really happy with my Typematrix 2030 that I've been using for the last year or two. It's small, quiet, and comfortable.

I thought I was the only one...

I have been using the Microsoft Natural keyboard since the very first 0one came out. I have had many over the years the 4000 is the best since the original.

My only complaint is the lack of a window key for the right hand. I am sure it's just me but I loved being able lock my machine with one hand. As a workaround I programmed the close button(F6) to lock the machine when the F Lock is on.

I have another one:

Thou shall NOT change the function keys spacing:
http://image911.net/cart/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=162&zenid=c22a309f998be7442feecfcb3961288f

Hate Microsoft all you want, one has to admit that they make decent peripherals. I've been using the same Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro for the past seven or eight years, and it's been nothing but rock solid. Great to type on, without being too clicky or too soft, has multimedia keys, and even an integrated USB hub. I don't even think the same model is available anymore, but I'd definitely buy another MS keyboard when this one finally kicks the bucket.

As a lot of people have said, I use mostly vim key bindings, so those commandments don't really matter to me, personally.

One thing that gets me every time is the "Backslash / Pipe" key. I don't really have a strong opinion on whether it should be above a thin enter key, or down beside the right alt, or anywhere else, but I'd like it to be consistent. Fairly often when switching between computers I accidentally hit enter when I intend to put a pipe.
Oh, the commands I've sent through half baked! Forgive me!

http://www.keyboardforblondes.com/

I also actually like the mangling of the home/end/delete key layout on my work keyboard. It has the insert key removed from that group and placed above the keypad on the row with the Function keys instead.

For me, insert is one of those keys like caps lock that I almost exclusively only use accidentally. And it's "sticky" just like caps lock as well. I really never want to be in insert mode when I'm in a text editor, so I like having it far away to prevent my accidentally typing it.

Another vote for the Kinesis-ergo advantage:

http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage.htm

If you ever develop hand problems, then this is the way to go. The Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 (and similar designs) are also very good, but the key resistance is typically too high. In addition to an ergonomic layout, the Kineses keyboards have a much lighter keypress resistance, which is extremely important if you have hand problems due to typing.

In addition, the higher-end Kineses keyboards can be fully remapped. I've remapped mine to a Dvorak-inspired layout that's to my particular liking.

The downside is the high price relative to other keyboards, but if you develop any hand problems, then there is no doubt which is the best keyboard.

I love my Apple Keyboard too.

I have nothing against a spring keyboard *in principle* - but when my officemate is typing fast I *cannot* do any subtle *thinking*, so that gets annoying at times.

The navigation keys *are* sancrosanct. So why did IBM, Microsoft and others screw them up?

The DEC VT-220 had the perfect layout, with Home and End side by side, and Delete beside Insert as the FSM intended. (Ramen!) Almost more importantly, the inverted tee of arrow keys should be immediately below the other navigation keys. Push the arrows down an extra row creates extra movement that leads to neck pain.

These changes caused me years of heartache when I moved from VAXen to PCs.

It was bad enough getting over the swapping of the Control and Caps Lock keys. And when did Shift Lock become Caps Lock anyway?

And where's my Do key?

Now if only we could have a keyboard without a capslock key!

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28_48&products_id=137

I have an Enermax Aurora Premium. All the keys are in the right place. It's built with laptop keys so it's quiet and very flat (less strain on the wrists). It has 2 USB ports and functions as an external sound-card (with mic and headphone jacks)

A bit expensive but hands down the best programming pad I ever had.

I love my Apple wireless keyboard.

I too have a Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000. It is great keyboard but came with two initial flaws:

- The space bar makes an awful "FLAK" sound when clicked from the RHS (sounds normal from the left but who the hell clicks space with their left hand?). Fix: Use it for a few days and you get used to it

- GOD AWFUL F LOCK BUTTON that makes all the function keys do weird things if you press it accidentally. FIX: PULL THAT F#$%ER OUT. After the thousand time it did it, i yanked the button out and blu-tacked a appropriately cut piece of black plastic its place

Huge fan of MS 4000, also have a Comfort Curve 2000 for when I want a change in hand position every now and then, it deserves an honourable mention for those who don't want to spend much and don't like splits.

Quality can be a bit variable on the 4000, first one I bought had very sticky keys - B would only come back up about half the time, and nearly had to stand on the space bar. I returned it after a day and the replacement was brilliant. If you get one that doesn't feel right, send it back, a good one feels perfect.

Tried the wireless natural that a friend had, but felt a little bit laggy, and I rarely sit that far away from the screen while working.

Admittedly, I haven't used an Apple keyboard for a few years, but past experiences make me recoil in horror at the thought of using one, except perhaps as a pretty paperweight.

Been coding on a Happy Hacker Keyboard every day for the past 5 years. It's required minimal maintenance and works as good today as the day I bought it.

Highly recommended if you like your Control key where it belongs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Hacking_Keyboard

I recently got an Mac Book Air. I got it for my partner because it is so light while being very robust. After getting it and taking the "geeks tour", my opinion on Apple has changed. The quality is through the roof and it is simply the best laptop I have seen bar-none (I work in IT and see lots of laptops).

BUT - I used it a couple of times to develop (remote session to my work computer). Initially I was frustrated that I would have to use this little keyboard with half the keys only functioning by pressing the FN button (including delete - which acts as backspace withotu FN pressed). And let's face it, the keyboard isn't designed to work well with Windows let alone development. Right?

I couldn't believe how wrong I was. I have found the Apple keyboard on the Mack Book Air Much easier to use for development than my full windows keyboard. Why? Less hand movement required.

For example: I can go from using arrow keys to home/end/page keys with a press of my little finger (on FN button), and then back again by letting go with my little finger.

After about an hour of developing I became really quick. The improvement wasn't realised until I went back to my office and used my old keyboard. I noticed it was a lot slower because I have to keep shifting my hands so much just to get to home, end, arrow keys, etc.

And what about the apple mouse? It is by far the best touch pad I have used. I have the option of plugging in a mouse, but it would make more sence to swap my work mouse for an Apple trackpad than to plug a mouse into an Apple. It is sensitive yet forgiving, intuitive yet powerful and smoth yet allows easy movement.

If I were to get another system, I'd go Apple (an install Windows on it), because the engineering is at a level above the others, and the keyboard is a dream to use.

My trust Model M turned 15 years old three weeks ago and is still going strong. My wife insists I clean it at least once every 3-4 years, but is otherwise essentially zero maintenance.

Sitting beside it is an ALR keyboard, a few years older, which is also still working perfectly. Thanks to the wonders of KVM switches, not to mention remote desktop, I get to use my favourite keyboards on all my PCs, instead of having to pick & choose.

One thing nobody has mentioned yet is the solid feel of these old keyboards, usually achieved by including a solid metal plate. This means the keyboard stays put, even when my typing reaches frenzy level (http://www.unoriginal.co.uk/finger-frenzy.html - 2.4 seconds)

Keytronic Lifetime Classic II

Wonderful feel to the keys, standard location for all keys, large enter and backspace key.

Guaranteed for life -- used to be you could cut off the end of the connector and send it to them and they would send you a new one.

Still the best keyboard I've ever bought.

Though honestly, the Saitek Eclipse II was pretty damn good too.

I will never understand why a tab key is not over by the keypad. We develop account software and had to deviate from the windows standard of using the enter key, to close a form, to using the enter key to move between fields on the form. The data entry personnel want to be able to use one hand to enter numeric information along with navigating between fields.

I'm a huge fan of the Microsoft Natural keyboards. The angle and separation arc make typing much easier on my wrist. They're quieter than most and I actually find some of the extra keys (mainly the calculator) useful!.

Huh, I absolutely love my "mangled home key cluster". I didn't think I'd like it but I've grown to love it. The Insert key is mostly worthless, at least, using all the applications I use. I probably hit Delete the most out of the entire cluster, so I'm glad it's big. I frequently hit Home and End and it's good to see them laid out horizontally as that's how they're logically used. The original keyboards should have been laid out {[Home,End,PageUp],[Delete,Insert,PageDown]} IMO...

I still use a Memorex MX1998. I like that it has a smaller shift key on the right with the backspace key to the right of it. Then, the Enter Key looks like a backwards L.

Most keyboards have the backspace above the Enter key. Don't care for that.

@Gerhard

Hey - I'm with you. From memory the Enter/Return was used in old IBM system 36 too (before my time). The "Tab" key is an abreviation of "Tabulate" - so why the heck is a tabulation key so far away from numbers?????

I never figured that one out.

Sheesh, what sillyness! Just switch to Scala and forget and the semi-colon.

The Canadian government has apologized for Bryan Adams on several occasions...

Hhmmm, it's interesting that in every keyboard pictured there's something that annoys me a lot - the tiny Enter key. I prefer the bigger version:

http://km.support.apple.com/library/APPLE/APPLECARE_ALLGEOS/HT1168/pc-keyboard-all-gray2.png

And those with a tiny backspace key are also a pain.

My perfect keyboard would be an MS Ergo 4000 (which I've been using for the past year or so) with the classic IBM keyboard's awesome tactile feedback, minus the number pad which I never use and puts my mouse a little too far to the right.

Lots of people talking about wanting Control where Caps Lock is. That's actually part of the layout I grew up on in the 80s. I use Linux and always map Caps Lock to Control, but in the 90s I got out of the habit of looking for Control there, so I still never hit that key.

The Sun Type 5 keyboard (the one I hate) has the Backspace key where most of us expect the backslash to be. Drove me nuts. Meanwhile the Type 4 has Delete directly above Backspace, and which one you really want to hit to delete the last thing you typed depends on your terminal settings.

I used to like the big backward-L enter key, then I started using Unix and needing the backslash and vertical-bar characters to be easier to get to than they are on those keyboards.

Oh, and at those asking about the standard insert, delete, home, end layout and why it matters -- several reasons. I use ctrl-home and ctrl-end all the time. I also still use the ctrl-insert to copy, shift-insert to delete, and shift-delete to cut in addition to the standard ctrl-x, v, and c. There are situations where those combinations are more effecient such as using ctrl-shift left and right arrow to hightlight. Since your left finger is already on shift and your right finger is coming of the arrow, it's quicker to hit insert or delete to do a copy or cut.

I use an evoluent ergonomic keyboard, mainly because it puts the numpad on the left, which brings my mouse closer to my right hand, and has escape where I am used to it. (vi/vim user) Most of the layout is pretty regular, with the arrow keys in an inverted T pattern which I like.

Must say that the kinesis looks interesting though. I wonder if I can move the esc key into the thumb pad.

I also like having non-standard keyboards to keep others off my workstation. They get frustrated with the layout and let me do the driving! It's like spitting on a piece of cake so that no-one else will eat it.

Oh and the captcha is always orange for me too.

You could try this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-11071-Keyboard/dp/B00167ZYMK/ref=sr_1_54?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1233587792&sr=1-54

http://www.npkdesign.com/projects/HomeOffice/Dell/Dell_keyboard_1.jpg

I really like that Dell keyboard. A lot.

Hah, I wrote about this some time ago -- especially this trend of removing the 'Insert' key. The worst thing is that when you ask for a keyboard with a "normal" layout, or not missing the 'Insert' key, you get strange looks.

Personally, I swear by the Targus AKB05AU. Proper laptop keys, in your standard layout.

+1 for the Das Keyboard.

I've been using one for a few months now and have been very pleased with it. It's quite speedy and comfortable to type on. The amount of force required on the keys is just right for me - not too mushy and not too stiff.

Obviously, the clicking noise could be a problem if you have an office mate or open workspace setup, but if you have private space or like-minded coworkers (mine describe the clatter as "epic").

Also worth mentioning is Metadot's *outstanding* customer service, which helps justify "luxury" priced items in my book. My keyboard showed up with the little raised home row "nubbin" on the K key instead of the J key. A seemingly small issue, but extremely annoying to any touch typist. Within minutes, I received a response on my RMA request and was given the choice of either receiving a completely new keyboard or receiving just the J and K keys with the correct home row nubbins. I requested the replacement keytops option so I could continue using the keyboard while I waited (and not have to ship anything back) and lo and behold, the new keys arrived in my mailbox within a couple of days. It may seem like a silly, trivial issue, but the point is that it definitely wasn't treated as such.

I personally own a TVS Pro, bought way back in 1995 and it is still not in mood to quite at all.

Although it has no frills attached and is not as sleek as the MS Natural but the robust mechanical keys still give me a high. I'd suggest to stick to the rough & tough tool to dig deep and long....... so long you might actually be bored of seeing the same one ;)

P.S. : This is a similar model to the classic IBM thing.

I never thought I could ever justify spending more than $100 on a keyboard BEFORE I got a Das Keyboard. After owning one for a few months, I must say that the tactile and audible feedback you get from the individual switches make typing an absolute joy. Definitely worth the price tag if you're a heavy duty typist.

>I use MS Natural 1.0 keyboards exclusively.

I use Korg TR6 keyboards exclusively.

(Did I mention I was a musician?).

I'm using what I think of as the best combination of ergonomic and good solid keyboard, the M15 Model-M, ergo keyboard.

They're kind of rare now, and have no number pad (no great loss), probably the only clicky ergo keyboard I've seen.

Bloody marvelous.

I have never understood why people need noise from the keyboard to know that they are typing. You know, when I'm typing, I'm typing because I want to, so I kind of know already that I'm typing. And never once, I have looked down, and to my surprise found my fingers typing wildly without me already knowing.

What I have understood though, is that some people want the rest of the office space to know that they are typing. They're hammering on the keys while muttering 'These letters want go away! I will type them so hard that they will survive even the longest power failure'.

And for the 'mangled' home-keys: I will never go back to an non-mangled one. The keys are easier to reach, and I never accidentally hit the insert key anymore.

I used my first keyboard TVS, for around 10 years, it served its life, it took a lot of poundings, lot of programming and gaming aggression. I bought a new keyboard becuase it went beyond repair, but still have it for old memories. I like a keyboard that is smooth, soft on the hands, and completly noise less. Till date NO other keybaord has come close to its performance of TVS keybaord yet. Better yet, if we could interact with computer without having to use the keyboard it would be great.

I really like my Cherry G80-3000.
It comes with Buckling springs like the IBM Model M for that loud "click-clack". Feels very good to hear what you type.

Mi home keyboard is an IBM Model M that I find to be the ultimate keyboard ever made.

I'm currently on an ebay-hunt to find a semi-cheap additional one to use at work since the cheap buckling-spring Model M-ripoff I have there I found when I moved in to my current apartment since some previous tenant had left it in the storage room and I doubt it will live that many years.

The apple keyboard is what i am using, and have been using for quite a while, I would not recommend it to any windows users though, it has no insert key, which I desperately need in windows to do ctrl+ins and shift+ins copying and pasting. If you can live without that or have gotten used to the whole extreme lower left corner combinations (they kill my thumb) You won't have many problems., the keyboard seriously rules.

Up until recently, I was using a keyboard bought circa 1996, which had a DIN connector plugged into a DIN -> PS/2 converter. The thing was built like a tank, and I loved it so.

Sadly, the space bar proved the achilles heel, and typing ALT+255 everytime I needed the space bar was proving just a little too tedious.

I agree with Jeff, the Microsoft Natural is a wonderful keyboard - I ruined one by spilling my drink on it, and immediately bought another one, even though it's quite an expensive keyboard... I'm really addicted to it now.

The only inconvenients :
- my friends sometimes have trouble using it whenever they have to use my computer (which is quite rare anyway)
- philibert is right when he says "Thou shall NOT change the function keys spacing". And the function keys spacing IS changed, on the MNK4000 - going from F1 to F6 then F7 to F12 - which is midly disturbing

An excellent keyboard nonetheless

I went through the same process of evaluating keyboards last summer. I ended up falling in love with the Dell Bluetooth:

http://blog.looplabel.net/2008/07/20/how-important-is-your-keyboard/

The regular Dell server keyboard is the same thing, only this one is wireless and Bluetooth, i.e. very useful for a laptop with built-in Bluetooth device.

My personal keyboard nirvana is the Logitech G15 (old model, with 18 extra keys). If you go for gaming, and not only programming, it's perfect

I'm actually a big fan of the Dell keyboard you pointed out a while back:

<a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000327.html">http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000327.html</a>

I had one thrust upon me at work and it's very satisfying to use, has just the right amount of "click", and whatnot - it's persuaded me to get one for home, too...

I too have a MS Natural 4000 and while I love the soft wrist supports the resistance of the keyboard results in very tired hands and bodybuilder forearms.

The keyboard on the Dell XPS M1530 laptop is my favorite; ultralight, great key spacing and I can achieve incredible typing speeds. Wish it was be available as a desktop keyboard.

Just have to second what Adam DiCarlo said. I bought a Goldtouch keyboard ages ago (about eight years I think). It has travelled with me from contract to contract, and has been thoroughly abused in that time. It is still working perfectly. Some of the key surfaces are getting a little shiny by now, but none of the decals is in any way worn; the response of the keys is as good as it ever was. It has survived three or four total dismantles for cleaning without a grumble.

Somehow, having the "odd" location of the home, end, page up/down keys under the left hand doesn't conflict at all with the customary right hand layout - I can still happily use a keyboard with them there as well. But like Jeff says it bugs the hell out of me when within that right hand cluster they are messed about with.

This keyboard has totally sorted the touch of RSI I feel in my left wrist when typing on a normal or a laptop keyboard, and although it was pricey I rate it the best money I have spent in my life.

Some interesting ergonomic keyboards for those in the UK:

http://www.ergonomics.co.uk/keyboards.html

> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126043

The Logitech Illuminated Keyboard offers an interesting home cluster layout (drops insert and makes delete double size), but it appears to have some disturbing matrixing issues, for fast typists!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8a5p8UuuLE

> Well, I can point to a few things that make for a very bad one

I disagree with all of them.

Use Ctrl-<some letter> instead of the navigation keys (arrows, home, end, page down, oh, and Alt-v for page up) and Ctrl-d for delete. Use something closer to your fingers than the F1-F12 keys for invoking your own functions. And if your editor won't let you, get a *real* editor, one that's designed for "typists first, programmers second" :P (smug factor mostly in jest. Mostly.)

It *really* boggles my mind how people who design editors don't see the sense in putting the most frequently used commands together in one big cluster. The most frequent are of course self-insert (key 'u' inserts "self", that is the character 'u'), and right after that are the various forms of navigation: back and forward by {character, word, line, paragraph, page}, and then deletion and cut/paste (and copy, but not quite as often). It makes sense that you want to use something close to the letter keys for those common commands. Ctrl-<letter> is the obvious choice (ctrl is easier to reach than alt).

Speaking of keyboards, I can recommend the Kinesis Ergo Elan out of personal experience. It puts a few more keys under your thumbs, which is a big win. Those are: space, enter, backspace, delete, ctrl, alt, home, end, page up, page down. It also splits the non-thumb key blob in two, one for each hand. The columns are vertically aligned (as opposed to a "normal" keyboard where e is slightly to the left of d etc.), and the keys are placed on a non-planar surface so as to better match the varying lengths of your fingers.

It also adds a second bottom row (corresponding to where ctrl, alt, space, alt, ctrl are on a "normal" keyboard), and puts the arrow keys and some punctuation there. An interesting feature is that the arrow keys are split in two groups, up/down for the right hand and left/right for the left hand. In my experience, this works fine.

If you're a numerical keypad addict, you may want to consider mousing with your left hand, since the keypad is embedded in the right-hand part of the keyboard. You adjust to left-mousing surprisingly fast. It's also a good idea if you use the Dvorak layout: then you have copy and paste accessible when you have one hand on the mouse.

One weakness I've found is that some games don't let you set up your own key bindings and really benefit from having all the keys accessible with one hand (among those are Starcraft and Warcraft III that I know of). Use another keyboard for those, or suck it up, or hack the game to enable shortcut keys.

Of course the real reason for not messing with the arrow keys is Tetris...

Anyway, my big no-no is wide (rather than tall) enter keys. Not only do they mean that I keep hitting # (or US \) instead of enter, but they also break the pattern of AltGr+; = acute accent on next letter, AltGr+' = circumflex, AltGr+# = grave.

> I'm getting this. I would prefer if it were split but i love that you can put the numpad on the left. It's also back lit. I don't care for it's design but it's not terrible.

The fact that you can move the numpad is a great feature of the Sidewinder X6 .. hires image here

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/images/press/2008/08-20SideWinder_lg.jpg

Best keyboard ever; albeit VERY pricey, Maltron Ergonomic 3D: handbuilt with Cherry MX Switches <http://www.maltron.com/maltron-kbd-dual.html>, used only for a couple of hours but while I save up for one I use the,

2nd best keyboard ever: Kinesis Advantage, same form factor as the Maltron but substantially cheaper <http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/advantage.htm>, used for 3 years, 50 hours a week at the office without a hiccup

3rd best keyboard ever: Logitech Wave, kills the MS naturals for key feel & reliability, and price, used at home, ~20 hours a week for about 9 months, the next best thing to the Kinesis (at 1/4 the price in Oz) - I have 'broken' 3 MS Natural keyboards over the years, each rarely lasting more than 12 months.

Have a Great day!
pete.

This MS "Digital Media 3000" keyboard is interesting

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/images/press/2008/03-11DMK3000_lg.jpg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109070

touch typing since 1982. two months on happy hacking pro 2 - black with blank keys) seems like final stop in search of The Holy Keyboard. simply recommended.

I used to have the Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000. I've been looking at both of these model keyboards as a replacement for my Logitech Dinovo Edge. I'm going to be building a media center style pc and will be using the dinovo edge keyboard. I was looking at these two keyboards, Logitech Wave Pro and the Logitech Ultra-thin Illuminated Keyboard.

BTW, in case anyone cares, I guess my next ergonomic keyboard will be this one :-D

http://www.smartfishtechnologies.com/protected/products_keyboard.php

Why? It is ergonomically shaped; it has those useless numpad and home key cluster... well, I guess you can't have it all.

But there is something new about it no keyboard ever had before. RSI scientists found out that it doesn't really matter what keyboard you use, you can get RSI on *EVERY* keyboard, no matter how it is shaped! RSI is caused by repetitive movements and of course you are always doing the same finger moves on your keyboard, regardless of its shape.

Even the best bend, split, best curved, etc. keyboard causes you to permanently have the same hand positions and performing the same finger movements. But what can be done about it? Smartfish Technologies came up with an interesting idea. Why not building a keyboard that dynamically changes? The keyboard can change in angle and it can change in how far the split parts are apart of each other. However, it's not the user that has to make changes here. Tiny motors are build into the keyboard and the driver makes sure the keyboard regularly slightly "changes" the key positions. It doesn't make big changes over night (your fingers wouldn't find the keys any longer, your typing speed would suck). Instead it slowly makes these changes in very tiny steps while you are typing. That way the movements of your fingers vary every couple of weeks, a much better RSI prevention than anything else according to scientists.

Also the driver records your average typing speed for every new keyboard position. After some time it learns with which layout you seem to get best typing results. It will still slightly modify its parameter over the time, but always "around" the positions that seems to give you best typing speed.

There is no keyboard in existence as high-quality as the Cherry G80-3000. Still in production, but the one I use is a whopping 18 years old. No signs of aging.

What's also important: Even for modern standards, the keys press down without much force. Activation is very predictable and reliable---If I slip and mistype, I already know if the wrong keypress was registered or not, even without looking at the screen.

On my main machine, I won't be having any other keyboard.

Don't waste your time with the Apple keyboard. It looks great, has a fine layout, but feels absolutely terrible. Brings back memories of the old PCjr chiclet keyboard... :-(

I'm with Paul Irwin et al above: the Home key cluster pictured is superior, if you can get used to it, which is easy.

1. You don't hit Insert by mistake
3. Delete is easier to hit, as befitting an important key
2. Home/End at left/right make more sense

I'm with Paul Irwin et al above: the Home key cluster pictured is superior, if you can get used to it, which is easy.

Benefits:
1. You don't hit Insert by mistake
2. Delete is easier to hit, as befitting an important key
3. Home/End at left/right make more sense

At home I use a keyboard that costs a whole € 3 (yes, three euros). It works well.

it's funny because I happened to look at a keyboard post on SO yesterday and I saw Jeff had edited almost every answer and I figured a blog post would be coming soon.

Nice post. I've been using the same Logitech keyboard for just about 5 years now and I'm pretty amazed that it's survived. It's getting pretty gross, but it keeps on going.

My one gripe is that it violates the third keyboard commandment. I have to turn on the F-lock every freaking time I boot my computer. I remember when I first put my computer together and couldn't figure out how to get into the BIOS and finally figured out that it was that stupid, stupid F-lock. (I'd never had a keyboard with one before.) It's gotten to the point where I just turn it on fairly automatically when I boot up, but it's just...ugh. This post makes me want a new keyboard.

#1 Thou Shalt Not Mangle The Home Key Cluster
This is the one thing I really hate about my Logitech keyboard, I bought a wireless desktop laser years ago and I'm still not used to it. That's why I got a standard HP keyboard from work instead.
Also as a former MacBook Pro owner I must agree with Brian, the Apple keyboard looks nice but it's just not any good. It feels awful and your hands can never really rest while using it.

4. Thou Shalt Put Thine BackSlash Where It Belongs - QWERTY line, 1.5 keys wide, above Enter, below Backspace. Thou Shalt Not put it in wierd places, like the right of the ASDF line (with a 2-line enter) or between left-shift and Z (WTF?).

I had an HP-Compaq laptop with the good backslash, and then the keyboard was stuck. HP replaced the keyboard - and the new one has the ASDF-line backslash! Merde!

5. Thou Shalt Not Put Thine Blasted fn-keys in the bottom-left corner, where only Ctrl should be allowed to dwell. You hear that, Lenovo?

serves you right for being a keyboard commando :-D

Another person here who's never used the function keys. vi forever!

I would have to say the best keyboard I ever used was on the Apollo Computer workstations.

- Built in trackpad to the right of the numeric keypad if you didn't want to reach for the mouse

- Separate keys to the left of the main keyboard for:

-- copy
-- cut
-- paste
-- find/search
-- beginning of line / end of line
-- top of screen / bottom of screen
-- run command
-- start editor (pad)
-- and a bunch more

Unfortunately, 5 minutes of googling fails to find a picture on der Internetten.

I use a Microsoft Natural Multimedia keyboard at home (the 4000 wasn't around when I bought this one) and a 4000 at work. I much prefer the way the keys press on my home keyboard, but overall, prefer the 4000.

I dislike the spacebar on the 4000 - it took a couple of weeks for me to be able to press the spacebar normally with my right thumb - it would sort of go halfway and stick, so I'd have to hit it further in. It's loosened up over time though, thankfully!

I would love to get the 4000 at home, but can't justify it, really; the current keyboard has done me for the last oooh, 8 years or so (I forget exactly how long, though) and it's still going strong. So, if it ain't broke, I'm not going to fix it!

Dude. It's a keyboard, they're keyboards... :/ - just use one, it doesn't need the analysis.

Someone else mentioned it, but I'd also like to mention the IBM (now Lenovo) "UltraNAV"

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009APTK/ref=cm_rdp_product

It is essentially a full size USB version of the wonderful ThinkPad keyboard, with both a trackpoint (nipple) in the middle of the keyboard and a touchpad below it. This is really nice if you're like me and have wrist pain from using a mouse. (Mice are an RSI/ergonomic disaster, IMHO, simultaneously requiring fine motor control and application of muscle to constantly move your wrist or whole arm around the desk...)

The MS "natural" keyboards are *so* close to being perfect, I hated myself for hating them after using them a bit. They completely SCREWED it with the '6' key!!!

When I was taught to type at junior high, I learned to press the 6 key with my left hand's index. The excercises' book we were using contained an intro on theory of ergonomic usage of the keyboard, speed issues and the like: it explained you shouldn't use any single finger for more than 2 keys in a row for this forces your hand (plus wrist) to stretch in a direction, taking you out of the home row and thus slowing you down when typing.

So your left little finger presses 2 keys (1 and the one on its left) on the number row, each other finger presses just one and then index presses '4' and '5' - your right hand's presses '6' and '7', little one presses '0' and the one(s) on its right.

I don't like computer keyboards for forcing my right hand's little finger to be used for 3 (sometimes 4!!) keys, but since I delete scarcely (nor are interrogation/exclamation marks used all that ofthen) it's not big deal.

What is a complete MORTAL SIN is putting the 6 key on the left hand size, either forcing me to use my left's index in a way it's not supposed to (nor I have trained to do) or forcing my right hand to go jumping all the time I want to use it.

As I said, after a while using them, I HATED THEM so deeply I returned to a normal, "flat" keyboard and have not had desires to go back ever since.

function keys when programming. probably something to do with using vim but it shows that the keyboard is not really good for programming but good for a particular piece of software

Jeff,
I'm so glad you recommended the Natural 4000! I have a budding RSI and decided I needed an ergo keyboard. I picked one up, but I haven't decided if I really like it yet or not. I know it sounds odd, but it actually allays some of my anxiety about the transition to hear that you like the 4000.
My one gripe, though, is that there is an F-Lock key at all. I expect it to be F12. It's going to take some getting used to.

> I use Korg TR6 keyboards exclusively.
> (Did I mention I was a musician?).

I'd love to see an ergonomic version of that...

Only 3 years old? They just don't make them like they used to. I have 2 of the original Microsoft Natural keyboards (not that crappy Elite that I suspect is the source of that mangled arrow cluster above) that I've been using since late 1996 or early 1997.

Combine that with my beloved Logitech Trackman Marble FX trackbals located *in front of* my keyboards and thus oriented sideways, and it keeps most people away from my computers.

> http://www.npkdesign.com/projects/HomeOffice/Dell/Dell_keyboard_1.jpg
> I really like that Dell keyboard. A lot.

Really? Here's what I don't like about it:

1. The keys go right up to the edges (presumably to cut costs). There's no room for resting your fingers on the board but off the keys.

2. The Print Screen/Scroll Lock/Break keys are moved out of reach to make room for the Dell logo. Try doing Alt-PrntScrn with one hand now.

3. The whole keyboard is too light (again, probably cost-cutting) and the keys a bit spongy (as are many these days, but this one more so).

4. The bump on the bottom with the extended keys. I can sort of see the usefulness of the larger space bar, but combined with #1 and #3 this causes a big problem: it's nearly impossible to use a standard rectangular wrist rest and not have the keyboard move around.

Nice blog entry.

All Hail to the classic IBM Mod. M. keyboard with its solid click. They just don't make them like that anymore. My old SGI Irix workstation keyboard is a nice 2nd. I never got to like the Microsoft - the layout gives me a sort of horizontal vertigo.

I've got a wonderful keyboard for my work desktop. Goes to every job with me and have never seen another like it - a real pity because it's getting old and fragile, and it's absolutely brilliant for me.

The key action is good, but nothing that unusual. It's got a big wrist rest built in which is nice, but nothing unusual.

Two things are unusual though - it's got a second set of cursor keys next to the left ctrl/shift keys - amazingly useful when you get used to them. And the absolute decider, the show-stopper for anything else for me - it has a built-in trackpad positioned like a laptop pad, centrally under the space bar. Once I got used to a trackpad, I found it _far_ quicker for getting around a GUI - just a quick move with the thumb without having to move from the keyboard and no less precise.

That's not why I need it though. I get really nasty pains in my right shoulder if I use a mouse all day for more than a few days at a time - try reaching across for the mouse and just feel the strain in your shoulder. Well, that sets me off and keeps me awake at night in pain.

I've got two, but they're both ratty by now. If I can't find another in the next few years, I suspect I'll be on laptops permanently on health grounds. Not ideal.

Keyboard manufacturers of the world - _please_, make a proper desktop keyboard with a trackpad or similar in the middle, just like on a laptop. I will easily pay twice what I'd pay for any other keyboard for one, and would probably get a couple as insurance.

Again Goldtouch

I love their adjustability. I am on #3 in 10 years.

#1 was a PS2, used at work for 7 years and only retired when I went USB.
#2 was also PS2, used at home until a coffee incident wiped it out.

#3 is the USB one. They had the cheek to re-layout the keypad between the first and third I got. That messed me up for a while. The stuff they'd moved to left handedness went back to the right. Placement is key for efficiency, I hate keyboard swapping, it slows you down so much.

Along with the keyboard, you need a good shelf...

Kinesis Advantage Pro. Give yourself a couple weeks to adjust, and then you'll fly.

Learn vim, install viemu if you can't live without visual studio.

Same here. Coming from a really heavy, rock solid Marquardt ergonomic keyboard (http://www.tifaq.org/archive/images/marquardt.jpg), which I picked up at some electronics shop for an unbelievable low price in ~1995, I've been using M$ natural keyboards all the way since then. (Still using the PS/2 models at home while my supply lasts)

At work, I'm using a Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 since 3 weeks (still getting used to, keys seem to be sticky and I don't like the soft "rubber mat" touch too much) and a Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 for on site work using my laptop.

ok i get why you blame anders.. you do a lot of c# right?

why do you blame kernighan and ritchie? i recall a podcast where you said you don't know C. the general vibe of blog has always suggested to me that you're not a unix user either.. is that wrong?

Let me put in yet another vote for the Kinesis Advantage.

I still have a MS Natural 4000 collecting dust now, although I swore by it for years.

I can type faster and more confidently with the Kinesis and don't have to pull the overtype button out of my keyboard. The layout is fantastic. Moving the control, alt, backspace, delete, enter and space in the middle for your thumbs and the arrow keys below the letters just makes sense.

Losing the numeric keypad also moves your hand closer to your mouse.

BTW Left or Right handed, the Evoluent Vertical mouse is amazingly comfortably.

The Kinesis keyboard does take a little time a few days before you will be comfortable with it, and it is NOT for hunt and peck typists.

The Evoluent Mouse is comfortable very quickly.

They are absolutely worthwhile investments like a nice large monitor they really do improve your experience while driving your computer.

The Microsoft Natural Keyboard, the one, the only, the original.

It's the best thing Microsoft has ever put their name on. All the newer imitators suck, and I couldn't agree more with Jeff's list.

I also agree with the guy who begged someone to make a clone with clicky keys. I actually had one once, and might still have it in a closet somewhere. It was great, except the idiot who designed the clone put the damn 6 on the wrong side of the split, and it drove me up the wall. If somebody would re-release that, except with the 6 on the correct side, I'd buy five of them right now, just as insurance for the future, since Microsoft will never re-release the best keyboard they ever made.

They can't just leave it alone. They have to keep reinventing it and adding stupid crap to it.

I might pick up one of the ones Jeff was blathering about just to try though. Like the other guy said, these things are getting harder and harder to find, and while they last for a very long time, they don't last forever.

The Model M is a great keyboard too. If only it were ergo. I just can't hammer away at a straight keyboard anymore without wrist pain. If they made a blank faced Das Keyboard in a split format, it would be better than coming home to find three gorgeous naked women in my bed.

I use my Four Tee Keyboard (&lt;a href="http://uniquesoftware.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!5F75B672448A111D!125.entry"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;) because I want a touch-typing keyboard with a maximum key distance of 2.

Ttenk
Feb. 4, 2009

@dude,
learn how to read a joke.

Yeah, I know the Kinesis Contour Keyboard breaks rule #1 and rule #2. And it's expensive. But I bought mine TEN YEARS AGO and it's still going strong. The insulation started wearing off on the original PC-XT cord so I sent it in and they replaced it with a PS/2 cord.

I even spilled stew on it once -- immediately unplugged it and rinsed it out in the sink, several times, let it dry for a week, and the 3 key was a bit sticky but it worked itself out.

The new Apple keyboard is pretty awesome. Food, dirt, and dust don't get stuck in it! Unlike with my current keyboard, which is filled with dandruff, cat hair, and crumbs, which are not easy to get out at all.

Sadly, the new Apple keyboard also remapped the function keys from what they used to be and also from what windows users are accustomed to, leaving only F5 and F6 (and non-standard F13, F14, and F15) without a function unless you customize it to be otherwise.

I have never seen a keyboard so sturdy, reliable and longlasting as this -

http://www.tvs-e.com/productpage.asp?prodname=tvs-gold-black-keyboard-usb.asp

I don't know if it is available outside India. It is a bit heavy and occupies more desk space. It has no ergonomic layout and it is a bit heavy. But I have seen it last over 10 years with no problems. The keystroke has a very distinct sound, its easy on the fingers. It doesn't tire out the fingers as easily as ordinary rubber membrane keyboards. As far as I know, a seller once told me that it has springs on the keys instead of rubber which gives it longer life. I also am not sure how water resistant it is.

And it has a standard layout for the Home key cluster, function and arrow keys :-)

It is a bit on the costly side though.

Cherry G80-3000. 14 years old, no windows keys. Still good as on the first day. Will get a bunch of "Das Keyboard" to try them out; a shame that they don't sell the 105 key variants in the U.S.

Ive got an ms natural at work - didnt know what it was until now

for me its lovely and when I go home to my normal bargain basement one I really miss it

everyone I work with though hates it

Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000

>Mouses
Well

nthing the Goldtouch recommendation.

I've been using mine for about 8 years now, and have taken it with me from job to job.

The Microsoft "Natural" keyboards are better than the standard straight keyboard layout, but are sort of a "one size fits all" ergonomic solution. If you really want to avoid RSI, you want a keyboard where you can adjust both the split angle and the tilt. The other advantage of the Goldtouch is that it doesn't have the keypad, which makes the distance to the mouse shorter. The narrow width of the keyboard reduces the amount of strain that the shoulder takes when going back and forth between mouse and keyboard. I ditched my old Microsoft Natural because I was getting shoulder problems in my right shoulder.

Mucking with the home key cluster sucks, but you quickly get used to it. On the other hand, messing with the Enter key and moving the backslash is totally unexcusable (especially if you work on Windows all day). I HATE the fat enter key layout.

@Michael:
The "Microsoft Natural Keyboard" actually **has the 6 key on the WRONG side**!!

Unless, of course, you never took typing lessons so never learned you're supposed to hit it with your right-hand index finger. As another posted said, probably only the 2-fingered typists and Bill himself know the reason for this, for a touch-typist (which I proud myself to be) this is an instant killer.

I didn't know there were clones with it on the correct (right) side, if you can post me links to get them I'd buy 3 immediately!

http://typematrix.com/

And the home key cluster is useless when using one of true text editor : vi and emacs.

I am an Apple retailer and I use the Unicomp model M keyboard. Anything else feels like pushing your fingers into oatmeal.

For some detailed analysis of these keyboards, see:

&#8226; Review Of Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard
http://xahlee.org/emacs/ms_keyboard/ms_natural_keyboard.html

&#8226; A Review of The Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000
http://xahlee.org/emacs/ms_keyboard/ms_natural_keyboard_4000.html

and

&#8226; Computer Keyboards Gallery
http://xahlee.org/emacs/keyboards.html

That's odd, I also have a Natural 4000, and it's semi-colon has also all but died.

Am I the only one who looks at a mac keyboard and thinks of this?

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/sinclair_zx-spectrum_3-4_2_hr_s.jpg

We've talked about it before via email - I'm the same ... the Ergo 4000 is my holy grail of keyboards as well. Have them at home, have them at work, and bring them with when I travel. Serious addiction level.

I used to have an old Model M "ergonomic" keyboard, where "ergonomic" meant that a ball joint held the two halves of the keyboard together, and each side had it's own leg stands. The beauty of the board was that you could unscrew the ball joint and set each half of the board as far apart as you wanted, making for the most perfect ergonomic experience. I'd give my liver to have another one.

I mostly use a Nostromo n52 gaming keypad at work (qualification: I am not a programmer. I am a graphic designer) since a host of useful keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop and InDesign are awkward to use with one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse. I bind the ones I use the most to individual keys on the n52. This alone shaved about an hour off of layout time for large projects.

I live the MS Natural Keyboard Elite.
yes, the one with the different arrow keys.

I hope Microsoft never discontinues them

that was "I like the MS Natural Keyboard Elite", not "live", obviously :P

The double sized Delete is a killer for programming.

Myself (and other coders here) insist on the unmangled Insert/Delete keys. Mainly used for quick cut and paste of blocks of code.

Shift-Downarrow to highlight one or more lines of code. Tap delete (with Shift still down) to cut. Up arrow to the insert point and Shift-Insert to paste.

F Lock isn't so much of an issue, and I can see how for the average user, seeing the Help/Undo/etc is more helpful than F1 F2 etc.

Love the layout on the original Happy Hacking Keyboard. Control and escape are were vi expects them. The current version, the Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2, has a fn key that bring back double caps-lock hell (fn + tab = caps lock, and there is some other strange caps-lock like mode that I manage to invoke all the time). Unfortunately my left hand and fingers started hurting after about a year of use. Just got a Kinesis Freedom and if my fingers cannot adjust then I am checking out a Cherry G84-4100.

Thou shalt not add Power/Sleep/Wake Up keys between cursor keys and home key cluster, nor remove the gap between these two clusters.

I like the model M two color key layout so much that i bought two identical keyboards, but one black and the other white. I replaced the keys and made one in model M style, the other being its negative.

I'm normally a bit of a purist when it comes to being anti-Microsoft. However, I just happened to be having issues with my keyboard when you posted this, and you convinced me to go try the Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000. Damn! It really is a huge improvement over my previous Belkin. Typing on it makes me feel like I'm in a Mercedes -- it's so comfortable and solid...

As a special bonus, the media keys on the board worked just fine with vanilla KDE 4, which I was *not* expecting.

Kinesis contoured saved my hands -- and my career. I now have *five*. I take my USB version on airplanes...

This is a model M. One day, i'll replace my computer with something that doesn't have PS/2. No idea what i'll do then. Ideal keyboard? Nothing that xmodmap can't fix. So my control key is next to the 'A'. And the caps lock is out of the way. Haven't remapped the escape key to just above the tab. That's because something has to go out into west wazzoo land. I've got so many keys remapped that they may as well be unlabeled. They're mostly labeled wrong.

My favorite keybord is Apple's ADB "standard" keyboard. Nothing needs to be remapped. Unfortunately, my old Mac isn't working at the moment. Never did get it on ethernet. Maybe soon.

My keyboard is a Microsoft Internet Keyboard and it's still in a pretty good shape because unlike Jeff I don't _rape_ the keyboard.

I recently tried the Apple Keyboard at an Apple Store, on my laptop (GNU/Linux). I didn't liked it. Not one bit.

I used to love Microsoft Natural keyboards... eventually two of them broke and I decided to get a new one. That's when it all went wrong.

I got a version of keyboard that didn't have the "<>|" button... and believe me, I tried finding it. I ended up using Alt+numpad for typing <>| (and sometimes just copy/paste) but it used to slow down coding so much I ended up throwing the keyboard away.

But after reading the comments I've got the hots for Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 and Kinesis Advantage.

COOL

Keyboard dead after three years? LOL! IBM made keyboards 25 years ago that still work fine today!

I'd never buy an MS keyboard or mouse anyway. Logitech is the only one I'll rely on.

Don't get a keyboard that's loud. I can't stand it when I hear people type when I am trying to code. For the guy who has one since 1999, I'd get so annoyed as those keyboards were the loudest. That's gay to have a keyboard like that just to think you're cool. Think about your collegues...keep it quiet.

"I blame Kernighan, Ritchie and Anders, in that order."

That fragment sucks; it's inconsistent. It should either read, "I blame Kernighan, Ritchie and Hejlsberg" or "I blame Brian, Dennis and Anders".

Aside from that, and if we ignore the opinions, a surprisingly bullshit-free post for a change.

Note that the "Das Keyboard" does not use buckling spring keys, but Cherry MX contacts. Therefore it's nothing else than an expensive re-branded version of the Cherry G80-3000 (the clicky variant, G80-3000LSCEU-0). Also, Cherry keyboards have the labels not printed on the keys, but "engraved" with laser -- so those keys won't get blank.

However, beware of the non-clicky versions of the G80 (or, even worse, the G81- and G83-Series of Cherry keyboards). They're missing the precise input feedback.

I am a cherry g80-3000 fan as well. Das Keyboard is just clever marketing, with a g80-3000. And Henning is right, only the clicky ones are really really good.

I love my model M but at my job I can hear the guy a few cubes over breathing because it is so quite. To get my click needs fulfilled I use an old Windows utility called KeyTick to simulate different sounds through headphones when keys are pressed.

It [keytick] used to be a PC Magazine or Windows Mag utility that they now only offer for paid download but it was once part of their utility CD so you can find it all over the place for free download (google KeyTick.zip).

The utility rocks; really helps me since I mostly touch type and usually type one application while looking at another monitor or piece of paper (HTML Geek); another plus is that if you cannot use a good click keyboard at home because it bothers others; you can always put a pair of headphones on and fire up keytick to get all your clickity goodness.

I tried Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000, but did not like it... some keys fail to work or hard to press ( particularly N key and ~), the space bar basically required a hard slam down to work.

+1 for the MS 4000! I've never been a keyboard aficionado, but I will have to say that after I bought the 4000 a year or so ago, I haven't looked back. I love the leather(ish) wrist pads and the way the keyboard angles down away from you (instead of towards you) with the included attachment. I was skeptical at first, but after giving it a shot I realized how much more comfortable this typing position was.

Also, I just noticed that newegg has a MS keyboard/mouse bundle called the FA6-00010 that supposedly includes the 4000 for less $$ than the retail 4000 by itself. Customer comments have confirmed that the included keyboard is indeed the 4000. If anyone is in the market for the MS 4000, check this link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109161

why do so many keyboards use a different mechanism for the space bar? I've found many keyboards I liked but the space bar was tacky, sounded different, action was different.

> 4. Thou Shalt Put Thine BackSlash Where It Belongs - QWERTY line, 1.5 keys wide, above Enter, below Backspace. Thou Shalt Not put it in wierd places, like the right of the ASDF line (with a 2-line enter) or between left-shift and Z (WTF?).

Amen, brother! Most 'weird places' I see it are below-Enter, but it's still oh-so-wrong. I have to peer carefully at anyone's keyboard I find myself using, because it seems like mainstream machines are ALL built that way these days. (not saying they really are, but it certainly feels like it)

Realforce is the most addictive for me due to its special mechanism.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%9D%B1%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC-ML0100-REALFORCE101/dp/B000EQHU5I/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1226221940&sr=8-5

I had to put both my original Model M and it's modern cousin, the Unicomp Customizer 104, into storage recently. Not because I don't love them anymore, but because I can no longer find wrist-rests that aren't goo-filled.

So I went with a Lenovo Enhanced Performance USB keyboard that comes with a built-in rubberized palm rest. It was the only one I could find that had the correct layout & keyspacing that also came with a wrist-rest.

I tried a couple of the Microsoft & Logitech keyboards at the local big-box store, but they all either had a cheap feel to them, or had something wrong with their layout.

Since the subject of the MS Ergo 4000 has come up again, I thought I'd mention that I recently posted a technique for key remapping on the really old "original" discussion about that keyboard. Specifically, I forced the Application Key to act like a Right-WinKey, since they left off the latter, and I don't need the former.

That thread is here:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000400.html

My post is labeled "Mike-o-Matic on February 18, 2009 07:50 PM", or just look toward the bottom.

If this is a crosspost (I wasn't sure if it technically was), then I offer my apologies!

Regards,
Mike

WOW, I was able to get hold of the Microsoft version, the one though that mangles the home key area, etc. I couldn't believe how it showed my typing flaws. I not even going to comment further since it exposed my bad typing and wrong fingers. There is a LEARNING curve!

I used to love my Microsoft natural keyboards (I've had three different incarnations). I now have the wired Apple keyboard and that has defeated the Compaq-softkey and MS keyboards as my favorite. Not only is it a pleasure to type on, but the keycaps are removable, making my Dvorak switch process that much easier: http://faithfulgeek.tumblr.com/post/51230401/dvorak-conversion-process-complete.

I do still have the IBM M-model super-spring edition sitting around somewhere. I'm tempted to pull it out and try it now, but I don't think I have a machine with PS/2 to plug it into!

Thou shalt not reorder the Fxn keys either.

three groups of four == established
four groups of three == change for no good reason

I cannot put into words the depth of my loathing for the Microsoft Natural 4000. I bought it because I need an ergo and it was the only wireles one in the Best Buy at the time, but it has been nothing but suffering for me, from the gumdrop-sticky resistance of the keys that makes my hands ache after a single paragraph to the wobbly spacebar that won't register anything but a slam dead center and forces me to backspace and insert the space after the fact one time in five.

I need an ergo keybaord, but I need one that doesn't cause me transpose letters and develop RSI! Is there one like this with way less stickiness?

http://www.max-sky.com

Another vote for the BTC 6100:

http://www.btc.com.tw/english/2-7-25keyboard.htm

- quality scissor keys for great feel
- no pointless number pad (mouse is closer to body)
- some useful multimedia keys (especially a sleep button)
- cheap

Now if only someone would make an ergo / split board with scissor keys.

Inside the World's Greatest Keyboard

From the satisfying click of its keys to its no-nonsense layout and solid steel underpinnings, IBM's 24-year-old Model M is the standard by which all other keyboards must be judged.

http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,147939/printable.html