Shura is $169.
Have you noticed something similar? Other than that they feel really nice and I like them a lot.
TEX’s older method is common to a lot of keyboard manufacturers and is prone to wear like you’ve seen. By contrast double-shot keys will get shiny, but their legends will always be legible no matter how many years they’re used.
https://archisite.co.jp/products/archiss/quattro/tkl-jp/
, for ~ 15000 円 = $100.
Also, on a personal note, having a 65% keyboard now for 3 years, I'll go back to a 75% keyboard. I think functions keys and arrows are used way too frequently to spend your time using shortcuts. Also sometimes it becomes a hell of shortcuts in shortcuts.
I bought a mechanical keyboard (ErgoDox EZ) for more than $300 after import taxes and it wasn't remarkably better than anything else. I don't use it nowadays, I just use "classic" models from either Logitech or Microsoft (or even a lower-status brand) for the equivalent of ~$13-$17 a pop. I bought several at once but they've never broken so far so I just have a few in storage.
P.S. I had problems with wrist pain and stuff before I bought the ErgoDox which was one of the reasons I bought it. It only got worse after I started using it and the only thing that helped was voice coding and not using a keyboard for some time. After that I started using these bland, uninteresting keyboards and I've never really had the same issues again.
RealForce (the keyboard brand from Topre) now have their own line of capacitive keyboards, but a while back HHKB was _the_ capacitive keyboard, or at least around the people I know.
Which makes it very interesting that this new model is using Cherry-type linear switches instead of Topre.
having gone through heaps of MX-based
boards, I always return to topre
Have you compared/contrasted Topre switches vs. higher-end MX-compatible switches?Actual CherryMX branded switches are not great in my experience. I find Gateron's factory-lubed MX compatible switches to be excellent, and they are considered (I think?) middle-tier.
But I have never tried "exotic" or "high-end" MX-compat switches, nor have I tried Topre. I would love a comparison.
I will say that under Windows, or when playing games, the layout becomes problematic... but I use another keyboard for gaming anyway. As always, YMMV.
I have a few boards with the HHKB layout, only a couple of which are HHKBs. For me the layout is nearly perfect, just wish I could have it in my laptops too.
The HHKB was inspired by the original Macintosh keyboard which doesn't have arrow keys at all (not even via a Fn key): https://deskthority.net/wiki/Apple_M0110
But I agree with your point about shortcuts, and I later switched to full-size ergonomic keyboards due to RSI and for Windows use, and now despise keys being relegated to Fn combinations.
I guess what you don't like is (excessive) key combos or "chords".
I've been using a 65% keyboard for a few years now and I don't miss the function keys one bit, but I do occasionally miss the arrow keys. A lot of UIs are built with the assumption that the arrow keys actually exist and aren't just "arrow commands" that might be bound to other key combos. It's just awkward then if they want you to press "Shift-Left", for example, which is I guess what you call "shortcuts in shortcuts".
Not sure how they got traction at the start because the main selling point was the weird layout and they didn't have topre switches yet.
This one doesn't have topre either. It still sounds great, but if I wanted MX switches and a trackpoint, I'd go for a Tex shinobi. Shortcut hell is a problem indeed, I want to Alt+F4 with one hand and on a 60% that's impossible to implement without something like spaceFN, which again has to be turned off for gaming.
65% keyboards tend to put those shortcuts where you have to use a pinky finger to access those keys.
Whereas, keyboards much smaller than ~60% tend to use thumbs instead to access those keys, and put a big emphasis on reducing movement from home row & bringing the full functionality of the keyboard to within reach of the hands there.
The keyboards which make more use of layers put the layer keys in a nicer spot than those 60% keyboards.
and could use it to this day I guess. Like carpenter may use proven tools then you can be accustomed to the feeling and layout of the tool you use everyday. I still have my first hhkb which I bought almost 10 years ago, works like on day one, even I am usually using newer hhkb wireless model these days. If I am not mistaken before buying first model I read article about someone who had similar experience like I now.
https://hhkeyboard.us/blog/the-mystery-behind-the-ctrl-key-a...
I am excited for the upcoming release of the dygma raise 2 because it has integrated 60 degree tenting in addition to being split. It has a module system as well which will hopefully offer trackpoint. https://dygma.com/pages/dygma-raise-2
I am happy using the NuPhy Air v2 as my portable keyboard. I love the low profile- not for looks, but for better ergonomics and portability. No track point though!
They also can't easily fix the first issue, because they expect their modules to be attached at certain places and the trackpoint should be way up there.
Maybe I'm just prejudiced from my thinkpad keyboards. Haven't used an ergonomic or split keyboard yet, no clue if this would make a difference on how to use a trackpoint.
But personally I use mouse _really_ rarely because of my keyboard centric workflow (DWM, Neovim & Vimium).
- the harder you push, the faster the mouse goes.
- 360 (or whatever the effective number of directions you can push with a finger) is also much richer than 4
You can't replicate it with binary down/up buttons, so QMK-like support isn't a good replacement.
(at least for the first one you could have a newer generation of keyboards that have "analogue" buttons the track more than 2 positions)
I like it more than the conventional PC keyboard layout, it makes Esc and Ctrl more easy to access, and means you can press Backspace without having to stretch your pinky as far.
Now, if only there was a track-pad or -ball
Some programming languages type constants in UPPER_SNAKE_CASE. -- The same rationale applies: it's easy to understand why someone would prefer to avoid having to hold a modifier key for that. -- I quite like Caps Word as an improvement on CapsLock https://docs.qmk.fm/#/feature_caps_word
Though, I'd agree that CapsLock isn't important enough to put where it is on a traditional keyboard. (Nor does the spacebar need to be 6 keys wide..).
First time I have ever used caps-lock for it's intended purpose. It's surprisingly liberating. I RECOMMEND GIVING IT A GO, IT'S LIKE THERAPY. Maybe we should go in the opposite direction and add even more dedicated keys for all forms of cringe-mode typing - leetspeak, texting, emoji-poisoned, valley-girl, German etc.
GPT powered politeness toggle maybe?
I took the plunge when I switched to a job where we worked on windows instead of macOS and got a keyChron as my daily driver instead of a Magic Keyboard.
I had good memories of clicking away on an old IBM as a kid in the 90s so I thought I’d enjoy a “real” keyboard.
I don’t dislike my low profile keyChron. But even after a year and a half it still feels tall and I mistype a lot. I don’t think a Mac keyboard works well on windows so I also don’t want to connect my Magic Keyboard to my work PC.
But even after a year and a half it
still feels tall and I mistype a lot.
I had a Keychron K3 and I found the default keycaps to have a weird shape ("profile" in keyboard lingo)This was resolved by getting a new set of keycaps: https://www.keychron.com/collections/keychron-low-profile-ke...
...at which point I found it to be an excellent typing experience! However...
feels tall
There are low profile models from Logitech and others but I don't know that their height would be different enough to matter.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6WZNKzHzXc
Maybe the Corsair A100? That looks like it uses unique laptop-style switches.
Doubt if any of the keyboard-otakus will go for this esp. given the sheer variety of MX switches now.
I had the same problem building my own custom keyboard. In the end, I opted to redesign the layout to have one key worth of space dedicated to the trackpoint. I was able to do this because I can learn a completely new layout on a whim, but if you want to produce a keyboard for mass market then I see how this could be a deal breaker.
Only black-on-black keycaps are very lame, though. They don't offer any other ones, and you cannot just buy any other ones, gotta accommodate that TrackPoint.
Also US-only, meh.
It's pretty close to full size, but very slim and light weight.
It's mushy for a proper desktop keyboard, the TrackPoint is too flat and requires a lot of force to use (just like in the recent laptops) and worst of all, dust, crumbs and dirt easily get under the keys and make them not register unless you press hard.
It’s solid. Not quite to my taste for primary keyboard usage but not bad.
One thing to watch for is that many have same size modifier keys as letter keys, which I find not ideal.
But I refuse to buy a black HHKB.