Mastodawn

Britt Coxon Jan 4, 2023

Contemplating spending decent money on a computer keyboard. I need to know what a good keyboard is. Like, not too clacky, pleasing to type with. Maybe programmable lights. Is there a keyboard showroom? Or do I need to find my way to keyboard nerd YouTube? Are you a keyboard nerd?

Dave Bulmer Jan 4, 2023

@brittcoxon No, but I know a man who is.

@Xander, what's a good keyboard. Now before you get all excited, I mean for a normal person.

@DemonTomatoDave @Xander Normal is a bit... much?

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon @DemonTomatoDave Hahaha. I suspect he meant that relative to me. I’m a Twitch streamer and own approximately 200 keyboards.

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander @DemonTomatoDave 200 sounds sufficient. Yup. Expensively sufficient.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon @DemonTomatoDave For “not too clacky, pleasing to type with” I would suggest Topre. Layout preferences will be an important factor here though so depends if you want a UK/EU style (ISO standard) layout or a US style (ANSI); the former significantly limits options but they do exist. But if you go Topre then you only really have one option with RGB LEDs and they are basically the worst version of a Topre keyboard.

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander I'm so used to a UK layout I don't really want to stray from that. RGB LEDS are probably not essential, I've never had them before.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon So a UK layout but as quiet as possible without resorting to a £15 membrane and rubber dome board, basically? Do you use the numeric keypad on a “full size” keyboard or is that totally immaterial?

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander I wouldn't miss the numeric keypad.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon @DemonTomatoDave If you need ISO and both the RGB and relative silence is important then you’re likely going to be looking at a Cherry MX style keyboard with silenced switches but having tried a lot of them I’ve very rarely been particularly impressed. It’s a whole minefield this stuff though so figuring out what your preferences are when you don’t yet fully know what the variables are yet is a big part of it!

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander @DemonTomatoDave Would getting something hot swappable but reasonably cheap be a good starting point, so I can change the switches out to my preference?

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon @DemonTomatoDave Possibly yes. There are not many but a handful of budget options that are ISO and hot-swappable for MX type switches. Notably, Keychron stuff: https://www.keychron.com/collections/custom-keyboards?pf_t_layout_standard=Standard%3AISO&pf_t_qmk_via_support=QMK%2FVIASupport%3AYes&pf_t_switch_mount=SwitchMount%3AHot-swappable

Some of those are sold in the UK by The Keyboard Company: https://www.keyboardco.com

Custom Keyboards

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@DemonTomatoDave @brittcoxon If you want silence though you’re best getting one without switches and then buying some quiet switches to test out

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander @DemonTomatoDave I mean I don't want absolute silence, a little feedback is nice. My current keyboard is like clomping along on a hollow pipe in tap shoes. The laptop keyboard is nice but not quite enough travel on the button push as it's virtually flat.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon @DemonTomatoDave See a lot of this is going to be about clarity of concept/language because this is sort of tricky stuff to put into words with precision. When you say “feedback” do you just mean some sort of noise, or do you mean a physical sensation that specifically happens around the time the key actuates (as opposed to because it hit the bottom, which is not when they actuate)?

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander Yah this is the stuff I just don't know and probably won't until I try. With the UK/US layout difference I can probably just lie to the computer and say it's UK as I know the layout and maybe swap the appropriate keys if it bugs me.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon Ah see we’re talking at crossed purposes. I’m talking about physical key layout. Not what the keys do. One sec.

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander I am truly new to this. I always thought they were more or less the same.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon UK vs US physical layout based on the mid-80s IBM Enhanced Keyboard to show you what I mean. Either will work fine logically but you will lose one key with a US physical layout and the area around the Return/Enter key is different.

Dave Bulmer Jan 5, 2023

@Xander @brittcoxon oh gawd I never knew about this, this explains so many fiddly little keyboard problems. Americans don't have a proper enter key?! What do they rest their little finger on when they're staring into space not typing anything??

Dave Bulmer Jan 5, 2023

@Xander @brittcoxon a gun, no doubt *tut*

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander Ohh, okay so the UK one is definitely what I'm used to but the main difference is the location of the # key which I could relearn and is similar to a mac keyboard.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon Hang on do you use a MacBook?

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander I do not. My partner uses a little wireless keyboard on his mac and he can never find the # or the £ first time, it involves option keys or something.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon I mean for context this is what I usually use on my MacBook. (Neither UK nor US Enhanced layout, is based on an old Sun Microsystems UNIX layout.)

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander Oh you're one of those no label types. I think I'd be find with that until I looked down.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon I also built this one for an ex hahah.

Incidentally, if you would like something a little more personal to you, I could build something from custom parts…

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander I might consider it. I'm a very slow decision maker and currently in fact finding mode so I might not be ready for fully custom yet.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon I’m very much the same. If you need any more info dumps let me know, happy to oblige. I have spent more hours researching this shit than anybody probably should hahah.

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander Thanks for the help, it's been super useful.

Britt Coxon Jan 7, 2023

@Xander let's make sure I get this right.

If I purchase this: https://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard/uk-keychron-k8-bluetooth-rgb-backlit-hot-swap-linear-mac-keyboard.asp
- I'll be able to acquire nice keys whenever suits to (for example) make it look like this: https://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard/v141-uk-ma88m-v2-cmyk-pbt-backlit-ec-sakura-v2-tenkeyless-keyboard.asp

Are all keys compatible (within the limits of the keyboard size/designs we've already discussed)? Any recommendations for where buy keys if I want to be "unique" and mix and match my colours like that?

UK Keychron K8 Bluetooth RGB Backlit Hot-Swap Linear Aluminium Mac/PC Keyboard : K8-J1-UK : The Keyboard Company

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander meanwhile I have this only all the media keys are worn off and the W is nearly gone. It picks up every bit of dust and fingerprint you can imagine.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon Why anybody insists in making electronics that are meant to be constantly touched out of glossy materials that show every speck of dust, scratch, and fingertip smear is beyond me

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon But yes, if you plug a US layout keyboard into a computer set to UK layout then pressing Shift and 3 will give you “£” even though it likely says “#” on the physical key. And you still have access to the missing key through Alt Gr. So…

US \| key types # and ~
US right Alt key plus the above key types \ and |
US 3# key types 3 and £

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander I don't like it, it's different.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon HAH

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon Then yeah, possibly consider Keychron.

Britt Coxon Jan 5, 2023

@Xander Well that sure narrows down my options, thanks for that. It removes a decent amount of those MASSIVE LED gaming keyboards too.

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@DemonTomatoDave @brittcoxon If you want the quietest and imo nicest overall typing experience I still honestly think Topre beats everything else but the problem there is they stopped making them with ISO/UK layouts years ago so now they’re pretty rare to come by.

Dave Bulmer Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon @Xander haha sorry. Yeah, Xander has loads of keyboards. He builds keyboards. he lives in a house made from keyboards stacked together. Every night he takes his top off and rubs keyboards on himself

Xander Jan 5, 2023

@brittcoxon @DemonTomatoDave Do I? I wondered why my nips were so sore all the time.