My Favorite Keyboards

Basically the only thing interesting about the ConcertMaster is that Carmack used it (and that it looks somewhat cool). As for the keyboard itself, it is just a basic OEM membrane keyboard and not that good one even. The speakers are lets say adequate for the time and size.

Interestingly, the speaker part and the keyboard part are completely separate. The "cable" consists of four separate cables (keyboard, power, line out, mic in) in a thin sleeve. Mine was supplied with AT plug on the keyboard cable and Y-adapter that converted PS2 into AT DIN and barell jack for the speaker power. The keyboard label indeed says it is powered by 9V DC, but I guess that never really happened as PS/2 is 5V no matter what various devices say.

Edit: And as for the supper hard to find nowadays part: I suspect that part of the reason is that the keyboard module inside the thing is ridiculously sensitive to even minor spills.

My ErgodoxEZ:

- nearly made me cry.

- solved my back pain.

When you didn't learn to type properly, relearning to type can be a very difficult task; re-learning on a split keyboard is particularly unforgiving. Around three weeks into re-learning I was convinced I would never learn properly and that I'd wasted a lot of time and money (I was freelancing at the time) on something that wouldn't help me eat, never mind sleep.

Two weeks later I was back up to normal typing speeds, a month after that I was faster than ever. Two months or so after that, my back pain was gone.

Of course, my back pain was caused by sitting lopsided - something an overdominant hand on a standard keyboard pushes you towards. No amount of exercise and posture correction was solving it - but when the true cause was resolved it cleared up (with exercise) very quickly.

I'd buy this keyboard again in a heartbeat.

Well, as a bog-standard person, I use Logitech MX Keys Mini 2 (with Bolt support).

It's good enough for typing for long sessions and reliable enough to type on without much thinking.

It has great features though. Automatic backlight and standby via hall & ambient light sensors, great key texture and weight, scissor switches instead of bog-standard membrane, etc.

It's not a mechanical keyboard and not smooth as one, but it's not an enemy of fingers and hands.

Logitech's bolt receiver is great though. Encrypted, low latency and has native Linux support via Solaar.

I have 3 mechanical keyboards, but one is too big, others are not in my native layout and miss a couple of keys which I need for certain characters, so they are delegated to long coding sessions at home.

After a decade of exploring various mechanical keyboards (a few form factors, but mostly exploring the switches), I settled on a Topre Realforce around 2016 and fell in love. I later learned of the Topre silent switches (often branded as "Type-S"), and have used those ever since over many few boards: a HHKB, a Leopold FC660C with a PCB swap for programmable layers, various revisions of the Realforce.

I used a friend's ErgoDox a few years ago, and quite liked it, but what holds me back is the Topre switches. If only it was feasible to acquire individual Topre switches and put them onto a custom PCB...

Here's hoping someone on HN will swoop in and tell me "It's totally possible! Just _____!"

Yamaha DX7.

Oh you mean… OK. The one on my 2008 unibody MacBook, which I likely put the most hours in on of any of them. Then the one on my ancient and lovely Thinkpad T240 — one of the most pragmatically delightful computers ever — and probably the N33SX I owned in 1992.

The keyboard on the M1 Max MBP is quite nice, too.

I really didn't enjoy the cheap plastic construction of the Moonlander. I had two of them for home and work. I even modded a mousepad onto the wristrests to make it more comftable.

But in the end the housing being out of plastic, it creaked, wobbled and just was not satisfying to type on.

I came from premium mechnical keyboards with solid steel or aluminum construction.

I ended up with the Neo Ergo, a middle ground. Not as ergonomic, but solid feel, no plastic and great looks too.

IMHO the persistence of Model M (now Unicomp) worship is a meme. Yes a chunky Buckling Spring mechanism is a very unique and "fun" feel, but that doesn't mean it's actually good to do a lot of typing on in terms of ergonomics or speed. So what of it? It's a novelty item, not the ultimate keyboard.

My Kinesis Freestyle 2 will always be the greatest ergo keyboard I've ever owned - with cables. I can tilt at 5, 10, 15 degree angles. I can move the two parts differently (and do), and with the risers, I can tilt it 90 degrees - which I'm never doing. The flexibility is perfect for me, so I keep one at home, and one in the office.

I find it strange that people who start caring about ergonomics settle for Ergodox, Moonlander and other halfway there solutions when Kinesis, Glove80, Maltron who have put in real ergonomic research exist..

MS Sculpt ergonomic keyboard for home (discontinued now but "improved" versions are available here (https://matiaseu.store/products/fk413xx), Logitech K380 when I travel to the office.

I need a split wireless mechanical keyboard to use with my phone on the go. Anybody have something good?

That Model M SSK looks real nice. I have not one but two Filco Majestouch 2 TKL with brown MX keys, one for 12 years and counting. They are so much heavier, nicer compared to what I got recently second hand: a WASD with a very wobbly case.

I have a Moonlander but I could never get used to it, even when remapping some keys so that tab is where my muscle memory expects it to be. But maybe trying to use it for both windows (play) and macos (work) was a problem. I should give it another go. Of course another issue may be that I'm very much a mouse-and-keyboard person instead of a keyboard wizard.

I should get an alternative to my old compact / flat apple keyboard one day though. It's been going strong for nearly a decade.

I have a HHKB Professional Hybrid. I like it. Quiet enough to use in work. It is bloody expensive though

As someone who's tried several keyboards, a key feature I've found myself unable to go without is contouring of the keyboard. Keyboards like Kinesis Advantage 2, Kinesis Advantage 360 and the Glove 80 essentially. I've personally found it the biggest gain to reducing strain on my left hand.

The Ergodox was also too unstable with high tilting for me, so I search for other options. I found the Dygma Raise. Been using it for 3 years now, it is a blessing. I will buy a Raise 2 wireless for my work desk in the office too now.

I cannot fathom all my collegues who still use non ergo keyboards and mice...

Dactyl Manuform 3x6 for me.

Going to such a different form factor feels enough like relearning to type that I found it also to be a good time to learn a better layout than qwerty.

I use my own layout called hubris:

https://github.com/jpease/hubris

Any QWERTY or QWERTY-inspired keyboard (layout) is silly.

Switching to orto without solving a real bottleneck is like changing Opel to Porshe but keep using a set of square wheels. Of course the car will run better, but...

For anyone interested in a single-body, low-profile mechanical keyboard with a split layout, checkout PERIBOARD-335. Highly recommend it.

I learnt to type on an Acorn Archimedes 3000 which had Ctrl to the left of A. I was so happy to find HHKBs in the late 00s had the same feature and have been using once since. I wouldn't mind never having a CapsLock again.

Can't wait for mainstream laptops with ortholinear layout and split space bar.

I loved the Model M, but my first real THIS IS MY FAVORITE I WILL CUT YOU keyboard was a Northgate. Dang, I loved that one.

For most of the last 20 years I've been on Kinesis boards. First a regular Ergo, and then starting about 6 months ago their new Advantage 360, which is a definite improvement.

I’m greatly enjoying my Charybdis nano: the built in trackball makes using the mouse just as convenient as the keyboard

Glove80 for me (even have 2 of them) with Kinesis Advantage 2 being a close second.

I have a moonlander and love it for typing. My issue is that I use my mouse a bunch as well, and find it awkward to switch my right hand to the ouse and back again. Does the touchpad work better for this?

That list really misses Glove80! It's an incredible keyboard, and imo is better than the Moonlander at practically everything.

Edit: on second thought, I guess some people might not like the low switches?

I would love this keyboard for myself.

Went also through ErgoDox EZ and MoonLander but down-sized to a Corne-ish Zen. Happier since.

Less keys (3x6) and lower profile is even nicer for ergonomics, for me at least, but does require a bit more of mental gymnastics for layers. well worth it IMHO.

Try thocky keys, Aula F75

Was hoping this would be about synths.

My iKBC MF87v2 from 2018. I like it so much I bought a spare, even though it cost $170 at the time. Double-shot light-through PBT keycaps so the labels won't wear off or the keys develop that yucky slick finish, a solid block of aluminum that's 1.8kg so it's not going to shift on the desk, nice thocky MX Blue switches and a Tenkeyless layout without annoying numeric keypad, because I'm not an accountant.

I keep a Ducky One 3 with silent red switches at work because I am not a sociopath.

C'mon, the Amstrad keyboard is not that bad :(

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