What's your dream keyboard?

[DerpyDash_xAD]

for me, I'm thinking HHKB layout, with no usb hub nastyness, using usb c connecter because it looks cool. mx slider with topre or just normal mx. I havent tried topre yet so idk. no backlighting or anything, just raw board.

for the switch, idk, i think something that was super long actuation, linear from light to very heavy at bottom out, with actuation on the lighter side of medium.

[wobbled]

My dream would be a HHKB layout board with the feel of a model f 4704 but the sound of topre.

[DerpyDash_xAD]

ahhah, I've never felt the F but i've def heard the stories... that would be quite the beast. I really can't get hard for tactile though.linear life for me. i only wish that these things had longer travel, i'm talking 1 inch as a minimum.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I'd like to hope that "ur" dream keyboard is one that makes typing the other two letters of "your" not so tedious that you can't deal with it. What on earth are you trying to type on? Whatever it is, you should throw it in the dustbin.

[ohaimark]

for the switch, idk, i think something that was super long actuation, linear from light to very heavy at bottom out, with actuation on the lighter side of medium.

Try Cherry MY switches. I think they will suit you perfectly.

[DerpyDash_xAD]

for the switch, idk, i think something that was super long actuation, linear from light to very heavy at bottom out, with actuation on the lighter side of medium.

Try Cherry MY switches. I think they will suit you perfectly.

terrible reviews are the only reason i haven't yet, i almost jumped on a cheap second hand board a few years back.

[DerpyDash_xAD]

I'd like to hope that "ur" dream keyboard is one that makes typing the other two letters of "your" not so tedious that you can't deal with it. What on earth are you trying to type on? Whatever it is, you should throw it in the dustbin.

I'm a litttle too far into the martinis to remember such things as spelling and grammer. however i will fix the title for you

right now i've got a pure pro, which isn't bad, but i just ordered a hhkb. I do love my pure pro though.

[MrDuul]

Model F switch variant of the Model M SSK.

[codemonkeymike]

Model F switch variant of the Model M SSK.

You buy into Ellipse Kishsaver remake?

[MrDuul]

Model F switch variant of the Model M SSK.

You buy into Ellipse Kishsaver remake?

Well I have a kishsaver original

However I did buy his F66 and F77 remake.

[SeanTNT]

Here's my dream board

https://www.amazon.com/Brookstone-VK200 ... B008D6IUG4

[davkol]

Dactyl-ManuForm might be close. Either that, or I have to accept that I won't be completely happy with any keyboard.

[DerpyDash_xAD]

Dactyl-ManuForm might be close. Either that, or I have to accept that I won't be completely happy with any keyboard.

damn, that's a pretty snazzy piece of kit.

[f0recast]

IBM Beamspring keyborad with solenoid !!

[seebart]

IBM Beamspring keyborad with solenoid !!

Check. And yes that's nice but a FSSK for the form factor might even beat my 3276. I might have to call i$.

IMGP6468.JPG (1020.42 KiB) Viewed 5844 times

[MrDuul]

IBM Beamspring keyborad with solenoid !!

Check. And yes that's nice but a FSSK for the form factor might even beat my 3276. I might have to call i$.

IMGP6468.JPG

Ah bra G. you got dat board like me to. word

[seebart]

200.gif (355.25 KiB) Viewed 5830 times

[vometia]

SSK minus the "extra" surround. In black. With spherical caps with nice big centred legends. And a caps-lock LED. I think that'd do me. Optionally with Model F switches or beam springs but I'm not greedy!

[Findecanor]

I have a dream for a custom ergo keyboard design I have been working on on and off for years...
Keycaps in a custom shape, volume roller, thumb joystick. Preferred case material would be parkerized steel and wood.
Oh, switches with the force curve of Cherry MX clear but the stability, smoothness and sound of stabilised Topre.

[FoxWolf1]

A regular full-size keyboard (or maybe larger) with NKRO and a TrackPoint (in the usual place).

Various details, like case material (wood's nice), durability enhancements (especially coffeeproofing), and switch type (I find I'm pretty adaptable on that, though, and would keep an open mind) could affect how much I'd be willing to pay, but the three traits above are the heart of it.

[Scarpia]

SSK minus the "extra" surround. In black. With spherical caps with nice big centred legends. And a caps-lock LED. I think that'd do me. Optionally with Model F switches or beam springs but I'm not greedy!

I'd buy one.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Something like this:

http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/gists/b48109b41f0110220ec877be5451613f

keyboard-layout.png (30.16 KiB) Viewed 5660 times

Two tone white and blue; the blue would be equal intensity to the white, but on a computer display it is physically impossible to depict this. It would be a deeper blue (more blue, less cyan), but that would only intensify the problem of luminance limitations of finite additive colour on a computer display.

Since realistically this won't be anything but Cherry MX (I'm taking "ideal" to be "pragmatically ideal"), the legends are optimised for front LEDs to allow the front legends to be illuminated — with my Poker II I still cannot memorise the Fn layer and the back LEDs leave the front legends nearly invisible. I've avoided the horrible bunched-up look of most keyboards by opting for one top legend per key, except Enter where the front legend is too far from the LED (I can't have "Pad Enter" higher due to software limitations but it should be closer to "Enter").

RAFI RS 76 C illuminated would be a nice choice too, and those allow two LEDs per switch, one on either side, or front and back if you had custom keycaps made (the mount is square but only 180° rotationally symmetrical). Use of Omron switches would offer far superior backlighting to anything else on the market, but I've never typed on a Logitech keyboard so I don't know if they'd be suitable switches.

I have no idea whether putting Fn there would be OK or if it would drive me mad, but I didn't want to lose the menu key or right control, and losing Alt Gr would violate the layout even though I have no use for that key.

Fn+Alt is program via remap (P.map), which accepts two keystroke parameters: key to update, and target key.
Fn+Alt Gr is program via scancode (P.scan), which instead of a target key accepts a scancode, to allow you to include keys not on the keyboard.

Since I already use Pause as pause, I've not added a media pause. Why would you? However, Stop is Fn+Pause. (I use Shift+Pause for that.)

Caps lock status is indicated by its own backlight.

Num lock exists so that you can control it in remote sessions; sadly there's nowhere to put lights for num lock and scroll lock due to key sharing.

Insert is a fairly useless key, but I've left it there so that the insert/delete pair is where it should be. Since I need to use ctrl+shift+home/end a lot, I don't want anything in that arrangement to be in the Fn layer (as it's so horribly fiddly), so those are given priority, something that virtually every keyboard in existence gets wrong. Page up/down are moved to the arrows. (Similarity to a full-size is of course undermined by having non-standard F keys, which already drive me mad on my ThinkPad for being smaller and closer together.)

WASD arrows just for fun — I can use the arrows single-handedly with either hand that way.

The Windows and menu keys would be proper graphics of course.

[DerpyDash_xAD]

Something like this:

keyboard-layout.png

Two tone white and blue; the blue would be equal intensity to the white, but on a computer display it is physically impossible to depict this. It would be a deeper blue (more blue, less cyan), but that would only intensify the problem of luminance limitations of finite additive colour on a computer display.

Since realistically this won't be anything but Cherry MX (I'm taking "ideal" to be "pragmatically ideal"), the legends are optimised for front LEDs to allow the front legends to be illuminated — with my Poker II I still cannot memorise the Fn layer and the back LEDs leave the front legends nearly invisible. I've avoided the horrible bunched-up look of most keyboards by opting for one top legend per key, except Enter where the front legend is too far from the LED (I can't have "Pad Enter" higher due to software limitations but it should be closer to "Enter").

RAFI RS 76 C illuminated would be a nice choice too, and those allow two LEDs per switch, one on either side, or front and back if you had custom keycaps made (the mount is square but only 180° rotationally symmetrical). Use of Omron switches would offer far superior backlighting to anything else on the market, but I've never typed on a Logitech keyboard so I don't know if they'd be suitable switches.

I have no idea whether putting Fn there would be OK or if it would drive me mad, but I didn't want to lose the menu key or right control, and losing Alt Gr would violate the layout even though I have no use for that key.

Fn+Alt is program via remap (P.map), which accepts two keystroke parameters: key to update, and target key.
Fn+Alt Gr is program via scancode (P.scan), which instead of a target key accepts a scancode, to allow you to include keys not on the keyboard.

Since I already use Pause as pause, I've not added a media pause. Why would you? However, Stop is Fn+Pause. (I use Shift+Pause for that.)

Caps lock status is indicated by its own backlight.

Num lock exists so that you can control it in remote sessions; sadly there's nowhere to put lights for num lock and scroll lock due to key sharing.

Insert is a fairly useless key, but I've left it there so that the insert/delete pair is where it should be. Since I need to use ctrl+shift+home/end a lot, I don't want anything in that arrangement to be in the Fn layer (as it's so horribly fiddly), so those are given priority, something that virtually every keyboard in existence gets wrong. Page up/down are moved to the arrows. (Similarity to a full-size is of course undermined by having non-standard F keys, which already drive me mad on my ThinkPad for being smaller and closer together.)

WASD arrows just for fun — I can use the arrows single-handedly with either hand that way.

The Windows and menu keys would be proper graphics of course.

Could you not make numlock/instert instead Numlock primary and FN+Numlock=insert? this would allow using the key lighting for status indication.

Beyond that, it is a very nice layout. Very similar to the Cherry g84-4000 iirc.

[zslane]

My RealForce RGB Space Cadet board, but with a powder-coated white aluminum replacement case.

space_cadet_keyboard_atwork_03.jpg (397.23 KiB) Viewed 5643 times

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Could you not make numlock/instert instead Numlock primary and FN+Numlock=insert?

I don't care much for the Insert key, but I don't want to break the pair apart. If Delete doesn't need Fn, then nor should the adjacent Insert key either. It would be possible to have bicolour LEDs where blue = off and (say) green = on, or even RGB LEDs where you add red and green to have white indicate on. I wasn't intending to have any other colours though besides blue and white.

[DerpyDash_xAD]

Could you not make numlock/instert instead Numlock primary and FN+Numlock=insert?

I don't care much for the Insert key, but I don't want to break the pair apart. If Delete doesn't need Fn, then nor should the adjacent Insert key either. It would be possible to have bicolour LEDs where blue = off and (say) green = on, or even RGB LEDs where you add red and green to have white indicate on. I wasn't intending to have any other colours though besides blue and white.

Yeah, I can understand that but I personally feel that what is best for the layout comes above the standard layouts.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The idea is to bridge 60% and full-size, by putting back the keys that 60% makes too tedious or impossible to type single-handedly or too involved to type with Fn, and to also alleviate some of the confusion from using both small and full-size layouts on an ongoing basis. Not being able to smack F5 to refresh a page is a nuisance, and if your other hand is on the mouse, it's something of a contortion to hit a lot of simple keys and combinations where Fn is too far away. The only other option is something like the Miniguru where you dispense with the mouse entirely and move over to an integrated pointing stick, but that would involve an even worse learning curve — re-learning how to sketch on a computer, this time with a pointing stick, would be so awful that a mouse is still required.

Personally I find that I am incapable of learning to time Fn presses and releases correctly or understand when Fn is actually needed, let alone remember where anything is on the function row — after three years of using a Poker II I still find it a constant headache, leading to the keyboard switching mode all the time. I really need home or end and most other keys to be Fn-agnostic. Arguably ctrl and alt should also be Fn-agnostic, so maybe the programming initiator keys should be moved to the function row.

There is no "dream" or "ideal", not without connecting your head straight into the computer. I'm already too old to adapt to 60%, but decent 75% keyboards simply don't exist, let alone in ISO, and I guess nobody actually wants them. I'm not trying to revolutionise the layout, I just want something that uses less desk space without being a monumental pain in the posterior to use.

[DerpyDash_xAD]

I have the pure Pro and I use the caps as the FN. This makes the f row easier to type than on a full-size as it can be reached from home row. That said, home/end etc are all unusable.

[zslane]

Yeah, well that's why I relegate the 60% format to a job it is more suited to: the iPad. Driving an iPad is an activity that makes most of the keys outside the base 60% block unnecessary anyway. However, I would never use anything smaller than a full-size keyboard with a full-blown desktop system where I'm going to be doing real work. That would be like trying to edit a feature film on an iPhone. I'm sure some nutjob out there will claim it can be done, but nobody with any sense would want to.

[Phenix]

[quote="MrDuul"]Model F switch variant of the Model M SSK.[quote]
Unsaver'no?