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
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
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…
