Weblog entry #230 for simonw
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It occurred to me earlier today that the CAPS lock key causes me more problems than it solves, since I accidentally hit it when reaching for "Shift" and then mess up what I'm typing (or worse in "vim"), but very rarely use it
Like all obvious insights it turns out not to be terribly original.CapsOFF
On a related note, every function on the number pad (excepting the numbers and arithmetic symbols) has a key of its own. So my keyboard has 21 keys I never, or exceptionally rarely use (deliberately), and no "compose" key (which I always have to map or find). The 10 digits and "-" are directly accessible on the main keyboard layout (although I do use the number pad when using a calculator app, but that is a psychological thing, because the calculator app is laid out like that, if I use yacas or similar I use the top row of the keyboard). Thus at least 32 on my keys could go without undue distress or relearning, and I could reclaim >300cm^2 of desk space to clutter up with other junk. It also has three LEDs to denote lock statuses I never use deliberately, and burns electricity telling me that the number pad is typing numbers. Apart from being a UK variant this is I believe the most common English language computer keyboard layout in the world, if not the most common computer keyboard in the world - hmm. Hardware bloat?
Comments on this Entry
You could always go for one of those Happy Hacker keyboards, which would definitely save you some space, and an added extra is that it's a UNIX layout keyboard, so you'd be less likely to hit CAPSLock as it's not above the left SHIFT key anymore (CTRL is instead, CAPS has moved to being a "Fn" modified TAB, so it really is out the way...)
You could stretch the coolness factor even further by getting one without any symbols on the keys -- that'd make you u83r 1337 too.
W00t!
Whatever.
Still, I think they look quite nice, and some models come with cursor keys, so you're not stuck with hjkl'ing in Vim all the time.
Cheers.
:wq
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My problem with that one was that \ is in the "wrong" place. Of course you can always get used to a different layout, but it makes it a real pain when you have to use someone else's keyboard.
There are some other mini-keyboards at keyboardco.co.uk. The one that I have is the "shortboard", which has all of the punctuation keys in the "right" places; it's actually very similar to many laptop layouts. What it gets wrong is putting its "fn" key bottom left, where "ctrl" normally is. But since I have mapped caps-lock to ctrl, and don't use the real ctrl key, that doesn't bother me much.
Getting rid of the space where the numeric keypad was means that my arm moves much less far to reach the mouse. This is a huge benefit. The extra desk space that is freed didn't last for long before the clutter encroached....
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There is also a hack for Windows that someone found for me that I use to have on my work system but I don't recall it and my current Windows box doesn't have it and it's so annoying - made even worse by the dreadfully cramped Dell keyboard I'm forced to use.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
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That looks very neat!
Personally I'm a big fan of the Microsoft Natural (split) keyboards - the early solid ones, not the later flimsy ones.
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Yeah, but before they did that stupid thing with the cursor keys, and messed up the INS/DEL/HOME/END/PGUP/PGDN cluster -- that made a real mess of a good keyboard...
Cheers.
:wq
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