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Well, then enlighten me: what is so special about the Mac layout? I am sitting with one magic keyboard and a BTC5140 right now and I can't see any difference ap

by bjoli 6y ago

Well, then enlighten me: what is so special about the Mac layout? I am sitting with one magic keyboard and a BTC5140 right now and I can't see any difference apart from 4 extra keys above the numpad.

Hamuko 6y ago
The biggest difference which basically no mechanical keyboard out there has right, is the bottom row. Full-sized Mac keyboards have a perfectly symmetrical bottom row with just Control, Option and Command. The Function key has absolutely no place on the bottom row on a full-sized keyboard (and even in a condensed keyboard, it's never in the right place) and should be where the Insert key is on every mechanical keyboard. Some "Mac" keyboards are such lazy hackjobs that they actually include the Insert key. Some are a bit less lazy and stick the Eject button there. Why? Because they're not making a Mac keyboard, they're just switching the keycaps on their generic keyboard (which doesn't stop them from advertising their keyboards as "designed for Mac"). And of course, the top row includes F13~F19 in addition to the eject button. It can also be argued that a proper Mac keyboard would have pretty much equal width modifier keys on the bottom row. I've seen some keyboards that basically have 1.5x Control and Command keys and 1x Option key, which looks downright perverse on a Mac keyboard. The Matias keyboards, despite being the best one at making a mechanical keyboard with a Mac layout, have it and it looks rather bad.
- bjoli 6y ago
  I stand by what I said: you can get very close to this using just about any mechanical keyboard, some Mac keycaps and software. A 20s googling got me a varmilo 110% keyboard. That, some custom caps and karabiner (which you should be using anyway if you have as high keyboard demands as you seem to have) gives you an equalish-width bottom row with 1 key too many, 19 function keys but no eject key.
  - Hamuko 6y ago
    Congratulations, you spent 20 seconds in Google and have once again arrived at the wrong answer. Actually, you have now reached multiple wrong answers: you can't recreate a Mac layout with just some stickers and I have zero need for Karabiner. Just because you can put a round peg in a square hole doesn't make it a square peg.
    - bjoli 6y ago
      Well, the only thing missing from that solution is the eject key, but considering you thought a Matias tactile pro was decent enough I am not really sure if that mattered to you, as that one replaces f19 with the eject key I thought it was a compromise you were willing to make. What I am saying is a Mac layout can be recreated with stickers and software. It is not like a Mac keyboard sends magic signals to your computer. It is a regular USB keyboard without the context key and 4 extra FN keys.

by bjoli 6y ago

Well, then enlighten me: what is so special about the Mac layout? I am sitting with one magic keyboard and a BTC5140 right now and I can't see any difference apart from 4 extra keys above the numpad.

Hamuko 6y ago

The biggest difference which basically no mechanical keyboard out there has right, is the bottom row. Full-sized Mac keyboards have a perfectly symmetrical bottom row with just Control, Option and Command. The Function key has absolutely no place on the bottom row on a full-sized keyboard (and even in a condensed keyboard, it's never in the right place) and should be where the Insert key is on every mechanical keyboard. Some "Mac" keyboards are such lazy hackjobs that they actually include the Insert key. Some are a bit less lazy and stick the Eject button there. Why? Because they're not making a Mac keyboard, they're just switching the keycaps on their generic keyboard (which doesn't stop them from advertising their keyboards as "designed for Mac"). And of course, the top row includes F13~F19 in addition to the eject button. It can also be argued that a proper Mac keyboard would have pretty much equal width modifier keys on the bottom row. I've seen some keyboards that basically have 1.5x Control and Command keys and 1x Option key, which looks downright perverse on a Mac keyboard. The Matias keyboards, despite being the best one at making a mechanical keyboard with a Mac layout, have it and it looks rather bad.

bjoli 6y ago
I stand by what I said: you can get very close to this using just about any mechanical keyboard, some Mac keycaps and software. A 20s googling got me a varmilo 110% keyboard. That, some custom caps and karabiner (which you should be using anyway if you have as high keyboard demands as you seem to have) gives you an equalish-width bottom row with 1 key too many, 19 function keys but no eject key.
- Hamuko 6y ago
  Congratulations, you spent 20 seconds in Google and have once again arrived at the wrong answer. Actually, you have now reached multiple wrong answers: you can't recreate a Mac layout with just some stickers and I have zero need for Karabiner. Just because you can put a round peg in a square hole doesn't make it a square peg.
  - bjoli 6y ago
    Well, the only thing missing from that solution is the eject key, but considering you thought a Matias tactile pro was decent enough I am not really sure if that mattered to you, as that one replaces f19 with the eject key I thought it was a compromise you were willing to make. What I am saying is a Mac layout can be recreated with stickers and software. It is not like a Mac keyboard sends magic signals to your computer. It is a regular USB keyboard without the context key and 4 extra FN keys.