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I buy computers from System76 and they are good. Highly recommended But if it's not a wireless ergonomic keyboard, I am not interested The Microsoft Sculpt Er

I buy computers from System76 and they are good. Highly recommended But if it's not a wireless ergonomic keyboard, I am not interested The Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless keyboard, despite its flaws, is the healthiest and most comfortable keyboard I've ever used. Started using it four years ago and I'll never go back Ideal if you edit in Vim: https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Ergonomic-Wireless-Desktop-Keyboard/dp/B00CYX54C0 https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Ergonomic-Wireless-Desktop-...

millerm 5y ago
That thing (the System76 keyboard) is fugly. :-) I did just by a fun clicky, expensive keyboard, and not so expensive mouse for home. I purposely didn't buy wireless as I find no point in wireless when these things are on my desk 100% of the time. I just replaced both an apple wireless keyboard, and wireless magic mouse, with a wired Razor Blackwidow and a wired Logitech G403. Not to mention I'm sure someone can snoop on and log wireless keyboards. But, I'm tired of dealing with charging things, or replacing batteries.
- bluGill 5y ago
  I like my wireless keyboard for some applications. Most of the time my keyboard is on my desk, but at my music workstation I instead of midi controllers in front of me, but sometimes I need to grab a keyboard/mouse for control. Not having to deal with wires there is great. I like my wireless mouse too: it moves, and my desk is too crowded to find a good spot for the cord to not get in the way. (with working from home I have a bunch of work related test fixtures taking up space.) Those who have a clean desk won't have this problem - but I've never been able to pull that off personally.
eigenspace 5y ago
> But if it's not a wireless, split, ergonomic keyboard, I am not interested Not wireless, but I've recnetly gotten a ZSA Moonlander [1] keyboard and I'm in love. It's wonderful. Like the System76 one, it's open source and you store the keyboard config on-device. [1] https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/
- konart 5y ago
  Ergodox and the like have one big problem: hard or impossible to use if you need a layout for a language that has more than 26 characters.
  - eigenspace 5y ago
    I disagree. This keyboard has programmable layers that can be switched between quite easily. For instance, I have a whole layer for greek characters because I use them a lot whilst programming. Developing muscle memory for the layers takes time, but it's not so bad.
    - konart 5y ago
      What does this have to do with the fact that I need all of my russian alphabet when I type in russian? The problem is that the default russian qwerty (or rather йцукен) simply won't fit. You will have to bind additional characters to weird places, which will be messing with your muscle memory or use layers, as you've said. Which is super annoying. Imagine you have to switch to a different layer when you need to type 'z', 'h', 's' and 'p' for example.
      - eigenspace 5y ago
        The Moonlander has 70 keys on it. If you don't want to split up your alphabet, just assign your whole alphabet to the first layer and move things like punctuation or numbers to the next layer There's plenty of room on this keyboard for bigger alphabets.
        konart 5y ago
        Again - the issue is that this breaks default layout. Obviously any keyboard with at least 33 keys will be enough for me to just place the alphabet on them. The problems is that this breaks everything. Anyhow - after a bunch of keyboards all I can say is that 60-65% ones are the best. I get everything I need - not more, no less.
blumomo 5y ago
Happy System76 Laptop user here, too! However nothing goes over the programmable, ergonomic split keyboard „Kinesis Advantage 2LF“ ;-) https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/ https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/
- hprotagonist 5y ago
  ergodox and moonlander come immediately to mind as things i'd use over an advantage2, for native QMK support if nothing else.
- bastardoperator 5y ago
  In the world of mechanical keyboards I'd consider a kinesis to be mid range. Definitely a great keyboard, not terribly different from a Maltron or other ergo boards.
  - eigenspace 5y ago
    As a happy user of a Moonlander, I think the Kinesis has some nice advantages, namely the fact that the keys on each split are in a recessed well. I think that might have some ergonomic advantages, but I haven't tried one yet so I'm not sure.
    - aseipp 5y ago
      I am a new Moonlander user (for ~4 months now) who switched from a Kinesis1/2 after over 10 years of use. The well feels nice for e.g. the "d" column to be deeper than "f", so your longer index finger rests a little more naturally. I don't think it's a significant world-changing advantage, just one of those nice minor design touches. Honestly the bigger problem was that after 10 years of use, your hand position with any keyboard will cause you to hold it poorly at first with a new one, if the layout is massively different. The first 48 hours with the Moonlander were rough until I found the proper spacing and setup for them...
      - eigenspace 5y ago
stronglikedan 5y ago
> Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless keyboard Have you tried the Surface Ergonomic KB? All the goodness of the sculpt (even better IMHO) with a full layout. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-ergonomic-keyboard/90pnc9ljwpx9 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-ergonomic-keyboard...
- johnchristopher 5y ago
  I don't think the Surface Ergonomic KB comes with an elevated palm rest (which I like in the Sculpt).
- 37ef_ced3 5y ago
  I use the Sculpt on my lap, never on a desk The Surface Ergo is too wide. The Sculpt is more symmetrical and narrow, by omitting the number pad, etc., on the right-hand side
officeplant 5y ago
I like my sculpt I have at work. The casing is starting to crack after a year for some reason, but everything is functioning fine.
anotherevan 5y ago
I love the MS Nat Ergo 4000 and thought the Sculpt would be a good successor, but find I really dislike it. I find the short key travel hard to adjust to (lots of typos), and the mushy ESC key was not conducive to Vim editing. (P.S. I've a 10 finger touch typist. Learned in school in the '80s on manual typewriters.) Funny how our experiences are so disparate.
- 37ef_ced3 5y ago
  The tiny escape key is a defect of the Sculpt keyboard But I have caps lock mapped to ctrl (I hit it with my pinkie) and the windows key mapped to escape (I hit it with my thumb) Almost all hardcore Vim users map ctrl and escape. It's standard practice Also, I use the Sculpt on my lap, never on a desk The MS Nat Ergo 4000 is too wide and asymmetrical for my lap. Same is true of the MS Surface Ergo. The Sculpt is more symmetrical and narrow, by omitting the number pad, etc., on the right-hand side

millerm 5y ago

That thing (the System76 keyboard) is fugly. :-) I did just by a fun clicky, expensive keyboard, and not so expensive mouse for home. I purposely didn't buy wireless as I find no point in wireless when these things are on my desk 100% of the time. I just replaced both an apple wireless keyboard, and wireless magic mouse, with a wired Razor Blackwidow and a wired Logitech G403. Not to mention I'm sure someone can snoop on and log wireless keyboards. But, I'm tired of dealing with charging things, or replacing batteries.

bluGill 5y ago
I like my wireless keyboard for some applications. Most of the time my keyboard is on my desk, but at my music workstation I instead of midi controllers in front of me, but sometimes I need to grab a keyboard/mouse for control. Not having to deal with wires there is great. I like my wireless mouse too: it moves, and my desk is too crowded to find a good spot for the cord to not get in the way. (with working from home I have a bunch of work related test fixtures taking up space.) Those who have a clean desk won't have this problem - but I've never been able to pull that off personally.

eigenspace 5y ago

> But if it's not a wireless, split, ergonomic keyboard, I am not interested Not wireless, but I've recnetly gotten a ZSA Moonlander [1] keyboard and I'm in love. It's wonderful. Like the System76 one, it's open source and you store the keyboard config on-device. [1] https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/ https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/

konart 5y ago
Ergodox and the like have one big problem: hard or impossible to use if you need a layout for a language that has more than 26 characters.
- eigenspace 5y ago
  I disagree. This keyboard has programmable layers that can be switched between quite easily. For instance, I have a whole layer for greek characters because I use them a lot whilst programming. Developing muscle memory for the layers takes time, but it's not so bad.
  - konart 5y ago
    What does this have to do with the fact that I need all of my russian alphabet when I type in russian? The problem is that the default russian qwerty (or rather йцукен) simply won't fit. You will have to bind additional characters to weird places, which will be messing with your muscle memory or use layers, as you've said. Which is super annoying. Imagine you have to switch to a different layer when you need to type 'z', 'h', 's' and 'p' for example.
    - eigenspace 5y ago
      The Moonlander has 70 keys on it. If you don't want to split up your alphabet, just assign your whole alphabet to the first layer and move things like punctuation or numbers to the next layer There's plenty of room on this keyboard for bigger alphabets.
      - konart 5y ago
        Again - the issue is that this breaks default layout. Obviously any keyboard with at least 33 keys will be enough for me to just place the alphabet on them. The problems is that this breaks everything. Anyhow - after a bunch of keyboards all I can say is that 60-65% ones are the best. I get everything I need - not more, no less.

blumomo 5y ago

Happy System76 Laptop user here, too! However nothing goes over the programmable, ergonomic split keyboard „Kinesis Advantage 2LF“ ;-) https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/ https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/advantage2/

hprotagonist 5y ago
ergodox and moonlander come immediately to mind as things i'd use over an advantage2, for native QMK support if nothing else.
bastardoperator 5y ago
In the world of mechanical keyboards I'd consider a kinesis to be mid range. Definitely a great keyboard, not terribly different from a Maltron or other ergo boards.
- eigenspace 5y ago
  As a happy user of a Moonlander, I think the Kinesis has some nice advantages, namely the fact that the keys on each split are in a recessed well. I think that might have some ergonomic advantages, but I haven't tried one yet so I'm not sure.
  - aseipp 5y ago
    I am a new Moonlander user (for ~4 months now) who switched from a Kinesis1/2 after over 10 years of use. The well feels nice for e.g. the "d" column to be deeper than "f", so your longer index finger rests a little more naturally. I don't think it's a significant world-changing advantage, just one of those nice minor design touches. Honestly the bigger problem was that after 10 years of use, your hand position with any keyboard will cause you to hold it poorly at first with a new one, if the layout is massively different. The first 48 hours with the Moonlander were rough until I found the proper spacing and setup for them...
    - eigenspace 5y ago

stronglikedan 5y ago

> Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Wireless keyboard Have you tried the Surface Ergonomic KB? All the goodness of the sculpt (even better IMHO) with a full layout. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-ergonomic-keyboard/90pnc9ljwpx9 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-ergonomic-keyboard...

johnchristopher 5y ago
I don't think the Surface Ergonomic KB comes with an elevated palm rest (which I like in the Sculpt).
37ef_ced3 5y ago
I use the Sculpt on my lap, never on a desk The Surface Ergo is too wide. The Sculpt is more symmetrical and narrow, by omitting the number pad, etc., on the right-hand side

officeplant 5y ago

I like my sculpt I have at work. The casing is starting to crack after a year for some reason, but everything is functioning fine.

anotherevan 5y ago

I love the MS Nat Ergo 4000 and thought the Sculpt would be a good successor, but find I really dislike it. I find the short key travel hard to adjust to (lots of typos), and the mushy ESC key was not conducive to Vim editing. (P.S. I've a 10 finger touch typist. Learned in school in the '80s on manual typewriters.) Funny how our experiences are so disparate.

37ef_ced3 5y ago
The tiny escape key is a defect of the Sculpt keyboard But I have caps lock mapped to ctrl (I hit it with my pinkie) and the windows key mapped to escape (I hit it with my thumb) Almost all hardcore Vim users map ctrl and escape. It's standard practice Also, I use the Sculpt on my lap, never on a desk The MS Nat Ergo 4000 is too wide and asymmetrical for my lap. Same is true of the MS Surface Ergo. The Sculpt is more symmetrical and narrow, by omitting the number pad, etc., on the right-hand side