UHK 80 unpopular opinion - 60 > wireless

No, not really, but I rotate a lot and usually there are always three mks on my desk.
I’m a collector and love the “unusual” ones.

The main reason might be my love for Topre and the JIS-Layout, my main “heavy-typing-tool” for more than 10 years is the HHKB JP, where that row is although shifted.

Have a nice day.

That’s funny. It has an ISO enter but no ISO key between left shift and Z. Kind of reverse of the ISO layout of UHK. :laughing:

:thinking:

I can relate to that. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Japanese folks might answer, who is ISO, that’s an JIS enter.
I prefer ANSI to ISO, but that large enter is the only one I’m missing, would prefer to have.

I used to type on ISO boards (German is my native language) when I grew up, but switched to ANSI enter as I shifted to Colemak layout.

European languages (on ISO layout) have their punctuation and symbols on different keys than US, but Colemak also has them on the US positions. So when I switched to Colemak, I prefered to have the symbols on US positions, normally found on ANSI boards.

Now I got used to the ANSI Enter on the UHK and on most of my Laptops. And when you look at the Ergo (columnar stagger) boards in the photo above, there’s really no special key for Enter anyway.

It is seldom, but here I do not agree with Max. I think another solution is objectively better in terms of ergonomics. Pressing the C-key position with the middle finger is the most awkward motion on a standard keyboard IMO. You can do it of course. I typed almost 40 years like that, but when I retrained myself (with a new layout) it become apparent that I should have done that much earlier.

Keeping the same finger positions on a columnar stagger and standard keyboard was one of the must-haves for my custom keyboard layout. I actually have explained that in detail in this article. Look for the animated pictures, which show you how the keys on a columnar stagger and standard keyboard are related. This is one of the relevant animations.

angle-mod2ergo

IMO you should indeed use the standard keyboard left side symmetrical to the right side (means pressing the c-key with the index finger). The real problem with a standard keyboard is the top left side, which you have to slightly adjust to, and will not be 100 % symmetrical on a standard keyboard. But you still can use the same fingering than on the right side. You will also find that the B-key has a special role on a standard keyboard. You just should not use it – when you want to be compatible between a 3x5 / 4x6 and a standard row stagger keyboard.

BTW, I stopped using my UHK60 and gave it away in the family. That was after I had tried a Lily58 – now about half a year ago. From the very first moment it was clear that a keyboard must be symmetrical to be most ergonomic and also logic. It felt right from the first second and I knew I never will go back to a standard keyboard. It took a few days, where I needed to get adjusted to it, but it is so much more natural that way, that IMO there is no other way.

I still think a symmetrical standard keyboard with 0.25u row stagger could be a good option – not too different from a standard keyboard. But it does not look like we will ever see that.

Regarding a standard keyboard. I only use that on my laptop keyboard nowadays-- and as explained in the article – works reasonably well, while keeping the same fingering.

I am in the same camp that I would love a UHK60 like columnar version. Wireless would be nice, but is not a need for me. Especially when you need to recharge every few days. There is a keyboard with a single coin cell (Lotus58 unwired), which will last for a year or longer. That is without lights and display of course. I personally find that more interesting than a keyboard with display and lights, which is begging to be recharged all the time. Downside of that one is needing a dongle. Bluetooth would draw to much power.