PKB part 3

Continues from Part 2

Let’s compare this design with the conventional layout. I’m not going to try and compare it to all the other designs because there are so many.

IssueConventionalPKB
Width of keys area (max)Typically 42 to 50 cm< 42 cm (exact size coming)
Height of keys area (max)Typically 10 to 16 cm16.5 cm
# normal keys (not Multimedia etc)Typically 104/105, some have more.121
Characters which HAVE to be ShiftedA-Z, ~!@#$%^&()_+|{}:"<>?A-Z
Mouse easily accessible forLeft handed peopleLeft and Right handed people
TenKeys easily accessible forRight handed peopleLeft and Right handed people
Arrow Nav keys easily accessible for Right handed peopleLeft and Right handed people, if the mappings on the two sets are switched.
Enter key easily accessible forRight handed peopleLeft and Right handed people
Language on keysEnglishLanguage-independent
Shortcuts for Copy/Cut/PasteNoYes
Shortcuts for Undo/RedoNoYes
Separate Top/Bottom/Start/EndNoYes
Functional groups colour-coded in way cool colours.NoYes (well maybe the colours are not so cool. Had to compromise.)
AltGr (Alternate Graphics) a different colourNoYes, gray to remind you it's AltGr
Currency symbols$$ £ ¥ € Ƀ, meaning the UK can now use the same keyboard as the rest of the English world. And they get the #. Plus Bitcoin.

Some criticisms and responses:

It's not QWERTYThat's a feature, not a bug. Just because you're been using it for 20 years doesn't mean it was a good idea. Besides, you can remap it to QWERTY or Dvorak if you want to.
How am I supposed to unlearn the muscle memory for QWERTY to learn this?Same as learning to ride a backwards bicycle.
This keyboard sucks for gaming.Probably. It was designed for programmers not gamers. But gamers might find the extra keys useful, and the extra nav controls ...

Continues in Part 4

 

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