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Comment by tw04 | Hacker News Reader

Man if System76 is listening, or any keyboard manufacturer for that matter: please make a mechanical version of the ms ergonomic keyboard. All the other "ergonomics" seem to be trying too hard and have layouts that are so different from a standard keyboard as to be annoying. The MS one was perfect in every way, just needs mechanical keys.

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If MSFT released a cherry MX version of this keyboard, and moved the 6 key to the right hand cluster, it'd be an instant buy from me. I learned touch typing with 6 on the right side, and most keyboards I've seen have it setup the same, so not sure why MS sticks with this convention.

Huh. I haven't used an ergo keyboard in many years, and never used one much, but just checked and sure enough, I type the 6 with my left hand, every time.

It's either an innate it's-easier-for-some-reason thing, or else it's habit from stretching across the number keys while playing WASD+mouse video games. I type 7 and up with my right, though.

Interesting, I never played much games but the WASD keys sounds like a really good reason why some may type '6' with the left hand.

Yeah, they're hot-keys for various things in a lot of games. If you've spent much time playing PC FPS games of the old-school type where your dude can carry a whole arsenal at once, for example, then you've had to get very good at quickly and precisely striking the entire number row with your left hand, since they're typically used to swap to a specific weapon, plus sometimes some of the F keys for other reasons (thinking in Jedi Knight, where F-keys are used to trigger force powers or healing in the default layout). Or any of the old-school keyboard + mouse or keyboard + joystick simulator games where almost every button does something, especially if they're combat oriented simulators (since that adds a lot of urgency to needing to hit many buttons very fast) like Mechwarrior or X-Wing/TIE Fighter.

I second this wholeheartedly. There were the Microsoft natural keyboards and the cheap $20 knockoffs that had the six key on the right. I always had to look for those. I thought I was broken but apparently I’m not alone.

The Kinesis Freestyle is absolutely fantastic.

I came to second this. As a fan of the MS Ergonomic Keyboard for over a decade, I bought the Freestyle Edge with Cherry MX Brown keys and never looked back. I had to do just a bit of customization to get a negative bias to work with the tenting kit (to feel similar to the MS keyboard) but it's been a pure joy to type on.

> ms ergonomic keyboard

Hopefully you mean the Natural Ergonomic KB 4000, because every incarnation since has borked the key layouts in some significant way. I have a collection of those bad-boys, so hopefully I'll never run out, cuz they're getting harder to find.

Definitely the KB 4000. I have a collection as well and still use them on occasion. I even researched and found one guy who converted his to mechanical but the amount of effort and time is well outside of what I could dedicate to a project like that.

Only keyboard I’ve ever bought more than one of.

One of mine lasted so long the little nubs on the J and F keys had worn away. I had to scar them with an old soldering iron to I could position my hands by touch again.

Totally. AL other ergots going full crazy or barely at all. MS Ergo classic is nearly perfect.

Perhaps MS has some patents/IP protecting their design ? It may be why no one is doing it? .

Even if the patents are questionable , small OEMs would not want to risk facing MS legal.

Logitech makes an ergonomic keyboard, the Logitech K860 ERGO, and smaller OEMs make them, too.

Especially of the lopped the number pad off of it. Been wanting the equivalent to the MS Nat Erg 4000 at an 80% for some time.

Alice style keyboard is as close as you can get in terms of layout

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