System76 Launches The Launch Configurable Keyboard

[Yndoendo]

I purchased this once it was possible today. Looking for another mechanical keyboard since I currently use one keyboard, Drop ALT, for four different computers. And yes that means physically disconnecting and reconnecting. Started search for another while waiting for the UHK v2 to be shipped.

Owned a Corsair K70 RGB, gave away to a family member. Work bought me a K70 when I started. Cannot go back to mass produced keyboards anymore with wanting to remap the key mapping at keyboard level instead of OS service level. Nothing like plug and play versus having to reconfigure manufacturer OS services per device and OS while mainstream only supports Windows.

Last time I used the numeric keypad was back in High School with typing class. Keyboard firmware level key mapping is so much better because it is a once and done task. Helps make my VI / VIM interaction so much better while coding. Even to the point I stopped using the K70 work bought me.

The same day I started searching for another keyboard was the day this was up for purchasing. Drop ALT was a test buy just like the UHK v2 is a test buy and the System 76 is test buy. One reason I would not buy the Drop ALT again is not because of the layout but because they lack updating the up steaming the QMK project and custom firmware building is a pain in the ass! I want keyboard level macros not OS level!

PS. My Drop ALT color mapping only functions in low level light, matches my laptop's background, and is unreadable during the day. Full keyboards are a waste of space and if I ever need a numeric keypad I'll just purchase a numeric keyboard to fit the need with extra key functionality.

[extremesquared]

...the keys all face directly up. That's exceptionally poor ergonomics for a $285 keyboard...

In their defense, typewriter layout keyboards sell at a rate at least three orders of magnitude greater than orthogonal or other ergonomic keyboards. For their entry into the market, I get it. An orthogonal model-M-style-dished keyboard would have been super cool, but also super bold for a company trying to push a higher-overhead-cost US-made device into a market saturated by manufacturers using overseas manufacturing with much easier profit margins.

Incidentally, I won't buy it for this reason after experiencing orthogonal keyboards, but I am picky, and my hands are freakish, and they made the correct choice.

[extremesquared]

One such person here.
Touch typing is quite a pointless skill to have anyway, imo. Every keyboard differs slightly in key placement and size, even if they all use standard QWERTY or AZERTY layouts. All touch typing does is to provide a false sense of confidence that immediately disappears as soon as the keyboard is switched out.

I touch type on my keyboards and two-finger hunt-and-peck on other peoples' keyboards, and still feel like it was a great investment because the latter is such a rare occurrence.
I have also met much worse typists who were much better programmers than me, so... perspective.

[Sonadow]

Hmm. Well, I for one really like just thinking what I want to appear and having it flow out via muscle memory without looking down and pecking about. It is also nice when transcribing something, when you just look at the source material and hammer it out. And I have been touch typing on everything from IBM selectrics, apple II, atari, various PC, DEC (shudder) etc. and find it translates pretty well as a skill. I do not for a moment regret the small amount of time I put in learning that skill 30+ years ago...

I have found similar reward in learning vi long ago; one doesn't think of what key to hit, but what the desired result is, and it just happens. (This occurs to such an extent that I have had people ask me how to do something in vi, and I could not articulate it, but had to actually do it and observe the result.)

I have known some incredibly fast and productive hunt and peckers, though. Just sharing my experience.

It is not. Touch typing greatly increases productivity.

Only if it is accurate. Since everybody just loves to share anecdotal evidence, I will just say that many gamers in my office who boast about being able to touch type at >100wpm on their fancy mechanical or optical gaming keyboards can barely produce anything more than 60wpm on the cheap keyboards we have, and that's 60wpm not taking into consideration errors and typos. If we did, it would drop to 50 wpm. or less. The girls and non-gamers could do easily much better than them.

[Sonadow]

That's some high quality trolling right there.

If you can't touch type, you are literally pissing money down the drain every day of your career. I don't care what your career is, you are losing time and money, significant amounts of both.

I will like your crystal ball. Apparently you so know much about the various jobs in the world to assume that not touch-typing = loss of money.

And having a different POV is called trolling. So the whole world must bow down and worship your one and only universal sacred rule. Who died and made you the arbitrator of opinions?

[Leprechaunius]

Wow, what an absolute nightmare of a keyboard.

• No numpad
• Ultra tiny Enter
• Arrows cramped near the rest of the keys
• Left Alt waaay too much to the left. How are you supposed to press combinations like ALT + SHIFT + F with your left hand???
• Two small space keys? Really? With the division right in the middle, where you actually press it the most?
• PgUp/PgDn... I don't even know what to say - wtf is that abomination?
• Why TF aren't Shift, Ctrl and Caps aligned with the Tab?
• Where is Insert? And PrtSc?

Seriously, I don't think I ever saw a worse keyboard than this. I wouldn't work with this, even if they would actually pay me to use it.

[Sonadow]

Wow, what an absolute nightmare of a keyboard.

• Two small space keys? Really? With the division right in the middle, where you actually press it the most?

Seriously, I don't think I ever saw a worse keyboard than this. I wouldn't work with this, even if they would actually pay me to use it.

All split keyboards and ergonomic keyboards split the spacebar key.

And I get extremely frustrated with laptops where the sides of the spacebar don't respond to presses. That is where my thumbs are, damnit. I should not be forced to move my thumbs to an awkward position just to insert a space.

[angelsl]

I'm surprised at the number of people here who have never seen smaller layouts. This looks like a slightly modified 75% layout, which is starting to become more common from other (mainly Chinese) manufacturers e.g. Keychron, Royal Kludge, Keycool, etc.

Wow, what an absolute nightmare of a keyboard.

• No numpad

Why do you need a numpad? If you really need one, buy a separate numpad. Then you can bring it out when you need it, and otherwise just save some desk space.

• Ultra tiny Enter

Yeah, this is a bit strange, I'm not sure why they shrunk the Enter.

• Arrows cramped near the rest of the keys

This is fine. You get used to it.

• Left Alt waaay too much to the left. How are you supposed to press combinations like ALT + SHIFT + F with your left hand???

Remap the keys. Swap Alt and Super, or whatever. It's configurable for a reason.

• Two small space keys? Really? With the division right in the middle, where you actually press it the most?

Do you actually press your spacebar in the middle?

• PgUp/PgDn... I don't even know what to say - wtf is that abomination?

It's typical for laptop keyboards, and smaller keyboard layouts.

• Why TF aren't Shift, Ctrl and Caps aligned with the Tab?

This is another odd design choice.

• Where is Insert? And PrtSc?

Remap the keys yourself if you want those.

Although it is odd that they decided to have a 2u delete key and leave empty space there rather than have two extra keys (PrtSc and something else), which other 75% layouts tend to have.

Seriously, I don't think I ever saw a worse keyboard than this. I wouldn't work with this, even if they would actually pay me to use it.

Now this is just hyperbole.

[obri]

Hmm, I wish them best of luck for success, but this one does really not trigger me.

I would prefer an ergodox over this KB at any time.

[b1twise]

Huh. I was excitedly looking forward to this. Now I am not. Ok, a few things can be fixed by remapping (right of spacebar layout), but they haven't given me enough keys to work with, and the physical layout of them is really poor. Also, this shows no sense of ergonomics. And it's ugly. Did they test this in-house at all? I like the USB hub. This is a pretty hard miss... I like buying US made products, but not at the expense of my hands.