Best keyboards for emacs?
For emacs users out there, what are your recommended keyboards?
Bonus points for keyboards that:
- Have no capslock key. Instead, a control key in that position.
- Alt keys that are closer to the centre, and easier to use with meta key combos. I find alt keys too far to the left to be a bit awkward to hit with my thumb in some key combos.
- Help ergonomically with emacs in other ways.
I'm not a huge fan of model M style high and clacky keys. I instead prefer laptop style flat keys; however, I'm not disqualifying either category.
A couple of interesting keyboards I'm curious if people have tried with emacs - Kinesis
Semi-conclusion:
I ended up getting an MS natural 4k, which I like a lot overall as the alt keys on both sides are easy to hit with your thumbs. This is useful for ergoemacs-mode.
However, one flaw I see with this keyboard is that the number keys are shifted to the left, so that 6 is on the wrong side of the keyboard. Aside from that 0 is left shifted enough that I accidentally hit - when I meant to hit 0 with my pinky.
Due to this flaw, I'm leaving this question open in case someone can come up with the perfect emacs keyboard.
Answer
Richard Stallman (which I'm sure you all know is the author of Emacs, and probably the biggest Emacs user) was seen using a HHKB (Happy Hacking Keyboard) (source)
Here's the layout of the HHKB Pro:
- No Caps Lock.
- Control key conveniently placed for Emacs users.
They're quite pricey though...