Best keyboards for emacs?

Question

For emacs users out there, what are your recommended keyboards?

Bonus points for keyboards that:

1. Have no capslock key. Instead, a control key in that position.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Solution 1

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...

Solution 2

I used the Kinesis keyboard with Emacs for many years and loved it. Having Alt, Ctrl, Del, and Backspace all easily reachable with the thumbs is very, very nice. The location of the arrow keys is also quite convenient.

Solution 3

I have a model M "Das Keyboard" Ultimate - no letters on it, highly ergonomical and very beneficial to my productivity. I used to share your taste for low profile laptop style keyboards, but ever since I got the Das Keyboard I cannot imagine using another keyboard. It's as noisy and heavy as they get, but it's benefits cannot be described by mere words - one has to type on it for himself... Since you can easily remap CAPS to control(which I've done) I don't think that you should consider something like this in a keyboard a particular advantage. Also - if you get attached to using a keyboard with a highly customized key layout you'll be very impaired when you have to do some work from time to time on a regular keyboard...

Solution 4

There is another keyboard on the way designed for use within emacs, its name is the key64 and is a keyboard i am designing from about two years ago, right now i am finishing building the firmware while all the instructions to make the pcb and the parts needed to make the keyboard are available at its website www.key64.org It's 100% programmable within Linux with gcc-avr as it use a teensy board.

Hope to finish the firmware by the end of January 2013 and publish it at the website for anyone interested in making his own keyboard :)

Solution 5

I recently got a ThinkPad USB TrackPoint Keyboard at work, and is very pleased with it.

I always remap the Caps Lock to act as an extrac Ctrl. When I do need the mouse, the trackpoint is right there, no need to move your hand away from the keyboard.

The keyboard is very flat and I like the feel of the keys. I have a couple of thinkpad laptops as well, and as this is essentially the same keyboard, the feel is the same whether I at my desk or working directly on the laptop - that's a big plus.

Here's some photos: http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/08/31/finally-photos-of-new-thinkpad-usb-trackpoint-keyboard/

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