
Interview with Eiiti Wada, Creator of the Happy Hacking Keyboard - PascLeRasc
https://www.massdrop.com/article/eiiti-wada-interview
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DavidVoid
I really like one of the highlighted quotes from him since it pretty much sums
up my view on computer peripherals:

 _" Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing
the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. When America’s cowboys were in
the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there.
But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle
with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface
that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable
goods, while keyboards are important interfaces."_

Also the title should probably be marked with (2016) since this isn't a new
interview.

~~~
PascLeRasc
Yeah, that part made me imagine a world where everyone carries around a cool
keyboard with their dotfiles stored on it, and logs into public UNIX machines
just by plugging it in.

~~~
dri_ft
The Kinesis Freestyle Edge has a tiny 4MB memory drive built into it. It's
intended for storing the keyboard's editable config files, but you could
easily keep your dotfiles there, too.

~~~
SuperPaintMan
Really? That's pretty handy actually. A long time ago I ran an experiment
where I kept my dotfiles remotely and union mounted them to the right places.
The real issue was getting it set up on temporary usage boxes and managing the
differences.

While not as fun, this is why I built my own ErgoDox. So I can have my own
personalized layout/layers and never have to worry about trying to configure
the system. Just plug and go.

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komali2
Hahaha, I love his answer to "hhkb is great for unix programming, how would
you design a keyboard for a modern ide that uses lots of function keys and key
combos?"

>I once wrote an application for iPhone. The environment was quite different
from my previous experience. I am already quite old, and personally the
present environment is pleasant and comfortable for me.

Which I read as "I'm too tired, that's someone else's problem."

~~~
ungzd
I used Eclipse, Netbeans and Idea, even Visual Studio (old versions) and don't
remember using F-keys. F-keys were heavily used in DOS era, but later not
much.

Modifier keys are even more heavily used in Emacs than these IDEs.

You will probably be more productive in all these eclipses with HHKB than with
full-size PC keyboard because mouse will be closer to right hand home row
position, and you can't avoid mouse with these IDEs.

When Apple removed F-keys row on Macbooks, everyone missed only Esc key which
was on that row, almost no one complained about removed F-keys. And AFAIK you
can't press these keys with Fn+numbers on Macbook.

~~~
dylan604
> And AFAIK you can't press these keys with Fn+numbers on Macbook.

There is a System Preferences > Keyboard > "Press Fn key to <Show F1,F2,etc
Keys>" option available to do just that.

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Cthulhu_
A rather hostile website in that whenever you click or try to select
something, a signup popup appears. 90's / 2000's popups were less aggressive
than that.

Web developers, please stop with the popups!

~~~
lenartowski
Unfortunately, usually it's not up to web developers, blame it on a business
people.

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wrecursion
As a big fan of ergonomics, it's really hard for me to understand how anyone
likes these types of keyboards....

Maybe its just my physical size, but to me, one of the biggest problems with
traditional keyboards is how close the right and left key 'wells' are to each
other.

I started using a kinesis advantage some years ago and find them simply
amazing for a multitude of reasons.

\- First off, the separation between right and left key 'wells' decreases
pressure at my wrists significantly.

\- Secondly, the small, natural curve in the wells seems to greatly reduce the
effort required to reach the most used keys.

\- And thirdly, thumb keys are bomb!!

All of that said, it is a pretty expensive piece of gear... but it's also
where the rubber meets the road -- where my fingers do the talking.. so why
shouldn't it be nice?

~~~
ungzd
One of problems with columnar/ortholinear/split keyboards is that all of them
are 40%-50%ish. I never seen such keyboard with '[' and ']' keys in standard
places. Sometimes there's no "'" too. Yes, this is by design, because these
keys are too far away from home position, but I use Russian layout and it has
'х', 'ъ' and 'э' letters on these keys. Not the most frequent letters but
still I don't like idea to have letters on some unrelated places on
"punctuation layer".

Not everybody likes heavy use of modifier keys. Despite using computers from
early 90s I still struggle with pressing ctrl/alt/super before alphanum key,
sometimes I press keys in wrong order (i.e. I press alphanum before ctrl is
fully pressed). Using multiple layers with Fn keys would be probably a
nightmare for me.

~~~
bootlooped
I think a fully programmable keyboard might be able to satisfy your
requirements. Off the top of my head Ergodox/Ergodone, Iris, Helix, and Let's
Split are a few that are split and programmable.

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larrywright
I always wanted one of these, but never got around to buying one. I’ve used
the Filco Ninja keyboard with a similar compact layout, which I enjoyed. The
keyboard I use the most, however, is the Apple Extended Keyboard II. It
requires an adapter to work with USB and doesn’t have media keys, but it’s
just the most comfortable keyboard that I’ve ever used. It looks odd paired to
my 2018 MacBook Pro, but I’m willing to forego the aesthetics for the comfort.

~~~
Cthulhu_
It looks interesting, but I'm no vim / emacs pro (I never got used to it) and
need arrow keys.

At home (leisure, gaming, forums etc) I have a Filco Majestouch, tenkeyless
version. At work I have the new apple wireless keyboard, also without numpad;
I prefer a low profile for work.

~~~
JetSetWilly
It is ok, but, imo it could do with a smaller space bar and more thumb keys.
Also, the wasted space on either side of the bottom row is irritating when it
could easily have been used for keys. The uhk-60 looks a lot better in that
regard, but unfortunately is well out of my price range.

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tudelo
So I was wondering if anyone else finds the lack of F keys to be a minor
annoyance? I currently have been using a 60 percent keyboard and am thinking
of getting a similar keyboard with F keys because some times it's just really
inconvenient...

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whym
I use a HHKB and its solid response on key press is irreplaceable for me.

I wonder how I can reduce the noise, though. A 5mm shock absorbing mat beneath
helps to some extent (cheap one, like $2 USD), but apparently that's not
enough.

~~~
DavidVoid
I can highly recommend hypersphere's silencing rings but they are pretty
expensive so it's probably more worthwhile to check out the cheaper ones made
by KBDfans or KeyClack.

Here's a video demonstrating the before and after sound.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdqYnI55kVw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdqYnI55kVw)

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BrendanD
My dream is a tenkeyless membrane, i.e. all keys in the usual size and layout
but simply w/o numpad. Somehow our bloated over-consuming society won't make
one.

~~~
SuperPaintMan
The IBM SpaceSaver II is a TKL membrane board if you don't mind digging around
or a big ol' IBM Logo

~~~
BrendanD
If only it didn't have the mouse nub. I tend to hit it a lot when typing.
Otherwise it would be perfect.

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gkanai
Back in the 90s, I started using the Microsoft Natural keyboards at work (the
ones that are 'bent' in the middle) and I am most comfortable with that
layout.

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znpy
Massdrop website is awful.

I can't even browse it unless I am registered?

Keep your sh*t, I'd rather pay full price than agree to this kind of
behaviour.

