I’m just a newb when it comes to high grade keyboards, but these things look wild, and I kind of want to try one.

  • johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Prefer column staggered, but yes they really make you wonder how we got stuck with the dominant keyboard configurations. Typing with linear columns feels way more natural.

    • Khanzarate@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Typewriters.

      They had bars that needed to physically move, and so staggering them helped them not collide and get jammed.

      If you imagine a bar coming from the center of each key towards your screen, you can see how the staggering was helpful. For instance, M misses J and K above it, naturally, but it also slightly misses I and the 8 above that.

      It’s a great solution for a nonexistent problem in keyboards.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Wasn’t the whole idea to minimize the amount of times your typewriter seized up? Happened often enough with QWERTY keyboards when it came to the cheap typewriters. Yes, I’m old.

      • over_clox@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        That is why the letters are all in a funny order, but that’s not why the keys were staggered. They were staggered because of the mechanical linkages underneath the keys, so the linkages could be made straight rather than having to bend around other keys in the way.