On Sun, Jun 14, 2026 at 12:22 AM William Park via Talk < talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
All three keyboards mentioned are "linear" (Red) switch. Gamers like them, because force is constant throughout the key travel. I'm not a gamer, so can't comment on their experience. I prefer light key, that provides initial resistance and then collapses after trigger point. This usually means "clicky" (Blue) or "tactile" (Brown) switch, though I don't care about audio or tactile feedback. If anything, less noise is better.
I use Topre keyboard (brand: RealForce) which is "capacitive" switch with variable weight (ie. different key has different weight). I bought them long ago. It delayed the onset of carpal tunnel (wrist), tennis elbow (elbow), and pinched nerve (neck/shoulder), and it helps me keep those symptoms at manageable level.
One of the things I find most fascinating about the current environment is the nearly complete separation possible between keyboard case, switches and keycaps. Buy a keyboard for the layout, connectivity, software and build quality, but feel free to change the switches if you don't like what it came with because almost everything now is hot-swappable and uses the same standard sockets. Both keyboards I recently bought ship with key/switch pullers and spare switches. One well-reviewed keyboard, the SmackApe <https://smackape.com/collections/keyboard/products/impact-80> (I told you the vendor names were weird!) Impact 80 <https://www.amazon.com/SMACKAPE-Impact80-Mechanical-Hot-Swappable-Compatible/dp/B0G193TT5S/ref=sr_1_4>, comes with one of three different switches depending what colour you buy. Indeed, depending on your overall preference, you could do worse than to buy a sample pack of switches <https://hippokeys.com/collections/frontpage> to see if you're on Team Tactile, Squad Squishy or Club Creamy, then buy a set of the one you like. A set of 90 switches (for a keyboard without a number pad) will run about $40 <https://www.amazon.ca/Pro-Pre-lubed-Switches-Mechanical-Keyboard/dp/B0D17H6QFN/ref=sr_1_2> . Now, for mouse... get one with back/forward buttons. You will never go
back. So, 5-buttons + wheel. :-)
I was playing with that recently, but I found that there doesn't seem to be a standard mapping for those extra mouse (or in my case trackball) buttons. In the KDE settings I map them to PgUp and PgDn which makes them useful with some apps but I wish there was more standardization. I also notice that on a few of my pointing devices, the scroll wheel can be moved side to side enough to click, but I have no way of knowing how to implement that under Linux. It's *supposed* to enable horizontal scrolling, I believe, but I've never been able to make it work. - Evan