Great thread! I always say that a keyboard is like shoes for your hands. I am going to look into the brands/models that have been recommended because it's always a struggle being in Canada, reading stuff written in the US about this or that device you can get for a good price, only to find it is 2x or 6x the price, or not available at all. And these devices in particular for some reason have had very unusual market strutures, where you have to be in discord chats to get a chance to pre order for a component that does not yet exist... I haven't participated in any of that stuff. I have ended up going with Keychron brand for 3/3 of my good mechanical keyboards because they are the lowest price ($50-100 incl tax shipping) for what I want. Which is standard interoperable components, hotswap switches, detachable USB C, QMK/VIA (2/3), TKL layout. Requiring TKL really reduces the options as many budget models go for a smaller layout. But I want a full sized shift, navpad, Fkeys and all that. Initially I wanted LEDs but eventually I realized the nice keycaps are all opaque anyway so I never used the lights. I do NOT like kbs with rainbow lights, flashing lights etc. I would only ever use solid white anyway, which is actually difficult to obtain. Wireless I almost never use. It's also nice to get one that comes with good internal insulation (foam/silicone mat under the curcuit board) because the sound is a lot less obnoxious. You can DIY stuffing full of foam but it takes a lot of time and is not as good. I do not fool around with more elaborate customizations although I would like to learn how to make the Space Bar behave, feel and sound more like the other keys instead of so loud and loose, Best switches for typing are box white kalih. A VERY strong recc from me on these. They have sweet tactile/audio feedback, but are quieter than the blue "clicky" classics. The "box" shape makes them less wobbly. Also have some other silent ones that still have acceptable tactile for using when the sound would bother people but I forget the exact model. Box white are near the cheapest you can get and the silent ones slightly more expensive. Before I made decisions about switches I got a little sample kit of different basic switches because reading or watching youtubes about these things is very abstract. I did NOT regret the $20 or whatever because it saved me from mistakenly buying a lot of things I wouldn't have enjoyed. And of course you can share that sort of thing among friends (like a linux club). I gave mine away now that I know which switches I like. For keycaps, there is a lot of obsessing with different "profiles" which I have a hard time believing make a huge difference. I had some fun buying different sets on aliexpres and making coloful layouts. If you would enjoy that, I suggest picking a very common profile and sticking to it. There is one where all the keys are completely flat and that's the one I like, because any key can be put on any row. Manufacturers introduce new profiles and it just means you can't mix n match. One concern I had before buying an expensive (for me) fancy keyboard is that I would eventually spill a drink on it, and it would be ruined, as that had been the fate of all my previous keyboards. But this was wrong! It turns out, a great advantage of a hotswap keyboard is that you can take the whole thing apart to clean it, and actually get liquid completely out instead of trying to shake it out or putting in rice or other ineffectual method. If a switch malfunctions because it is full of gunk or another reason, just replace it. So none of my kbs have suffered permanent damage from the various spills and other abuse I subject them to. Only problem with the QMK is the configuration software has shit support for linux. VIA really want you to use this web app that only runs on Chrome, which I don't typically keep around. The desktop electron VIA software sometimes is working and sometimes is not working. Last time I tried I was unable to get it to communicate with my keyboard. And the git repo is massive if you install that way, because by default it clones the configuration for every keyboard ever made. There is a cli but it's not simple to use and a big time investment to learn for something that is not going to be used very often. Ideally, once per device. Even though I have a couple of these keyboards and I have spent time over the years reading and such, I find the whole customization environment/ecology confusing. It's one of those areas where one project bleeds into another, you read about something being supported but then can't find it, and a bunch of time is spent going around in circles. While I really like my special keyboards once they're set up, I don't really want to learn about the really indepth functioning of these things. It is somewhat geared towards people who are able to program their own drivers if need be, or at least conversant to manipulate them at a deep level. The above would be different depending on which keyboard you have. Keychron is annoying because they seem to not exactly participate in the open source development community, like by providing whatever info is needed to properly support their devices. Their official venue for linux support is a facebook group.... Which is rather the wrong tool for the job. Also I would like a little tray I can slip my laptop into that would hold the mechanical kb over the case without resting the weight and trauma of typing on the computer. It seems simple but all attempts at construction have failed. I have seen others asking after the same question but few solutions except for the cyberdeck people, which cool to look at but beyond my needs. As it is my laptop is trashed because I am always just resting my external kb on top, with some kind of spacer like a piece of plexiglass or something which isn't ideal. By the way does anybody happen to have a bottom case for thinkpad x260 lying around? this thing is literally being held together with tape but I can't afford a new computer. On ebay you can but them in lots of 8 but I only need one lol. If I can't find a new case I will end up moving the internals into a cake pan or something. On Sat, Jun 13, 2026, at 3:16 PM, Evan Leibovitch via Talk wrote:
Hi all,
I don't know if this is of interest to anyone but myself, but I thought it might be worth mentioning. Since the keyboard is something we interact with all the time -- more than any individual piece of software -- it seems that having the most comfortable and useful one is worthy of some effort.
For the longest time it seems that you had to go to one of two extremes • Mushy, low-travel keys that are a seeming necessity in laptops but also seem to predominate among the low-value, plasticky stock that ships with most desktops. Relatively light, built mostly out of thin plastic. Quite inexpensive and easy to find, for all I know Dollarama may have one. (Even if they do, don't get it.) • Loud, clacky, spring-resistant, built like tanks -- the kind I grew up with (evolved from the IBM Model M that is still being produced today) <https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/NEW_M> that became the early mainstay of gamers and power users. They were big, heavy and expensive, but very reliable -- the Cooler Master QuickFire unit that I've been using is old enough to have shipped with a PS/2 adapter. Mostly found in computer retailers and expensive (>$125). But over the last year or two I've been seeing a whole new crop of keyboards that challenge the feel, build quality and even layouts of the tried and true; certainly they change the value proposal. I've bought two and switched to one as my daily driver.
These new keyboards have many common characteristics: • Decent build quality • Less than C$100, sometimes way less • Online from Amazon or Aliexpress, sometimes need to go to Amazon US • Can do wired, dongle AND bluetooth • Have LEDs under the keys • Hot-swappable switches and keycaps • Programmable, often using the VIA standard <https://caniusevia.com/> • Offer reduced formats (lower footprint if you don't need the keypad). • Brands you've never heard of, often goofy names, that only do keyboards • A "creamy" feel/sound that's somewhere between squishy and clacky There is also a thriving marketplace of custom switches and keycaps because of good standards to which most makers adhere. ("Cherry", which used to be the benchmark for switches, isn't even in anyone's top 10 list these days.)
I'm very happy with the two keyboards I've bought: • ElecFox Linky87 <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCMKMN4F> - Bought from Amazon US, CAD$77 including shipping to Canada and HST. It's the perfect layout for me, giving me new desktop space. Sounds and feels wonderful. I bought the black version which is not to all tastes because the key labels are on the side of the keys and use the LEDs to shine through. • The Kisnt KN85 <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DBZGH5XM> - Also bought from Amazon US last year for about the same price. This seems to be the darling of the reviewers; it's certainly well made, and the sound and feel are excellent. But the software is non-standard and awful , and the layout is an odd one that I've never quite felt comfortable with. It's on Amazon Canada but last the price there was ridiculous, cheaper to buy at Amazon US and pay the shipping I invite anyone reading this that might be interested to have a look at one or two of the Youtube channels that obsess with the subject, HipyoTech <https://www.youtube.com/@HipyoTech> and SwitchAndClick <https://www.youtube.com/@SwitchandClickOfficial> are the two I follow.
I'd be interested to know about anyone else's journey through this realm, and/or if anyone thinks it would be a good topic for future GTALUG talk. Cheers for making it this far.
- Evan ------------------------------------ Description: GTALUG Talk Unsubscribe via Talk-unsubscribe@lists.gtalug.org Start a new thread: talk@lists.gtalug.org This message archived at https://lists.gtalug.org/archives/list/talk@lists.gtalug.org/message/AV63BHO...