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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Moogle Stiltzkin on Wed, 19 January 2011, 13:46:38

Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: Moogle Stiltzkin on Wed, 19 January 2011, 13:46:38
Not sure if i've asked this, but does anyone else who not speak German, but uses a German layout keyboard find it tolerable ?

The reason i ask is that seems there lots of vintage keyboards and they are all in the German layout.

So before i plump down some moolahs on one, i would like to know other peoples experiences with it.



The French Azerty to me is plain evil, that i already know. But what about the German layout ?



Also is it possible to replace the keycaps with English ones, and convert it to US ansi ? or is that not possible ?
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 19 January 2011, 13:49:16
Your command of the English language is such that I, personally, don't think any keyboard layout will affect you.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: keyboardlover on Wed, 19 January 2011, 13:51:43
Moogle + moolah = "mooglah"
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: Soarer on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:03:37
Swapping keycaps gets you most of the way there. Still ISO enter and small left shift... depends how you find those. I like them.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: sixty on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:05:49
Personally I can hotswap between both of them. I use ANSI US 80% of the time, but I have no issues with the European Enter and small shift either. Only thing I really miss is my wide | \ key.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: sixty on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:07:20
Oh, also I should mention that I have long forgotten how to actually type on the German layout. So when I say hotswap, I mean I use a German keyboard and its set to US QWERTY anyway, since I touch type. The physical layout should be no problem to adjust to.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: Moogle Stiltzkin on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:10:01
@soarer

So basically everything is us ansi, but enter remains ISO L shaped, and small left shift ?

Yeah i could live with that :}




@sixty

The thing is i just stick to qwerty since i'm very used to it. I wouldn't enjoy switching between us and german layout :/
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: Soarer on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:10:28
The brackets are so misleading... on 8,9 vs 9,0.

Otherwise I can ignore the markings, but that one always makes me pause!
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: 7bit on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:12:18
Quote from: Moogle Stiltzkin;281188
Not sure if i've asked this, but does anyone else who not speak German, but uses a German layout keyboard find it tolerable ?

The reason i ask is that seems there lots of vintage keyboards and they are all in the German layout.

So before i plump down some moolahs on one, i would like to know other peoples experiences with it.

The French Azerty to me is plain evil, that i already know. But what about the German layout ?


I typed a lot on German-layout keyboards with the system set up to US-layout. It is a bit tricky with those charakter at the number-row, if you look at it and that J-shape enter in the place of \|.

You can swapp all the keys with 6bit's set, and except for enter you get quite a good US-ANSI-layout.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: calavera on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:33:11
When I bought a cherry keyboard with german layout a long long time ago, I remember that the Z and Y keys were swapped.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: bugfix on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:34:11
Quote from: calavera;281247
When I bought a cherry keyboard with german layout a long long time ago, I remember that the Z and Y keys were swapped.


That's why it's called QWERTZ.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:39:46
My watch is qwertz-driven.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: bugfix on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:40:21
Jackdaws love my big sphinx of qwertz.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: itlnstln on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:43:26
I see your qwertz is bigger than mine.
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: Moogle Stiltzkin on Wed, 19 January 2011, 14:43:50
Ok seems it's doable using Soarer's method. Small left shift and big shaped L but to me that hardly seems a problem at all.

If you want to convert, there is 7bit's method but seems to be a lot of modding involved :/

Requirement: sixty's us ansi doubleshot set



Anyway sadly the problem is the pricing :/ Sadly it isn't economically viable for me at this point. Can be done but it's out of my budget.


And just the other day i saw a G80-1000 in US ansi floating around, but it got sold :{
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: Moogle Stiltzkin on Wed, 19 January 2011, 15:40:21
Noticed another thing.

(http://keyboardporn.com/files/gimgs/th-44_3.jpg)

(http://keyboardporn.com/files/gimgs/th-44_4.jpg)


You see where the left shift is, there is this >< key. So that will be a dead key ?

So when i set win7 to use US ANSI, what does that <> key there do exactly ?


*update


bottom left and the keys near to the enter is slightly ****ed :/ so i gave up on the idea.

Could probably work 7bit's way but i'm not gonna do hardcore modding :{
Title: Is a German layout bearable for someone use to US ANSI ?
Post by: woody on Wed, 19 January 2011, 17:00:12
Quote from: Moogle Stiltzkin;281329
So when i set win7 to use US ANSI, what does that <> key there do exactly ?

Probably pipe/backslash, but not sure and too lazy to try. Could well be <>.