geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: hruvulum on Sat, 22 January 2011, 11:49:52
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The vast majority of computer keyboard made in the last 30 years and all the mechanical keyboards I have seen follow the standard set by IBM in which one row of keys is 3/4 inch from the next row (which I will call the "vertical spacing") and (in each row) one key is 3/4 inch from its neighbor (which I will call the "horizontal spacing").
All the keyboards sold by Apple in the last 4 years deviate from the IBM standard by having a "vertical spacing" of only 9/16 (edit: wrong: 23/32 is more like it) inches or so (except that the bottom row, which contains the space bar, is "taller" than the other rows except on the new 11-inch Macbook Air). I.e., on a recent Apple keyboard, the "vertical" component of the distance between the center of the Q key and the center of the A key is significantly less than it is on most keyboards made in the last 30 years.
I used to be annoyed at Apple for deviating from the standard, but then I noticed that it might be time for a new standard (and as far as I have been able to tell by measuring a few keyboards and looking at a lot of pictures of keyboards, all Apple keyboards of the last 4 years are "standardized" in the sense of being the same in their spacing except for the very minor difference in the new 11-inch Macbook Air noted above) because the old, IBM standard vertical spacing of .75 inches is a problem on netbooks and computers like the 11-inch Macbook Air.
So my question to the group is, can I buy or build a mechanical keyboard (external keyboard, of course) that has the same vertical spacing between rows of keys as an Apple keyboard?
That way, it will be easier every time I switch between using my Macbook's internal keyboard and the mechanical keyboard.
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Interesting. I have not noticed this before. I will certainly take another look at the Macintoshes at work on Monday.
Mechanical switches are mounted on either a metal plate or a PCB or both. Commissioning only one or a few PCBs or CNC-cut or stamped metal plates can be quite costly per item.
Instead of commissioning a CNC'ed switch mounting plate, I have been considering getting a plate and case made as one piece by a 3D printer at Shapeways (http://www.shapeways.com), but I am unsure about the tolerance and shrinking of the materials.
You could perhaps get a Cherry keyboard with PCB-mounted switches, cut up the PCB, glue it together again and then reroute everything, but that would be a lot of work .. not to mention a lot of opportunity to screw up.
Then there are the key caps ...
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OK OK I do not need more info about building a keyboard.
Thanks for the replies.
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on a recent Apple keyboard, the "vertical" component of the distance between the center of the Q key and the center of the A key is significantly less than it is on most keyboards made in the last 30 years
WTH.
That is all.
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... a "vertical spacing" of only 9/16 inches or so ...
BTW, I think that you are exaggerating a little bit. I don't have a chiclet Apple keyboard right now (at home), but I have been downloading several pictures and taken measurements in those. The difference between width and height is very small.
I would speculate that the lower height is a way to retain the finger distance from the home row to other keys in the new flat keyboards vs. the previous desktop keyboard, which had a curved back plane.
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You cannot kill that which never lived.
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I have measured on the recent Apple keyboards at work. Both stand-alone small and wide and on a laptops.
4 keys measured horizontally are 3" = 76 mm, but 4 keys measured vertically are 74 mm. (76 - 74)/4 = ~1/2 mm smaller height per key. Not measured at sub-mm accuracy, though.
Winnie The Poo ruler.
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It would make sense to vertical reduce key spacing on entirely flat keyboards a bit. Curvature on a regular one has about the same effect.
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Thanks for the replies.
In my original post, I used a bad number because I was too lazy to redo the measurement or find my notes on my old measurement. (Sorry. I have edited the OP to add a correction.)
According to my measurement with a ruler, the distance between the top of the space key and the top of the 7 key or the top of the control key and the top of the backquote key (that is, 4 rows of keys and the space between keys) is about 3.2 mm or 1/8 inch less on a first-generation Macbook than on a standard keyboard. A new-looking Apple keyboard at a local museum had the same measurement as the Macbook's keyboard up to the limits of the measurement technique I was using (a pencil mark on an index card).
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Now I can call my DealExtreme the Macbook Killer too. It's off by only a 1/16".
It's also a Noppoo and IBM Space-saving industrial killer! And every other space-saving mechanical keyboard ever!