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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: ssdt on Sun, 08 September 2013, 12:41:39

Title: Mechanical Keyboard with HYBRID Layout
Post by: ssdt on Sun, 08 September 2013, 12:41:39: Hey,
I've got a quick question, on which I am hoping to get a little 'illuminated'.
Because I am writing a lot I am planning on buying my first professional mechanical keyboard.
I know about the problems getting a german layout on the few really good keyboards available already, but my "problem" is a bit different.
I have seen this post by 2084 who is stating the difference between the ISO I'm currently typing on and an international layout:

Quote from: 2084 on Tue, 16 November 2010, 10:29:59
Quote from: nodq;247511
Ah right, ALT+Shift, how does that work exactly, im asking because US Layouts have small Enter Key etc. Keys are little bit different as Germans, right? You sure you can use all German specific Keys? Sorry, i just don't know, never used US Keyboard.

Show Image
(http://h-2.abload.de/img/ustodeuxlq.jpg)

Those are about all the differences between the layouts. Red is the german layout.
Oh and ^ and ° on the top left instead of ` and ~

My question now is (it may sound a bit dumb, but I googled my a** off and found nothing):
Can I just use the poker II for example that is NOT having the key between left shift and z (on german boards it is y) which is "<",">" and "|" and leave my layout the computer is resonding to the german layout? To make it clearer: I type z and the output is y? Because if this was the case I would immediately buy a mechanical one, or, at least, after I decided on, which on lol. My fear was that because of the missing key the layout could be messed up or so.

I would be pretty glad if someone could answer me. <3
Title: Re: Mechanical Keyboard with HYBRID Layout
Post by: hoggy on Sun, 08 September 2013, 13:13:00: I'm on my phone so I can't search for it, but I remember someone on deskthority getting a customised board to that spec. from unicomp. Surprisingly cheap.
Title: Re: Mechanical Keyboard with HYBRID Layout
Post by: nilpt on Sun, 08 September 2013, 13:26:15: If you connect a ANSI keyboard to your system and don't change the layout in the operating system, the keys will be "almost" in the same place and you will miss the "< >" key.
Not sure, but I think the "ö" will be above the enter key and not as shown in the image you linked, and pressing "Y" will give "Z". The alphas, numerals and other symbols will be accessible using the same modifiers as with the ISO keyboard.
Title: Re: Mechanical Keyboard with HYBRID Layout
Post by: ssdt on Sun, 08 September 2013, 13:51:46: First of all:
Thank you for your answers!

Quote from: hoggy on Sun, 08 September 2013, 13:13:00
I'm on my phone so I can't search for it, but I remember someone on deskthority getting a customised board to that spec. from unicomp. Surprisingly cheap.

A customized keyboard will not be necessary, because I want blank keys either way. (At least the ones with normal chars, will get a set of white blanks from feng.)

Quote from: nilpt on Sun, 08 September 2013, 13:26:15
If you connect a ANSI keyboard to your system and don't change the layout in the operating system, the keys will be "almost" in the same place and you will miss the "< >" key.
Not sure, but I think the "ö" will be above the enter key and not as shown in the image you linked, and pressing "Y" will give "Z". The alphas, numerals and other symbols will be accessible using the same modifiers as with the ISO keyboard.

That was exactly what I wanted to hear! The "ö" is on the key right next to "l" in the german layout, that is why it is that way in the pic I guess, but thanks for the notice! If I have a key that should not be fitting I will just macro them via autohotkey, which is quite a powerful tool. I just didn't want to rip off a whole line of keys via autohotkey for a price over 100€!

Again: THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR QUICK REPLY!

Of course I will post pics of my Mecha if I have decided which one to buy, there are more than one that I would like to have :3
Title: Re: Mechanical Keyboard with HYBRID Layout
Post by: nilpt on Sun, 08 September 2013, 14:21:22: For more ISO insights may I suggest you join deskthority.net, being a european forum and also supporting other "local" languages.