So.. it has been a few days since I got my eagerly anticipated HHKB. Those of you who didn't know,
I wrote out what I was getting in my "debut post". What can I say about the HHKB? having now my own one I must admit:
- First ever 東プレ (Topre) based keyboard switch that I own.
- First ever HHKB keyboard.
- First ever a Japanese (JIS) layout keyboard. The dedicated arrow keys are an exception.
Typing on a Topre based keyboard switches that
others describe as the feeling of "
cloud of boobs"
or even just "
boobs" wasn't quite true. Though I have to admit the feeling of rather soft but remains firm when pressed and released. Comparing that to say your average $10 keyboard which feels mushy and ALPS based keyboard which requires heavier key "punching" the Topre actually feels much lighter. In fact switching from an old cheap $10 keyboard to what is worth $300+ keyboard it is somewhat easy to accidentally hit the wrong keys when resting fingers on the keyboard. Though I'm sure it is only a matter of accustomising to the new and rather soft switches.
What about the layout? Some people have noted (when comparing to a non HHKB JP layout keyboard) that:
I have to say that I personally hardly use right Shift key. I guess for left handers this may be an issue as they would most likely use their right hand to press and hold the right Shift key for instance to type out capitalised letters. True, but not so much for right handers.
As with tiny spacebar issue I must point out that this tiny spacebar issue is not specifically restricted to only HHKB. If one were to either use/own/see any Japanese layout keyboard (predominantly JIS layout where they have extra keys for things like 変換 (henkan), 無変換 (muhenkan), ひらがな/カタカナ (hiragana/katakana) for instance. The spacebar is also tiny compared to say a Japanese keyboard with English layout. With the Japanese language (I'd also must dare say with most other east Asian languages as well) there is no need to use spacebar that much because those that know about the language can clearly see what is defined as a word without needing spaces to separate them. Unlike English and most other European language where it is pretty evident that one needs to use spacebar more to separate individual words the east Asian language doesn't use that feature hence they made the spacebar smaller knowing that people who are going to write east Asian languages in general doesn't use spacebar all that often. Also there is the other issue of fitting extra keys which would seem quite daunting had the spacebar been the same sized as their western counterparts.
Now with that point being mentioned, another noteworthy information is that it is really not all that hard to hit the "tiny" spacebar. A touch typist would be using their thumbs to hit the spacebar. For me, I've been using mainly my right thumb to hit the spacebar. Aesthetically the spacebar looks tiny but to a real typist it would not seem as much of an issue because it is not like they would need to hit the spacebar constantly with other fingers. Notably one can clearly see that when proper touch typing is utilised and with fingers resting on the "home" keys they could see even with a tiny spacebar it is still within reach of both thumbs. It is not like the tiny spacebar is off-centred or placed in other obscure location which would make touch typist hard to reach when they would normally use their thumbs to reach for the spacebar. I guess the only exceptions is for those that may not have all 10 fingers (.. or others would like to phrase it as eight fingers and two thumbs.)
The only real issues that lies with say for instace JIS layout keyboard are the extra keys (namely to be used for inputting Japanese words but is not restricted to only Japanese language per se) along with slightly weird keymaps. For instance, where there is normally an "@" (at) symbol on top of the number '2' now has double quote on top. The "@" symbol resides somewhere else instead. I must admit that this would only be an issue to those with a JIS layout keyboard and they are using JIS keyboard layout. Had one that ignores the key legends and uses say for instance the US layout that would virtually nullify the problem. On top of that having blank key legends for instance. This is really what software/drivers are for honestly, unless one learns the JIS layout, it would not be an issue otherwise. Also learning JIS layout for instance I'd say is just a matter of learning a few extra different key bindings. Much like how one were to switch from say for instance a QWERTY keyboard to DVORAK.
Now with all the traits aside, I shall post my reasons for wanting a particular HHKB:
- Because HHKB is small, portability in case for instance of relocating the keyboard elsewhere to say for example be used in a public space. the issue maybe would be of some concern. Whilst I must admit I actually find clicky keys quite aurally appealing, others may not like the noise as much. Instead of wanting to create extra attention to what is quite a well known keyboard (namely in the keyboard geeks realm) I personally don't want to create extra attention other than having to dig out my HHKB in public spaces. If one begs the question of why not buy the regular HHKB Pro JP and do-it-yourself silencing instead which may work out cheaper, etc. I will point that out later.
- The Japanese layout bearing extra keys to me could also be put to use for other usages. Some people have notably remapped their Japanese layout keyboards suited to their own taste but also because I for instance will be wanting to type Chinese, I'm sure I could remap the extra keys to say for instance switch between different IME inputs and/or to deliberately type out the phonetic letters (in Chinese it's called ㄅㄆㄇㄈ (bopomofo) which is quite similar to Japanese's usage of ひらがな/カタカナ (hiragana/katakana)).
- The dedicated arrow keys are somewhat a must for me because of old diehard habits using them to navigate around. Although I run linux (linux guys could see the irony in my handle of course) even when using command line text editors such as vi/vim I get a bit lazy and use the arrow keys instead of h,j,k,l. As a side note I'm trying to learn proper ways of vim albeit at somewhat a slow rate.
- Apart from the issues that I pointed out with JIS layout keyboards (which I must stress is of real no issue to me). HHKB Pro JP lacks USB hub. Whilst some may make use of the more common/popular keyboard as a ways and means of plugging in for instance their flash drives for instance. I personally don't see much need to have a keyboard with USB hub. I must admit that I'm more of a diehard fan of old keyboard technology/design where such extra handy features are virtually not available as it basically allows one to customise it to their hearts content rather than explicitly wanting extra features as dedicated knobs or buttons.
- Compact keyboard layouts are of not much issue for me. I have had to deal with laptops for instance as well as handheld devices like Nokia N900. HHKB's compact layout isn't all that bad when one had to deal with various other compact keyboard layouts. I guess switching from a full sized keyboard to a compact keyboard regardless if it is tenkeyless (no dedicated number pads arranged in ways similar to that found on calculator) keyboard. I somewhat will miss having that numpad. Of course I could always go and buy for instance RealForce numpads but that is an exception.
Basically I bought my HHKB based on more or less of what I have contemplated heavily on (that is having done my homework and thoroughly researched) as opposed to impulsive buying. Even at that I must admit HHKB was based on
和田英一 (
わだえいち/
Wada Eiichi) a computer scientist and also a Japanese computer pioneer who proposed a keyboard mainly for UNIX environment had some influences apart from having well thoroughly researched on a keyboard that I have somewhat wanted for quite sometime (also much later on I found out that
Richard Stallman a
GNU advocate and founder is/was using HHKB as well as well as now as of writing this
Bjarne Stroustrup who made C++ programming language.)
Speaking of which my HHKB of being JP variant is not quite the same as those popular people are usng but meh I couldn't really care less. It is still by PFU anyway.
For those who may have wanted to know why I wanted the Type-S instead of do-it-yourself silencing mod instead which would work out cheaper. The idea of do-it-yourself is definitely quite nice but with so many different silencing mod, using rubber or using foam, it seemed like as if there may not have a one off solution. The rubber ring silencing mod looks a heck a lot easier than foam silencing mod. Though regardless I probably wouldn't be that handy with it. Aside from HHKB realm, I have two ALPS based switches which are both old and they require fixing to make it work again. One having a button that doesn't work and the other has issues with multiple keys getting stuck or not registering. I decided to try and fix one of them which turned out horrible. I didn't have a key cap puller tool and I decided to use my bare hands to pull the key caps off. It was a very bad idea and yes I was totally naive. Ultimately I broke a few key cap stems on one keyboard and refused to touch the other after having broken a few key cap stems. Getting back onto HHKB, I looked at PFU's website and supposedly there's also a difference in the location of the springs (or so I thought). So ultimately I chose to get the Type-S not only because I wouldn't be hacking my keyboard hardware-wise on the first few days of ownership but also to see the manufacturer proposed methods of silencing and seeing how long would they last, etc.
With all that being aforementioned now I shall focus on showing off some photos:
Here is the keyboard with keyboard roof and acrylic palm rest.
Here is the keyboard in carrying bag along with keyboard roof. I like to point out that the bag is well padded but I thought putting my rather expensive HHKB in with keyboard roof on top wouldn't hurt all that much. In fact there was no dramas at all with it in the bag. I could still zip the bag up normally.
Here is the box of spare key caps along with the key cap puller tool. This is basically more or less what you get for ordering a spare set of key caps from PFU Direct.
I have plenty more photos and other information on my own blog post for those really keen. The information contain from both within this thread is quite different than of that posted on my blog:
http://eidolon-sapphire.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/computers-hhkb-pro-type-s-jp-and.htmlA forewarning that my blog entry may seem a bit long winded (as it is pretty much here I guess).