Where to find French keysets ?!

[British]

I have a few keyboards waiting to be of use, and for that I need French Cherry MX keysets (complete or not, though complete would be better of course).
By French I mean just that: French.
Not just ISO or "AZERTY".


The problem is ovbiously that it's a pain to find those.
eBay isn't of much help, as the closest thing I found was Belgian G80-3000 (of which I'm using the keys on my MX11800), or French G81, which are not MX if I'm not mistaken.
There is a few possibilities on the mint market, but they cost a couple kidneys (G80, maybe iRocks and SteelSeries, but some key sizes are stupid).

If you have some hints on where I could find those (I'm not really looking for double-shots, and color doesn't matter) at a fair price, please drop a line.
I need something like 4 or 5 sets, though I'd be happy with just a couple.

[ch_123]

You could try finding a French Model M. That failing, you get a German one (German Model Ms are pretty common on German eBay) and buy a set of replacement keycaps from Unicomp.

[itlnstln]

You could also see if someone in the Quebec area has one.  There have been a few on eBay from that area, because those damn French Canadians used them.


Wait...


(Seriously, though, you might want to check.  I've seen 'em.)

[Soarer]

G81 (MY switch) keycaps fit ok on MX switches :smile:

[itlnstln]

G81 (MY switch) keycaps fit ok on MX switches :smile:

This.  As a matter of fact, ripster's double-shot Filco has some caps from a G81.

[gr1m]

You could also see if someone in the Quebec area has one.  There have been a few on eBay from that area, because those damn French Canadians used them.


Wait...


(Seriously, though, you might want to check.  I've seen 'em.)

I don't think the French Canadian layout is the same as just French. It's normal QWERTY but where the 6 (^) key is, there's a modifier for accents and the backslash area has the ^ key and the entire thing is a nightmare for me to use.

[instantkamera]

Also keep in mind "Canadian Multilingual" is out there floating around, at least on laptops and presumably in desktop keyboard form as well.

That's tolerable with the right software settings, but still irritating.

god, SUPER irritating. Netbooks (really, bad enough as they are) with this setup are asking to be tossed against the wall.

[British]

Gah, I really need to get some rest... I forgot to say those keys are for Cherry MX.
Sorry about that :pout:

Regarding G81, I had some doubts a few weeks ago, but looks like I was wrong.

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll start checking those G81.

Nobody that happened to get some French keyboard for the switches but is left with spare keys ? :wink:

[ch_123]

French keyboards don't seem to be all that common. Most of the stuff I see on eBay is from the US or Germany, with the occasional UK one here or there.

Oh, in addition to buying an old Model M, you could just get a new Unicomp.

[British]

Well, I'm not really interested by those for the time being.
And I actually don't type enough to justify all the keyboards I've bought so far (well, that's only 5).

[British]

Meh, can't find any on eBay :sad:

As a sidenote, I updated the first post with the layout:

[42.tar.gz]

There are gray G81-3000s with French layout in the Marketplace: http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=9554

[British]

Yep I had some discussion with MentalHobbit on that matter a couple monthes ago, and they're actually Belgian :wink:

Thanks anyway !

I found some more or less cheap G81s on german online shops (ranging from 20 to 30€), and that's not counting shipping, which usually hurts.
Now the funny part is that I have a few Access keyboards to dress, and so the left ctrl/win/alt keys are the size of a regular key.
I was thinking of getting a G81-1800 as it seems all keys around space are "regular" key-sized as well.
Can someone confirm this ?

It might be overkill to get a full keyboard for a couple keys, but I really don't like the slope of those Access keys.
Unless I can buy those specific keys (ctrl/alt/alt gr/menu) somewhere, but I have no idea about that, and if the cost would be better.

Also, I'm not sure if the right shift key on said Access is compatible with anything else.
It seems it's the same size that on G81-1800, but that's only by looking at pictures...

[42.tar.gz]

Ah OK, didn't notice the difference. :-/

I was thinking of getting a G81-1800 as it seems all keys around space are "regular" key-sized as well.
Can someone confirm this ?

It might be overkill to get a full keyboard for a couple keys, but I really don't like the slope of those Access keys.
Unless I can buy those specific keys (ctrl/alt/alt gr/menu) somewhere, but I have no idea about that, and if the cost would be better.

Also, I'm not sure if the right shift key on said Access is compatible with anything else.
It seems it's the same size that on G81-1800, but that's only by looking at pictures...

I have a few G80-1800s (German layout, lasered keys) and yes, the Strg/Alt/AltGr/Win/Menu keys do fit on the left side of space. Right shift fits as well. I could send you those keys if you want.

[British]

That's quite nice, thanks !
I'll send a PM your way for details :smile:

Hopefully now I only have to focus on regular G81-3000.

[keyboardlover]

It's amazing how much different the French keyboard layout is. 2 years ago I was in CDG Airport trying to send emails home using one of their pay computers and the keyboard nearly drove me up the wall

[sam113101]

you're from France and you're asking for a azerty layout, I assume that you speak french (as I do, since I'm a french Canadian)
here I go

Si le layout te dérange tellement, c'est parce que tu n'es pas un touch typist, est-ce que je me trompe*? Déjà que le qwerty c'est pas fait pour le français, ni aucune autre langue d'ailleurs, l'azerty c'est encore pire. L'azerty c'est censé aider la frappe des langues européennes en facilitant l'accès aux accents, mais turns out c'est pire comme ça vous empêche d'avoir des accents majuscules (parce que shift + touche du haut = chiffre).

Le layout utilisé ici (french canadian) nous permet de faire des accents majuscules sans problème, et les accents restent relativement faciles à taper (touches mortes).

je te conseille*:
1. de devenir touch typist si tu ne l'es pas déjà
2. d'abandonner l'azerty et de te mettre au qwerty french canadian, ou encore mieux, d'abandonner le qwerty et tous ses dérivés, pour utiliser une disposition qui facilite VRAIMENT le français, dans le genre bépo

en changeant pour bépo tu deviendras un touch typist et tu seras indépendant du lettering sur ton clavier, tu te foutras que ce soit qwerty ou azerty, et comme ça, t'auras plus de choix niveau clavier mécanique (les claviers mécaniques sont tellement rares et peu utilisés, le français est une langue que tout le monde se fout, tu vois comme t'es cuit ;'))

[British]

Salut sam !

Je vais te répondre en anglais si ça ne te dérange pas, que tout le monde en "profite".
Si ça te pose problème, je te ferais une traduc' :wink:

So yes, I'm no touch-typist, and to be honest, I'd barely describe myself as a typist.
Sure things, I'm on computers all day-long, and my typing method is usually to stare at the screen, try to figure where my fingers are on the keyboard, then start typing and correct mistyping every now and then.
It's a lot of hit and miss.
I tried to "learn" touch-typing a bit (on some sites), but it hurts my fingers very quick, staying on the home row and stretching to reach keys from there.
Since I have some muscular weaknesses (in lack of a better wording), it's a pain to type like this, any which way.

And after 20+ years of typing on regular AZERTY, I'm lost when I don't have my accents straight on the "number row".
Capitalized accents are not really an issue, as I just about never use them (just like everybody else it seems :wink:).

I do know "learning" QWERTY would be much less of a pain, but I'm stubborn. And lazy, sort of.

TL;DR: I'm a lost cause :smile:

PS: No idea what "bépo" is...

[sam113101]

http://bepo.fr/wiki/Pr%C3%A9sentation
you should definitely try it
also, do not focus on "staying" on the home row while typing, you'll get tired soon
touch typing is just a way not to move your hands on the keyboard like a crazy *****, it doesn't imply you gluing your fingers on the keys
as soon as you get this, you won't feel like "stretching" your fingers anymore

when you'll learn to touch type, you'll never want to go back
same thing with dvorak, you'll never want to go back

[British]

Interesting read for sure.
I doubt I'll ever achieve that though (remember the stubborn and lazy parts).

So for the time being I'll get some of those G81-3000, and keep bépo in some corner of my mind :wink:

[Henry]

Capitalized accents are not really an issue, as I just about never use them (just like everybody else it seems :wink:).

Not me, the typewriter era is over. :tongue:

I agree with sam, typing French is actually easier with any keyboard layout having dead keys for French diacritics, it's a real shame that azerty fails at doing what it was created for.

[patrickgeekhack]

I agree with sam, typing French is actually easier with any keyboard layout having dead keys for French diacritics, it's a real shame that azerty fails at doing what it was created for.

I need to type in both English and French a lot, both at home and at work. I use US-International keyboard layout.

EDIT: US-International allows accented capitals without any problem. I agree that after 20 years with AZERTY, it's going to be very difficult to switch to something else. This is why I gave up on learning DVORAK. I type around 100 wpm and don't need to type faster than this rate. In my case, I don't see the benefits of DVORAK outweighing the frustration learning DVORAK. A blank set of keys can be helpful.

[EverythingIBM]

Je n'ai pas réussi française.

Mon ami, la "rubbaire dome micro$ofte keyboard":
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Microsoft-Wired-Keyboard-500-PS-2-French-38397-/150472392145?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item2308da7dd1

It's in a french layout. So it says.

But I'm guessing you probably don't want a rubber dome french layout keyboard.

[British]

Indeed, Cherry MX all the way !