Keyboard decisions and overcoming the £ symbol.

[BookOfGreg]

I've been lurking around here for a good month or so since my Microsoft wireless keyboard 1000, decided to sync with my friends laptop and get stuck typing on both computers, as well as the rattle on the space and enter keys, and the pad printing wearing off and shining. I thought I had decided on the Filco Majestouch 2 UK with the browns after a lot of research, then this week read up on WASD keyboards which seem much cheaper and I like the engraving and what he can do with the custom keys (photoshopped me a spacebar) but its ANSI only till "sometime in december" when I e-mailed him so that's a dead end and I resettled on the Majestouch 2 with some WASD keycaps anyway.

I did like the look of the Majestouch ninja with the letters on the front of the keycaps but its ANSI only.
And then the last straw was seeing that a Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth with browns has appeared exclusive on the Razer site and its not even out of stock in the UK but its ANSI layout again.

So my question to you good people is how can I remap my keys, and replace the keycaps so I can get the £ symbol without messing up the backlighting on the Blackwidow or get a front printed 3£ key for the Majestouch Ninja so it doesn't look wrong? My total budget is about £130 ($209.36 US) as my birthday is coming up.
Living in England makes that symbol a necessity. I'm sure I can overcome my love for the short left shift and upside-down  L enter and the #~ key to swap to ANSI.

If you solve this for me, I'll review the Blackwidow Ultimate/Filco Ninja and what's left of a 1 year old MS Wireless 1000 and take pics. (There is your incentive, good luck and I'll be trying to sort it myself too.)
Bonus points if the solution has a calculator macro button, I use it a surprising amount.

My current plan is to get a Filco Majestouch UK with Browns on the 19th sept as it stands.

[ch_123]

I'd recommend taking a look at this layout if you use Windows, which maps £ to Right Alt + 4. If you use Linux, there's a similar layout built in, and I believe the US Mac layout has the pound symbol somewhere on the Alt layer. Obviously you wont get the marking on the keycap, but at least you get the functionality, which is what counts at the end of the day.

However, I'm sure that there will be an ISO version of the Brown switch Blackwidow, and possibly even the Ninja at some point in the future.

[BookOfGreg]

That would certainly mean I could have the Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth. What is the actual process you can remap keys with if I decide to move the (at) and " symbols to their correct positions? (though doing that would make the keycaps incorrect)
Thanks for the link, its a good idea.

P.s. the post filter for newbies is way too harsh. It counted an ellipsis and the (at) symbol as a link and then denied my post for 2 rounds of 30 seconds for no reason.
There may be an ISO Blackwidow but I can't wait much longer or I'd go with WASD and custom keycaps then remap my keys.

[ch_123]

I'd recommend either custom caps, or just getting used to it.

Seriously, you get used to it very quickly, even to the stage where you can switch between the two easily.

[theferenc]

First, love the Soul Eater avatar.

In regards to the ISO/ANSI issue, whenever I've traveled to England, it was frustrating for about a day, then I got used to it, so it isn't that bad to switch between them.

Getting the £ symbol is fairly easy in windows by switching layouts, but you could also use something like Autohotkey to remap it, as well. Given that roughly half of all typists in the world use ANSI (by my calculations, India, China, and the US alone account for about 41% of internet users, at least), you're much more likely to find a keyboard you like in ANSI layout than in ISO layout, for obvious marketing reasons.

[BookOfGreg]

£132.47 for Blackwidow Ultimate w/browns or £114 for UK layout Filco.
BW looks good, bust costs more (Lots more than it does it the US) and build quality is suspect.
I can use Winkey to get my precious calculator with Windows key + another letter so that's no real problem.

No, I've e-mailed The Keyboard Co to see if the UK Ninja exists but I'll probably get a Filco Ninja US if not.

[theferenc]

At those prices, the UK layout Filco is the MUCH better choice.

[BookOfGreg]

Reply from The Keyboard Co:
"At present, the Ninja is only available in US layout. European layouts,
including UK, should be available by Christmas. I hope this helps."

"I am sorry, but there are no plans to sell the Ninja keycaps seperately.
Just the full keyboard."

Well a 3 month old 2nd hand Filco Majestouch should be worth £80 of its original £114 or more if I find a seller.

[arplod]

Besides, the layout is different between US and UK. If you're hopping between other UK keyboards it's sure to annoy.

[czarek]

I use Model M ISO keyboard using Mac OS X Lion in English but with Polish keyboard layout set. To write £ symbol I press Alt, Shift and R.

[FourOhFour]

I'd recommend taking a look at this layout if you use Windows, which maps £ to Right Alt + 4. If you use Linux, there's a similar layout built in, and I believe the US Mac layout has the pound symbol somewhere on the Alt layer.

For the US keyboard layout, option 3 produces £. For the British keyboard layout (which works fine on an ANSI keyboard), shift 3 produces £ (moving # to option 3).

[The Solutor]

I've been lurking around here for a good month or so since my Microsoft wireless keyboard 1000, decided to sync with my friends laptop and get stuck typing on both computers, as well as the rattle on the space and enter keys, and the pad printing wearing off and shining. I thought I had decided on the Filco Majestouch 2 UK with the browns after a lot of research, then this week read up on WASD keyboards which seem much cheaper and I like the engraving and what he can do with the custom keys (photoshopped me a spacebar) but its ANSI only till "sometime in december" when I e-mailed him so that's a dead end and I resettled on the Majestouch 2 with some WASD keycaps anyway.

I did like the look of the Majestouch ninja with the letters on the front of the keycaps but its ANSI only.
And then the last straw was seeing that a Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth with browns has appeared exclusive on the Razer site and its not even out of stock in the UK but its ANSI layout again.

So my question to you good people is how can I remap my keys, and replace the keycaps so I can get the £ symbol without messing up the backlighting on the Blackwidow or get a front printed 3£ key for the Majestouch Ninja so it doesn't look wrong? My total budget is about £130 ($209.36 US) as my birthday is coming up.
Living in England makes that symbol a necessity. I'm sure I can overcome my love for the short left shift and upside-down  L enter and the #~ key to swap to ANSI.

If you solve this for me, I'll review the Blackwidow Ultimate/Filco Ninja and what's left of a 1 year old MS Wireless 1000 and take pics. (There is your incentive, good luck and I'll be trying to sort it myself too.)
Bonus points if the solution has a calculator macro button, I use it a surprising amount.

My current plan is to get a Filco Majestouch UK with Browns on the 19th sept as it stands.

I made the UK layout modded to fit the ANSI boards.

If you are forced to downgrade to ANSI is the best you can get.

http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=The+Solutors+UK+like+ANSI+Keymap+easy+diacritical+with+the+ANSI+keyboards

[hemflit]

That would certainly mean I could have the Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth. What is the actual process you can remap keys with if I decide to move the (at) and " symbols to their correct positions? (though doing that would make the keycaps incorrect)

If stock layouts of the "US International" type (or Solutor's thingy) aren't good enough for you, you can use Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (google it) to tweak them or build your own from scratch.

(Because it sounds like you're using Windows. On the Mac, go for Ukelele. On any X-based Linux, xmodmap and a lot of alcohol.)

"Incorrect keycaps" really sound like a negligible problem if you're willing to customize a few keys for yourself
But I guess you could also always buy keyboard stickers or something.