Keyboard Mac OS X for [programmining]?

[oli0060]

Hey guys!
I'm from Germany and thats the only forum i found for this question :$ (so my english isn't the best^^)

I got an iMac 2 weeks ago. Because I programm in XCode (and Java) I'm going to buy a MECHANIC Keyboard.

so many Windows Keyboards out there, but not much for OS X.
I need a mechanic OS X Keyboard for programming..
First question:
I read yesterday that there is a software called Karabiner, which you can use to change the KeyLetters (KeyCodes).
Because I want to change these brackets {} with them: ()
Does it work? Please answer, thanks

Second question:
Which Keyboard is really good to use for Mac and is an OS X Keyboard?

Thank you very much! (:

[rowdy]

Most modern mechanical keyboards work well on a Mac.

I have used HHKB, QFR, Ducky, Model M and even an old NEC APC H4100E.

Winkeyless means you don't have Option keys though.

And I usually use System Preferences to swap Win and Alt (to where they should be on the Mac).

[Hypersphere]

I can vouch for Karabiner. It works very well indeed.

When I want to use a keyboard that is inherently Mac-friendly, I use my HHKB Pro 2.

Otherwise, I use Karabiner to remap my other keyboards to a hybrid Mac/HHKB Pro 2 layout.

My favorite keyboards at the moment are RF 87ub 55g, RF 87ub 45g, HHKB Pro 2, and IBM Model F XT. I use all of them with my Mac as the primary computer. I also use Linux and Windows 7. I can use all these at once by sharing the keyboard and mouse using a combination of software (Synergy) and hardware (Iogear KM switch). This works well across an array of three monitors.

[jacobolus]

If you just want to change your keyboard layout, you can make a new one with Ukelele: http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=ukelele

You might find this thing I wrote in 2006 useful: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html
(though unfortunately at the moment the Harvard Computer Society’s server seems to be down :/)

[spiceBar]

Hey guys!
I'm from Germany and thats the only forum i found for this question :$ (so my english isn't the best^^)

I got an iMac 2 weeks ago. Because I programm in XCode (and Java) I'm going to buy a MECHANIC Keyboard.

so many Windows Keyboards out there, but not much for OS X.
I need a mechanic OS X Keyboard for programming..
First question:
I read yesterday that there is a software called Karabiner, which you can use to change the KeyLetters (KeyCodes).
Because I want to change these brackets {} with them: ()
Does it work? Please answer, thanks

Second question:
Which Keyboard is really good to use for Mac and is an OS X Keyboard?

Thank you very much! (:

As Jacobolus as pointed out, Ukelele is the "normal" way to do this.

You can do it with Karabiner, and you can also do a lot of wonderful things, but it may be more complicated.

Use Ukelele for simple character assignation, and Karabiner when you cannot do it with Ukelele.

With Ukelele it will be relatively simple: load the default layout you are using now, and make the changes. Save the layout, and use it as your new default layout.

Most mechanical keyboards will work fine with OS X. Some are designed with the Mac in mind, like some keyboards from Matias.

Coming from Windows/Linux, I simply use keyboards designed for the PC and configure the Mac, with Karabiner, so it responds to keys like a PC. For example, when I do PageUp, the cursor "follows" (goes to the new page). On the Mac by default the cursor would stay where it is, so it would disappear from view, which I find unusable (or I would have to do Alt-PageUp all the time).

TL;DR: any mechanical keyboard will work fine on the Mac, and Ukelele is probably better for the small change you want to do.

[jacobolus]

Coming from Windows/Linux, I simply use keyboards designed for the PC and configure the Mac, with Karabiner, so it responds to keys like a PC. For example, when I do PageUp, the cursor "follows" (goes to the new page). On the Mac by default the cursor would stay where it is, so it would disappear from view, which I find unusable (or I would have to do Alt-PageUp all the time).

This is very easy to change without any need for custom keyboard drivers or kernel extensions, as that article I linked about the cocoa text system details.

Here are the default bindings for all cocoa text widgets:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/system-bindings.html

And here are a list of possible selectors to bind to keys:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/selectors.html

Here’s a basic set of bindings from Windows:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/KeyBindings/Windows%20Bindings.dict

Just move that file to the path ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict and it will take effect the next time you open any app with proper OS X text widget keyboard handling.

[oli0060]

Thank you all very much

[bueller]

One thing to note when trying to do remaps of keys is that you have the correct keyboard selected, I had a major problem at first because I forgot to change it to my external keyboard and it kept choosing the laptop keyboard.

[saturnotaku]

List of Mac-friendly mechanical keyboards

For coding/programming, I would recommend the Happy Hacking Keyboard.

[spiceBar]

Coming from Windows/Linux, I simply use keyboards designed for the PC and configure the Mac, with Karabiner, so it responds to keys like a PC. For example, when I do PageUp, the cursor "follows" (goes to the new page). On the Mac by default the cursor would stay where it is, so it would disappear from view, which I find unusable (or I would have to do Alt-PageUp all the time).

This is very easy to change without any need for custom keyboard drivers or kernel extensions, as that article I linked about the cocoa text system details.

Here are the default bindings for all cocoa text widgets:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/system-bindings.html

And here are a list of possible selectors to bind to keys:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/selectors.html

Here’s a basic set of bindings from Windows:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/KeyBindings/Windows%20Bindings.dict

Just move that file to the path ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict and it will take effect the next time you open any app with proper OS X text widget keyboard handling.

Thank you. I must have a look at this.

[rowdy]

List of Mac-friendly mechanical keyboards

For coding/programming, I would recommend the Happy Hacking Keyboard.

With HHKB (or any keyboard) you can use Ctrl sequences for much of the cursor movement.  Like Ctrl-A for line end, Ctrl-F for character forward.  Thus you do not have to use Home/End etc. which is in the HHKB's favour

[SonOfSonOfSpock]

Matias has several Mac options. They put the modifiers like command closer to the middle just like on Apple made keyboards which is nice if you hit command with your thumb.

I've used several keyboards on Macs and they all work. You can use just about anything and it will work.