AZERTY keyboard

[norberto]

Hi,

I discovered geekhack few month ago.
Since then, I'm the happy owner of :
- Topre Realforce 103UB QWERTY (bought in Japan)
- Unicomp Customizer AZERTY (bought in the US)

I'm using the Topre at home, and the Unicomp at office, where I spend most of my time.

Unfortunately, I will move to an open space in a few weeks, and I know the noisy Unicomp will drive people around me crazy :typing:

My typing skills are not good enough to use a QWERTY keyboard at office, that's why I'm in search of a silent (non clicky ?) AZERTY keyboard.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Norberto

[ch_123]

You're going to have a very hard time finding a non-QWERTY mechanical board that isn't an IBM/Unicomp. I'd recommend swapping around the keycaps on your Realforce to approximate an AZERTY layout, and just set the computer to use the French layout. If you are sufficiently good at touch typing, I wouldn't bother moving the keycaps, and would just set the computer to use the French layout and use it as an AZERTY.

The one problem with using a US layout keyboard as a French one is that you will lose one of the keys - the one between left shift and W (Z on a QWERTY keyboard) but you can get around this with a software solution if you need the characters on that button.

[patrickgeekhack]

I wonder if besides the Customizer/Model, other keyboards will feel the same if keys are swapped to change a keyboard from QWERTY to AZERTY. Some keyboards have a different shape for the Q and for the Z (different rows). My Cherry is one such keyboard.e

[patrickgeekhack]

I wonder if besides the Customizer/Model, other keyboards will feel the same if keys are swapped to change a keyboard from QWERTY to AZERTY. Some keyboards have a different shape for the Q and for the Z (different rows). My Cherry is one such keyboard.

[JBert]

Yeah, Cherry keyboards can do that - the PCB is not curved, hence the keycaps all have different shapes to get some form of curvature.

If you want a Cherry keyboard with brown or clear switches, you'll probably have to settle for German keycaps. Those come in most flavors, whereas a French layout is only made for a keyboard with linear switches.

[ch_123]

It just occured to me that the Keyboard Co will be stocking 105-key Filcos next month. It would be UK layout, but you could swap around the keycaps on one of those to get the desired effect.

[CX23882]

You could possibly buy some silicone grease and apply that to the springs of the Unicomp. It will make it either slightly quieter, or a lot quieter. Be aware it changes the feel as well.

[JBert]

It just occured to me that the Keyboard Co will be stocking 105-key Filcos next month. It would be UK layout, but you could swap around the keycaps on one of those to get the desired effect.

Ehm, won't the Filco have the same problem as the Cherries with regard to keycap height or do they use the same mold for every key?

The only real advantage of the Filco is that it will be readily available.

[ch_123]

As far as I can tell, the keycaps are all of the same size. The keyboard appears to have an inbuilt slope.

[ch_123]

Ah, that's interesting.

Just don't tell welly!

[quadibloc]

I think it's pretty rare to see sloped keyboards these days.

You are quite right, and this is true in two ways.

Most keyboards today are "sculptured"; that is, as you say, they have "differently sloped keys by row", rather than "stepped", where all the keys have the same slope, differing from the general orientation of the keyboard, so that the rows of keys look like a staircase, as used to be the normal situation with typewriters.

But this is also true in another sense. A stepped keyboard can be achieved by putting the key on a bent stem, so that the direction of key motion remains perpendicular to the general orientation of the keyboard. Or it could be achieved by rotating the whole keyswitch, so that the keys are pressed down in a direction perpendicular to their surface.

This latter situation is also very rare these days.

It used to be true, at least for some IBM keyboards, that a keyboard could have sculptured keycaps on keyswitches with this stepped orientation. Signature Plastics used to offer such keycaps as one of their standard types; however, a visit to their website now seems to indicate they're concentrating on windows and insulation.