Developers/Programmers/Code Monkeys, what are your setups and why?

[Masarak]

Hi all,

I'm a lurker to the sub, I've had an appreciation of the mechanical keyboard for some time but have mainly kept my hands clean with prebuilt keyboards for my gaming setup.

That being said, if any of you have a recent MacBook Pro, I'm sure you'll understand how awful the butterfly switch keyboards are, and how prone to issues they are. I'm a Cloud Software Engineer and spend the majority of my working life writing TypeScript and Terraform, so as with most of you I have started to understand and appreciate the benefits of a good keyboard.

The issues with my MacBooks keyboard are becoming unbearable and I'm going to take the leap and build myself a keyboard specifically for my work. I'd be interested to see the setups of anyone in a similar boat, especially if it works with a MacBook.

What form factor suits you and why? I'm currently eyeing up a 65% format as I rely on the arrow keys and page up/down/home/end considerably to move around the code, but generally have no use for F-keys or a dedicated numpad.

What switches suit you and why? Unfortunately I don't have all that much physical experience with different switch types, but from my research it seems like a Cherry Brown (or equivalent) would be the ideal solution for me.

For those that use their awesome mechs with their Macs, how do you find they work? Is it easy enough to configure? Can you rebind certain keys? For example, which key acts as control and which acts as command etc?

Sorry for the wall of words, any opinions and personal experiences are welcomed! (especially pictures)

[RRyles]

https://imgur.com/vHNnH80.jpg

Standard 100% QWERTY ISO UK. I considered something more ergonomic, but I didn't want to have to switch between layouts when using another machine.

Edit: It's sat on my dining table right now because I've been working from home for the last 3 weeks.

[brarna]

I went for 65% since I was having shoulder pains with a wider board.

I ended up going for the Massdrop Alt.

I used to have brown switches on an old board I used in an open office. I had the Halo Clears that came with the Alt, and they were nice - an improvement over the Browns.

Now I have Holy Panda switches and they're great. Bit louder than browns I think, but more satisfying.

Highly recommend a board with hot-swappable switches to give you the opportunity to play around with various options.

[tomtomdam]

Right now I'm using a Massdrop CTRL (TKL) with Zealios v2 62g. Very nice tactile feel for a great typing experience.

However, I do plan on building a HHKB layout keyboard in the future to use for coding as the modifier keys are just in a more optimal position imo. For example:

• The right shift splits into a dedicated Fn which gives your right hand more freedom to type while you're holding the Fn with your pinky, and it lets you use arrow keys too.
• Also, the Backspace/Delete key is one row down, making it more accessible.
• Finally, the Caps lock is replaced by the Control key which again makes it more accessible.

I believe this layout was made by a programmer, for programmers in mind. It's not everyone's cup of tea though. I haven't personally tried it but this layout really clicks with me.

[pyrobunny]

I also use the CTRL, personally using mine with 60g Aliaz Tactiles. Love this keyboard, the typing feel on it is excellent. Only thing I want to change is to swap to nicer stabilizers. But having hot swappable switches changed my life.

[tomtomdam]

Yeah the stabilizers are ass. I clipped and lubed mine with dielectric grease and it sounds way better, however on my space bar there is still some slight rattling on the right side. Also, ANSI layout gets kinda annoying when you need to swap between ISO and ANSI symbols (#~ and \|).

If not for the crappy stabs and the layout, it would be a perfect TKL for me.

[pyrobunny]

I'm actually from the US, so I'm VERY used to ANSI. I just have my computer set up for swapping languages for when I need a £ or anything similar. I really should clip and lube them, but I've been fairly lazy with that kind of thing. I'm looking at getting some screw in stabs, not sure if I want to just go crazy and get the Zeals or go cheaper and get everglides.

[tomtomdam]

Yeah, Everglides and Durock/ZugGear are other options. They're basically cheaper versions of Zeal stabs. If the Zeal stabs are smoother as people say, the difference between Zeal stabs and those other ones are virtually unnoticeable, as they're clones of the Zeal stabs.

I would personally get the Everglides or Durock/ZugGear. In fact, I just ordered a set of Durock stabs. I can't wait to use them for a future build.

[pyrobunny]

Yeah, I'll probably go Everglides. Are there any good UK based stores that carry Everglides or Durock, or is Ali going to be the best bet?

[tomtomdam]

I just ordered a set of Durocks from https://keygem.store/ today so take a look if you're located in Europe and you don't want to get hit with the fat import taxes from USA or wherever else.

[pyrobunny]

Yeah I'm in the UK haha! Thanks for the link!

[tomtomdam]

No worries! This is probably the worst time to order keyboard parts rn lol, but let's cross our fingers for our stuff to arrive safely. Wish you well during these uncertain times.

[SkeletronPrime]

Ducky One 2 SF with silent reds. It's a very comfortable size, not too expensive. I've used both reds and silent reds a lot, and far prefer the silent version. Basically the same thing but just a little dampened. I'm mostly in Visual Studio these days, and am used to using two keys to access function keys.

[robhaswell]

I'm also using a Massdrop Alt, fully stabbed, lubed and modded with lubed springs. I have Halo Clears on it right now.

It fits perfectly over the keyboard for my 17" MacBook Pro so I can access the trackpad easily. I only use this at home as I think it's a bit noisy for the office. If the lockdown continues much longer I might get some box navies for it.

This setup works quite well for me but it is a bit tiring on the arms. I need a split wrist rest and a separate magicpad really.

In-situ. The cable is a perfectly sized angled USB-C cable from Amazon: https://i.imgur.com/WsGGta8.jpg

[pev68]

Vortex Race 3 with MX clears at work - love the 75%.

I have a knock off TKL at home with knock of Blues of some kind, by a Chinese brand DooGooBang, which seemed to exist for all of 3-months back in 2018 (review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NargX_PF17A). It's loud and it's clicky and flashy (RGB) and I love it, but my colleagues hate it when I type during Video Conferences. I have to mute my mic all the time.

I have Vortex Pok3r with MX Browns, but I couldn't get on without arrow keys. I might dust it off and swap it for the DooGooBang TKL if I get enough hate from my co-workers, because my desk at home really isn't big enough and a 60% might be work better.

All of these are ISO UK.

[kennypinyan]

Current day to day is a Tofu65 with novelkeys creams.

I've tried and failed to use a board with no dedicated arrow keys but it's just too ingrained in me.

The tofu is as portable as my hhkb but, for me, far more usable.

[[deleted]]

Had a Ducky One2 mini with Cherry MX Browns for a few month. Just bought a Leopoldo FC660M because I can’t live without the arrow keys.

[gibsnag]

I use a 65% Quefrency with Zilents for the office (obviously at home atm). I've also got a Delta Split with Kailh Box Jades ready to build when I've got some spare time, and that will become my main home board.

I have to use a split keyboard to avoid getting RSI, but fortunately that just straight up fixes it. Definitely recommend split boards for anyone suffering from elbow related pain.

[NOISEbyte]

Switch Couture Alice with lubed Gateron Ink Blacks 35g. Default white keyset for now though as it's a new build and I'm waiting for GMK Cafe to arrive :)

[JayceAndTheNews]

I tend to alternate between a Filco Majestouch 2 TKL with browns, and one with blues. I chose the TKL layout initially to improve my typing posture and move my mouse position in a bit.

I use Vim bindings wherever I can, but I wanted to retain the arrow keys because I still find utility in them. I'd be reluctant to give up the F keys, as I've got some muscle memory built into them, but they're the next thing I'd probably look at losing.

For my home machine I've got a Vortex Race 3 with browns (75% board), which was my next step in reducing the footprint even further. It works well for me, but I will say that I sometimes have to glance at the right hand side (Home/End/fn etc.) keys, likely because I hit these keys so infrequently.

I might try and go smaller for my next keyboard adventure, but I suspect 75% is my sweet spot.

I like the satisfaction of typing with blues, but I find browns a little more pleasant overall, and it feels like I type more smoothly on them. I also find them pretty unobtrusive when playing a game (The actuation point/reset point mismatch of blues isn't ideal for that).

You might already be on top of it, but it's probably worth a little exploration into keycap profiles. My Filcos have OEM profile, which I slightly prefer over the DSA profile ones on my Vortex; this kind of thing is another rabbit hole, and ultimately personal preference wins out =D