What it took to finally get comfortable with keyboards

I spent more than half my life searching for the arrow keys and pressing the wrong button when I needed some extraneous key like delete and esc because they are different on almost every keyboard. The final straws were two keyboards from Microsoft: the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 and the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic. Both had the ESC key off in Siberia compared to my laptop and apparently I use the ESC key all the time.

Then I discovered keyboard layers via frgomes Carpalx which let me program my Linux laptop to use the worthless CAPS LOCK as a function key and remap just about everything outside of the main alphas and base modifiers. So holding CAPS LOCK + ` is ESC. The F row moved down to the num row. Arrows are on both WASD and IJKL and Backspace and Delete are R and L. Home and End are right there at T and G. You get the picture. Honestly, I never even used Home and End before because their placement was so unreliable, but now I use them all the time.

Then I was introduced to the Vortex Pok3r keyboard, a 60% keyboard with arbitrary key programing and a dip switch to turn CAPS LOCK into a function button. It also has mechanical switches, which in this case are Cherry MX brown. I never understood the obsession with mechanical switches until tried them and frankly, now every other keyboard I use feels like typing on a wet noodle.

I probably could have stopped right there, but then I got sucked down the Massdrop hole of lusting after keycaps and custom cases. The picture at the top of this post is my Vortex Pok3r RGB with US made Signature Plastics 1965 keycaps from KeyClack and a Royal Glam 60% wood case.

All I can say is, if you're frustrated by keys moving around on you, this might be the answer to the question you never knew to ask.