Command Classic

Tsundoku's keyboard concept. Concept, goals, etc. here.

Concept

The general design of the keyboard mostly derives from Apple keyboard layouts from the 1980s through the mid-1990s, before the AppleDesign keyboard and the broad adoption of the IBM AT Enhanced layout on the Mac platform. Distinguishing features include:

• Escape on number row, left of 1 key
• R2 1.75U Control (left of A)
• Arrow keys on right side of bottom row - left, right, down, up
• No function keys
• Number pad that is always a number pad (no Num Lock)
• Large Command key (1.5-1.75U)

Variants

• JIS
• ANSI

Design Goals

• Not for Windows
  • Mac/Sun-style bottom row modifier layout
  • Large Command and Option keys for people who use them often
• Not minimalist
  • Dedicated arrow keys
  • Coincidentally smaller than 101/104 keyboards, but compactness itself is not a goal
• No IBM-style nav cluster
  • Arrow keys can go on the bottom row as on many Apple keyboards
  • Home/End/PageUp/PageDown on Fn layer of arrow keys
  • Don't need Insert
  • Forward Delete can go on tenkey (Clear on Macintosh keyboards)
• No dedicated function keys
  • Can use Fn layer for number row
  • Anticipates an environment where these are rarely used and only in specialized circumstances (eg. Minecraft)
• Has a tenkey
  • No Num Lock (no modes!). Always numbers

Problems with existing PCBs

• No JIS Right Shift support
• Layouts all referenced from AT101/Windows 104
  • 75%, 60%, etc... all expressed as reductions of AT101
  • No consideration for different combinations of elements. Tenkeyless? 75% 60%? What about a tenkey but no IBM nav cluster?