What is your personal preference based on experience? I Assume because Mac is Unix and Linux is Unix based, it would be more suited, but I have no personal experience with the layout. I am willing to try something new if i hear enough merits for it, and I also find the windows layout somewhat inadequate(The grass is greener on the other side /s)
I dailydrive Gnome, I am not a programmer, but i am a power user
(On a tangent: Why is gnome so restrictive, it feels like its missing a ton of UI features that are trivial without a boatload of 3rd party extensions that break every update; why doesn’t Win+Shift+number launch a new instance, every other DE does, why doesn’t it?; I don’t use KDE because I just don’t like it, I feel Gnome could be way more if it just natively integrated the extensions ).
aesthetically the windows key annoys me and i hate putting stickers on keyboards; I like how the mac layout looks(My very minimal experience with an in store mac-book has cautioned me away from the fisher-price OS so i don’t know if it is intuitive to use)
Buy an affordable mechanical keyboard instead. I don’t have one, but I tried my cousin’s keyboard for quite some time, and they’re amazing Kalih Red switches, although I would prefer a little bit more of resistance and a bumpy feedback.
What is a good price range to look into?
Keychron goes for about a 100$. You could pick up something cheaper like Redragon, which is around 40$.
Are they worth it(Last long)?
I’ve had several Keychrons and the only one that failed on me was due to liquid damage. I’ve had three of them and the original one I purchased for working on a Mac is still running strong with a few coffee stains. The second one I bought with a backlight lasted two years and died by my own hand. I have a new backlit one with a different set of keycaps and it’s been going strong for a year with no issues.
I tend to buy the wired C2 series which is the cheapest lineup. The great thing about Keychrons is that they are highly repairable and customizable by the user. You can replace keycaps, switches, and the keyboards are all designed to support both layouts with each requisite key included for Command and Windows. It can toggle to either OS via the flip of a switch, and you can attach the keycaps you prefer.
I use the Windows layout on all of my machines that run Linux, personally. You could easily keep the Windows configuration switch and just uh, replace the key I guess if that’s your aesthetic preference. I would probably do that if I were in your position. The keycaps are included and it’s not going to interfere unless you flip the switch.
Are they worth it(Last long)?
100%. I’ve been using various mechanical keyboards for ~15 years now. One of my first mech keyboards was a CODE - I sold it six years ago to my mate and he reports that it’s still been going great, no issues at all. My current main keyboards are a Drop CTRL and a Keychron K14, both of which have been going great as well.
In fact, I’d argue that on an average, mech keyboards last much much longer due to:
- High-quality switches which are rated for several million keypresses (100 million for MX Browns)
- High-quality plastic keycaps (double-shot PBT) which aren’t susceptible to shine and legend-wear, unlike the cheap (ABS) keycaps you’d find on regular keyboards
- Swappable keycaps means you’d never get bored of the same look + easy to source replacements if you need them
- Swappable switches means you can replace a switch (if on the rare occasion it fails) - or you can completely upgrade your typing experience by choosing different switches with more suitable resistance/comfort/speed/tactility/sound etc.
- Standard removable USB-C cable means you can replace the cable in case it gets worn out (unlike most cheap keyboards which have fixed cables). This also allows you to use high-quality braided cables which last much longer.
- Overall modular nature of these keyboards: practically every part is replaceable/customizable/serviceable - even the firmware
Honestly, there’s no comparison at all between a proper mech keyboard and a branded OEM keyboard from the likes of Apple/Logitech/Microsoft etc - you’re just paying for the brand name to get an average quality keyboard with way less repairability/modularity/customisability.
My previous mechanical keyboard lasted about a decade. Or it still works, but I bought a new one because the keycaps had worn so much.
Were the keycaps not replaceable? Or did they include hard to get sizes?
Replaceable sure, but probably not worth it. My new one is a bit nicer, so for that I might do it when the time comes. I still keep the old one around for random occasions I need a keyboard.
Well, if what you want is inexpensive, simple, and durable you might be looking for my favourite keyboard which apparently they’re still selling. I haven’t needed a new one in 15 years or so but it doesn’t look like they’ve changed the design at all.
Whether a “mechanical” keyboard is worth it just depends on your taste, but in my experience they do wear out much more quickly than this thing I’m typing on.
That is the complete opposite on my experience. Not only are mechanical switches nicer to type on but they last a lot longer, and if a switch breaks down you can replace it individually. When a membrane fails for one key you have to throw away the whole keyboard.
I have several perfectly working mechanical keyboards from the 80s, so I’d say, yeah they last long. That being said, I don’t necessarily think you’ll get decades from $40 mechanical keyboard like you can from an old school IBM, Alps, or Cherry MX keyboard. I mean, you may, but these keyboards were most than $40 back then and adjusted for inflation they’d not be cheap these days.
It would be unfair for me to answer this.
My recommendation? No. Don’t.
I’m an ex Windows user, current Linux and Mac user. Keyboard shortcuts on Linux are much closer to Windows conventions compared to macOS. I wouldn’t recommend using a Mac keyboard with Linux. I’d only recommend it if you want to use both Linux and macOS with the same keyboard (you will be happier in this case, because using macOS with a Windows keyboard sucks, vice versa).
If you don’t like the Windows key design, get a keyboard with a custom one.
I’ve dabbled with Linux on Mac hardware a couple of times and I’ve got to say that Linux DEs generally hew closer to Windows conventions than Mac ones and I found using the Mac keyboard with Linux to be a dreadful experience without the fact that the chiclet keyboards are the worst shit I’ve ever put my fingers on.
I very quickly snagged a standard mechanical qwerty 104 key with brown switches and cursed every moment that I had to use that abominable keyboard built into the stupid MacBook. Apple seems determined to do things different for the sake of different as much as they possibly can and trying to adapt all their nonsense to the Win/Lin way of doing things made my life worse in numerous ways (most DEs have great remapping for keys and such, but it gets messy fast if you’ve got apps from different paradigms.)
I’d very much recommend against going out of your way to get a Mac keyboard for using Linux unless you enjoy fighting against things. But hey, if that’s your kink, then a Mac keyboard with Linux would be my recommended way to go.
Why would anyone do this to themselves. Even Mac people buy custom keyboards themselves for a reason!
That said, I use the Mac “cmd” symbol instead of the “Windows” symbol for my super key (a la Elementary) on my cheap but lovely Keychron K2 Pro. It just looks better 😁!
Why would you want that? There keyboards are awful.
The stupid 150$ apple bt keyboard has to be kept plugged in because the bt is trash. Drops characters when on bt, then just drops connection. Even when plugged in has a slow response vs any of the logitech ones I have.
Overall apple keyboards are junk
Hummm… personal preference, but when I SSH into a linux server with my Mac… I totally hate the keyboard shortcuts… They are driving me crazy.
Windows keyboard shortcuts, feel more “native” and easier to use.
Can’t explain it, but while I used both, I totally hate the mac keyboard shortcut keys.
Doing something like
CMD + Option + bspthat reflects toalt + bspon windows… :/
If you are used to Mac keyboard, layout, go right ahead. You can get a number of really nice third-party keyboards with that layout. Linux will natively adapt to it, and you’ll be fine. There may be one or two apps that don’t natively switch, but they will be far and few between. Personally, I don’t know of any of that I happen to use.
As someone who uses Macs and Linux systems, I prefer this, so I don’t have to keep switching between different keyboard layouts.
My very minimal experience with an in store mac-book has cautioned me away from the fisher-price OS
Saying it’s a Fisher-Price OS is like saying Linux is Fisher-Price because people have anime themes.
It’s Unix under the hood. It’s just as much a “real” operating system as any desktop Linux distro. It just looks nice.
Sorry if it offended you, to me it just felt locked down like iOS, only time I used MacOs when I spun up a virtual machine to try it out
No offense taken! There are a lot of justifiable reasons why people would avoid Apple products, I just don’t think the desktop OS is one of them.
I ended up with a 103-key Unicomp New Model M (essentially the same layout as a 101-key, but with one Windows key and one context menu key stuffed into what would have been the small blank spaces in the bottom row between ctrl and alt—I really wanted a full-length spacebar). Linux is most often installed onto ex-Windows PCs, so it’s hardly surprising that it expects the Windows keyboard layout.
(I believe the current generation of Gnome devs is big on minimalism, AKA omitting or removing features. I can understand the appeal from a code maintenance point of view, but it’s never been a DE that I liked.)
You can buy keyboards with replaceable keycaps. You can also buy keycaps with Tux logos on them for at least some of those keyboards. You can decide for yourself whether your aesthetic dislike of the Windows logo is worth the rather higher price of such a keyboard.
If you want to crazy with the keyboard, consider switching to Dvorak instead! It’s an investment of course, but you get used to it surprisingly quick and the typing experience is a lot better. As for the function button you can always just remap them to your preference, I don’t see the point in making a fuzz. Most distros are also made with a PC keyboard in mind, not that I know if that matters.
As for GNOME vs KDE, it’s up to personal preference. I enjoy my GNOME setup a lot, running just a couple extensions to get it just the way I like it. I enjoy that there are very few options and distractions around that I am not interested in. And I of course understand that other people prefer KDE. It’s great that there are two dominant DEs with such completely different design philosophies.
No need for an Apple keyboard unless you’re looking for extra function keys, a regular keyboard will work fine, and if’n for some reason you need the Mac layout, it’s available, I’ve always used the English (Macintosh) layout so I can get easy access to keys I like to use or sometimes need.
It does not make a meaningful difference at all. Get the keyboard you like best. Personally, I’m a fan of the Logitech G915 (Windows layout) for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
I don’t know if it meets your purposes, nor do I use mac, but I just bought this keyboard:
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/combos/mk850-wireless-keyboard-mouse.920-008219.html
You can buy a normal (or better yet, English-International) keyboard without the Windows key without confusing yourself with new layout conventions.
I’m typing on a mac keyboard on Debian. USB one with the numpad. It’s fantastic if you’re into that.
The last time I tried to pair the magic mouse 2 though, no joy. I’d be wary of the bluetooth keyboard.