What is SpaceFN and why you should give it a try
The SpaceFN concept - setting up your space key as a layer switch when held - is probably one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby. Let me explain how it works. My SpaceFN article on kbd.news made some rounds recently - quite surprisingly given the age of this concept. This piece you're reading is a condensed version of the full post. If you're left with unanswered questions, you'll most likely find the info you're looking for in the original write-up. On my imaginary top list of the most useful keyboard features, tweaks and hacks, SpaceFN would deserve a podium finish for sure. But what makes it so special? In short: SpaceFN is easy to implement, easy to learn, costs nothing, can be used with any keyboard, and can improve your productivity instantly. I will list its benefits below, but can state right at this point that the SpaceFN concept, setting up your space key as a layer switch when held, is clearly one of the most useful tweaks in the keyboard hobby....
Apr 30, 2024
Topre keyswitches are mechanical keyswitches that nevertheless incorporate a rubber dome, so they are softer in feeling. They are hard to find on keyboards. Topre is a Japanese company, Tokyo Press, whose main gig is sheet metal pressing for automobiles They have other businesses (including bath tub covers, one of which I own) none of which relates to keyboards. I have no clue how the key switch business started inside such a company.
Hacking Hacking Keyboards was established to make a keyboard designed by a legenday computer science professor at Tokyo University. It has the control key to the left of the A, which makes it easy for geeks to use commands in terminal mode, for instance emacs and vi. The original version had no arrow keys, since geeks use control key combinations to move the cursor, but my version had small arrow keys crammed in. HHK's maker is now owned by Fujitsu.
60 percent keyboards are the size of the Apple wireless keyboard, Standard keyboards have 19 mm key pitch, i.e. the keys center to center (or left edge to left edge) are 19 mm apart. You don't want to make that smaller, so to make a smaller keyboard you just remove keys. A 60 percent keyboard is missing a dedicated function key row at the top, as well as the navigation pad and num pad.
A 40 percent keyboard also is missing a dedicated number row, and has fewer keys left to right also. It's 4 rows tall by 13 keys wide. To enter numbers you need to put the keyboard into another mode or use a function key (function-tab will produce a 1, function-A a 2). Additionally, some of the punctuation requires use of a function key. 40 percent keyboards are four keys high times 13 keys wide. They remain mostly hobby projects that people build from parts, but mine is a commercial keyboard from a company in Taiwan, the Vortex Core. It has no tray extending outside the keys. So it's even smaller than most 40 percenters. It looks normal to me, but other people just laugh.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/vortex-core-47