i have a Unicomp ps2 keyboard that I’ve been using for about 25 years that seems to be nearing the end of its service life. it gave me a scare a few years back so i bought a cherry mx board as a backup but the thing gave me doublestrikes all the time so that’s not a long-term solution for my next iteration. considering going for another unicomp since i like the chonkyness of it. i always think about a keyboard i encountered back in the 90s that had a special MACRO section onboard, and the old SIIG ALPS keyswitch keyboards. anyone used one of those new-fangled optical keyswitch boards?
I think my taste in keyboards is possibly slightly more vanilla than those cyberpunk rigs i see in ergomechkeyboards ;D I would love to get a chance to try out these oneoff alt boards but I get the impression that custom built ones run into the absurd dollars range.
Mass-produced ergonomic keyboards are around $400 USD these days. The more of it you build yourself, the cheaper. I can build one for some $15, having already sunk the costs of a 3D printer, soldering station, some switches, some keycaps, a few Pro Micro boards, and lots of time learning about it.
But before my wrists started hurting, I never went for expensive nor weird keyboards. An IBM Model M passed into my life a long time ago, and quietly back out of it after only a few years, relatively unappreciated… Crazy, I know!