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Gratz. :)

Yet my victory is hollow and empty. By your self deprecation you have robbed it of all its delectable succulence. Bravo! :p

Meanwhile, I'm amazed that someone might actually remember Cirque.

Your mention got me to go looking for it on the web... it was a cirque power cat:
http://www.ergocanada.com/products/other/cirque_power_cat.html

Cool tech that was ahead of its time. I don't think it was really surpassed in modern laptops until apple's multi-touch pad on the macbook pro. I didn't know cirque was absorbed by ALPS until you mentioned it either; thanks for triggering this trip down memory lane. :)

News flash: almost NO computer keyboards are designed for programming, either on Mac or PC.

This is true. I -love- my Kinesis keyboard picture here for ergonomic reasons, and it's great for typing out regular text, Slashdot comments, etc.

However, when I have to start putting down Python code, it's placement of punctuation keys ( like [, ], |, ', etc ) make coding a bit of a chore.

And for gaming, it's totally useless. I use a different keyboard for that.

Ok, the "are you stupid" replies are common on /., but you kind of overdid it. I mean, I am just overwhelmed here with how much you are bashing him. Good god, it's amazing you managed to make a point having spent over half a post saying how much of an idiot the GP is. I' m sorry, I'm just utterly baffled by you, did he hit some sort of sensitive chord? Because the GP was really not a ridiculous post, regardless if it is correct or not. Anyway, don't be mad at me too, I am just typing random things on a bowl of lentil soup, it is kind of similar to my keyboard.

I wanted to get out of bed and clean then you people post this, lovely - I'll be here 20 minutes typing this one up.

So anyhow I'm in the process of hunting for a new keyboard myself.
I personally feel one of those most important things to focus on first is the layout of the keys themselves on the board, if you don't have a layout you're happy with, what's the point?

You've got several varieties, I'll show several here and my personal opinion on them (and also why you may like or dislike them)
http://img.clubic.com/photo/00351428.jpg
First up the enermax aurora keyboard.
This is absoloutely 100% standard US key layout, every key is exactly where you would expect it, the only slight change is slimmer and closer function keys to the number keys, I think likely quite acceptable and my favourite layout.

http://ak.cdiscount.com/pdt/0/0/0/1/f/PCK8000.jpg
Here is the Samsung Pleomax Zen edition keyboard, this also has perfect and standard key layout, with NON intrusive multimedia keys at the top, aesthetically they look simple (cmon, I'm a slashdotter) but they also don't look like they will get in the way.

http://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard_images/microsoft_ergonomic_keyboard_4000_black_usb_large.jpg
An ergonomic keyboard, I have no interest in these at all as I like consistency from machine to machine that I use, if they are good or not, I simply don't care as consistency = speed and that's important to me (I use many, many PC's)

https://ssl11.chi.us.securedata.net/miccomputers.com/merchantmanager/v4/images/microsoft-keyboard.jpg
Now this is one of the ones a lot of you should be paying attention to.
I used to use a similar model to this, you will note the multimedia keys are again mostly non intrusive, not in an area you could likely hit them accidentally, HOWEVER! This is one of those new keyboards where MS have opted to well..frankly fuck up the delete key and the function keys (3 grouping not 4) - look at that abomination - it's a disaster, I don't know why they've deviated from the norm but I've accidentally hit delete many a time on one of those things.
AVOID - I hope they die out >:(

http://techgasm.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/logitech-g15-gaming-keyboard-2007.jpg
Finally a 'gaming' keyboard from Logitech, the G15, nice and backlit and frankly one of the worst keyboards humanity has created.
Firstly, I want all of you to press control escape.
I use left thumb (ctrl) and middle finger or index finger on escape.
Where do your remaining fingers go? Mine dangle off the edge of the keyboard - on the G15 however they hit these stupid keys strapped to the left - UGH.
Next problem, the distance between left shift and right shift (ie the keyspace) seems to be ever so partially smaller than most, maybe it's 1mm maybe it's 2 but the whole keyboard feels slightly smaller AND the physical key caps are small!
What this means is I end up typing something and always hitting S intead of D or F instead of D snd "studd csn rnd up lookung lukw thus"
In conclusion fuck that keyboard!

OK! So we've got the layout out of the way, the only really remaining thing is the keytype
This link should explain it better than I can
http://www.ergocanada.com/ergo/keyboards/mechanical_vs_membrane_keyswitches.html

(regular rubber pushback, laptop scissor switch with rubber pushback, or 'full on' mechanical (likely noisy) with spring pushback but reliable)

Over the past 4 years of owning a laptop I've come to enjoy usin

And just for the record, there are several other places to get that unmistakable buckling-spring feel:

http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/menu.htm CVT's Avant models (I'm typing this on an Avant Prime and it feels just like the Model M I use at home)

http://www.pckeyboard.com/customizer.html PC Keyboard, already mentioned in parent of this

http://www.mck142.com/ The Ortek MCK-142 monster with programmable function keys

http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/classic-line/key board-standard-g80-3000.htm Cherry G80, mechnical, but I'm not sure how close to the Model M feel it has...

http://www.ergocanada.com/products/keyboards/dsi_s mk85_compact.html A compact model using ALPS keyswitches. Similar to the Model M style switches.

http://www.ergo-2000.com/ergo2000/showdetl.cfm?&DI D=6&Product_ID=624&CATID=36 Northgate Omnikey models are largely discontinued, but here's an ergo one still being sold using Alps keyswitches. You can also try ebay http://search-desc.ebay.com/omnikey_W0QQftsZ2 for used or remaindered Omnikeys.

Finally, just for learning about the buckling spring/clicky keyboards, here are some great sites for details:
http://www.clickykeyboards.com/
http://www.dansdata.com/ibmkeyboard.htm
http://thesiliconunderground.editthispage.com/2001 /02/08

And for those of you wondering why several of us are going on and on about decades-old keyboards from IBM, you owe it to yourself to at least try one of these and see what you think. Yes, they are noisier than those squishy membrane ones, but the feedback from them is amazing and you get to the point of blazing over them and often catching many typos by sound alone...

That thing looks very cool and I was almost ready to order one ... till I found they were going for $595 CAD !

There's no way I would ever pay over $100 - $150 for a keyboard. No matter how ergonmic and sanitary it is. My current keyboard was like $20.

Anyone know of a cheaper solution ?

Looking for split keyboards with normal key travel?
Try ergocanada for examples.
They're a bit pricy, but it's Canadian $'s.

No, I don't work there. I work in Adaptive Computer Technology support. We've had some positive results with these.

do you mean a trackball? i have an MS explorer trackball (i like the five buttons), which i bought specifically because it doesn't have to lie flat. i can prop it at an angle, or hold it in my left hand, and that lets me keep both my wrist and my arm in comfortable positions. i had found that rotating my arm out to reach a mouse beside my keyboard was a problem for my elbow.

i'm now using a vertical mouse from evoluent (also five buttons, unlike the Quill mouse), which leaves my left hand free, but does need to sit beside my keyboard. i am going to look for a mouse tray to attach to my left chair arm.

i bought an Evoluent Vertical Mouse from ergo recently, and i like it a lot. (that's a canadian store, and the price is in canadian dollars. for those from the US, that may be attractive.)

unlike the Quill, it has 5 buttons (including the wheel button), and thus easily replaced my MS explorer trackball. using a Quill i would really miss those other two buttons. it also has a smaller footprint, since your hand surrounds it, rather than being surrounded by it.