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I use a plain old MS comfort curve 2000:
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Comfort-Curve-Keyboard-B2L-00002/dp/B0009ZBRS0

Cheap, and negative slop if you want one too iirc, via flop tabs.

Dvorak too. Neo is supposed to be even better (in german, but can't imagine english is too different):
http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout/index_us.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#Neo

Use NEO. And scratch the paint off your keys. Or get Das Keyboard Ultimate. I guarantee you, noone will even want to use your computer.

Taking a peek at the Dvorak layout and then imagining typing in it, I prefer qwerty because I'm not a "proper" keyboardist.

WTF sense does that make? Just be honest: you learned qwerty and that's what you want to stick with. You have muscle memory because you use it. Great for you. Once I decided to really learn dvorak (stopped qwerty cold turkey), I was typing at 75% speed within 3 hours using an online typing tutor. And it went up from there.

Imagine typing on dvorak. Pshaw! Imagine typing on qwerty! Every year, I still get asked by some older people, hunt and peckers, "Why are these all mixed up! Why don't they make them alphabetical" in frustration. Their level of ignorance is higher than yours, as they at least used the system, albeit incorrectly. I never used chorded keyboards, but I don't dump on them when I never tried them out.

Anyway, for those a little more adventurous, I recommend reading up on the Neo-Layout (Tastatur). It's angled for german users, but besides the 3 umlaut letters, it's pretty much the same alphabet and a brother to english:
http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout/index_us.html

The statistics are interesting. Google for more resources on the net, but be ready more more German websites than english. I'm not sure if I buy into the new "more travel" is better mantra echoed on this board, this layout is designed to minimize travel.

As for retaining qwerty, it depends on the person. I haven't fared particularly well. When I'm on another computer, I usually can change layouts within 30 seconds if it's not locked down like a public terminal. Otherwise, for those, I use an online javascript to type longer things that interpret it as dvorak strokes. I do wish for a USB dongle attachment to go between the keyboard and computer sometimes, or perhaps auto-launch some program. But in the age of notebooks and netbooks, it's not really an issue. Only when I'm stuck fixing someone else's computer, which I would rather avoid anyway.

Nah, I don't have the numbers you want. Most analysis goes towards words. For instance, I would recognized that Dvorak generally isn't optimal for coding c and c style langages either although I use lisp mostly and in that, Qwerty & Dvorak are identical, as it would be for the space, a, enter, and keypad keys.

I found the English Neo layout site, it has more numbers scrolling down, but it's generally considering words, as well:
http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout/index_us.html

I'm not a gamer. I like it better than Qwerty, my wrists don't hurt anymore. However, I used to touch type Qwerty, now I can't. This isn't a big deal but would someone point me if a USB device exists that could be plug in between the keyboard and the computer that could translate qwerty signals into dvorak ones? I would find this helpful on computers other than my own.

If you want to learn Dvorak, like a foreign language I would suggest to plunge in and stop using qwerty. Your muscle memory needs to get accustomed to the new system and changing in between is not helpful. I initially tried learning dvorak by taking online lessons in small doses. After six months, I wasn't getting anywhere. I switch cold turkey one weekend, and by Monday morning, was a touch typist again (I spent roughly 6 hours on online lessons that weekend and did all my other computer stuff in Dvorak).

There are potentially better layouts designed recently but I want to ask anyone with experience with the "Neo" Tastatur/Layout - is it better in your experience?

Neo Layout:
(German - has useful visual comparison to QWERTY, DVORAK, and other layouts)
http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout.php

If you never have heard of it:
English:
http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout/index_us.htm l

I'm not a gamer. I like it better than Qwerty, my wrists don't hurt anymore. However, I used to touch type Qwerty, now I can't. This isn't a big deal but would someone point me if a USB device exists that could be plug in between the keyboard and the computer that could translate qwerty signals into dvorak ones? I would find this helpful on computers other than my own.

If you want to learn Dvorak, like a foreign language I would suggest to plunge in and stop using qwerty. Your muscle memory needs to get accustomed to the new system and changing in between is not helpful. I initially tried learning dvorak by taking online lessons in small doses. After six months, I wasn't getting anywhere. I switch cold turkey one weekend, and by Monday morning, was a touch typist again (I spent roughly 6 hours on online lessons that weekend and did all my other computer stuff in Dvorak).

There are potentially better layouts designed recently but I want to ask anyone with experience with the "Neo" Tastatur/Layout - is it better in your experience?

Neo Layout:
(German - has useful visual comparison to QWERTY, DVORAK, and other layouts)
http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout.php

If you never have heard of it:
English:
http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout/index_us.htm l

Yes, pretty much - I mean I can generally type faster (English) than before and the pain in my wrists went away (it usually happened while typing long letters with QWERTY). For programming, the characters like semicolon, brackets and stuff may be about the same as QWERTY as DVORAK in convenience, as DVORAK was not generally made for that.

It presents no problem on my computers (Ubuntu, Mac OSX, Windows XP) as they all can switch your layout in software. The worst operating system with this is actually Microsoft's because when you switch keyboard layout from the default on the toolbar, it changes it for one application instead of system wide. But this problem only crops up if you have multiple users who use different layouts on the same profile constantly. OS X and Ubuntu is real easy in this regard.

For the benefits of dvorak, I just lost the ability to type fast on terminals and my school's computers which don't let me change the keyboard layout for some idiotic reason (they reimage the computers every login or night anyway). But that is an annoyance I put up with infrequently. If someone wants me to fix their computer, they let me change the layout temporarily anyway, which takes all of 30 seconds on any OS.

Also, forgetting QWERTY may just be my problem - I know people who say they can switch between the 2 layouts like someone speaking English and then Spanish without problem. I may have just willfully forgot it to learn the other layout faster and I certainly don't go out of my way to type QWERTY, which could explain it.

There are other layouts which may be better for you, I just picked dvorak because it was the most common alternative sure to be in every OS. The other alternatives, like NEO or de_ergo may not even be in the computer and you'd have to load it in like a driver - and I didn't want that hassle. Read more about your choices here, though it is a pro-NEO article (written by the guy who invented it):

http://pebbles.schattenlauf.de/layout/index_us.htm l