Compact non-notebook size keyboard

[enaitee]

Hi...I use a large graphics pad in front of my monitor and slide my
keyboard to the left to make room. Without a custom desk setup it becomes
very awkward to use the keyboard. Even without the graphics pad I've always
wanted less reach for my mouse pad to the right of the keyboard. I am
looking for a keyboard that has the right hand number pad gone but retains
the standard keyboard key spacing (pitch) of 19mm so my large fingers
aren't forever hitting two keys. Searching the net brings up a lot of
"notebook" style mini keyboards that average about 11 inches wide and have
about 87 keys crowded in that space. They are very reasonably priced at
under $25 mostly. I did find what I was looking for but it's a spendy $85
from www.ergo-2000.com. There is a more reasonably priced Fujitsu FMWKB5A
$59 but it has a coiled cord intended for portable hookups that would be
hard to use on my under the desk setup without the keyboard being semi-
nailed in place. Before I opt for the ergo-2000 price tag I wanted to make
sure I wasn't overlooking a better alternative. Any suggestions would be
appreciated.
Regards, (e-mail address removed) (Do take out the trash first!)

 

[Dave C.]

Hi...I use a large graphics pad in front of my monitor and slide my
keyboard to the left to make room. Without a custom desk setup it becomes
very awkward to use the keyboard. Even without the graphics pad I've
always
wanted less reach for my mouse pad to the right of the keyboard. I am
looking for a keyboard that has the right hand number pad gone but retains
the standard keyboard key spacing (pitch) of 19mm so my large fingers
aren't forever hitting two keys. Searching the net brings up a lot of
"notebook" style mini keyboards that average about 11 inches wide and have
about 87 keys crowded in that space. They are very reasonably priced at
under $25 mostly. I did find what I was looking for but it's a spendy $85
from www.ergo-2000.com. There is a more reasonably priced Fujitsu FMWKB5A
$59 but it has a coiled cord intended for portable hookups that would be
hard to use on my under the desk setup without the keyboard being semi-
nailed in place. Before I opt for the ergo-2000 price tag I wanted to make
sure I wasn't overlooking a better alternative. Any suggestions would be
appreciated.
Regards, (e-mail address removed) (Do take out the trash first!)

The Harma HK-2201 looks like it would work. I've seen it for as little as
$12, so it's almost cheap enough to buy it just to try it. Some
descriptions say notebook size, but the key spacing looks standard to me, in
the pictures anyway. -Dave

 

[enaitee]

The Harma HK-2201 looks like it would work. I've seen it for as
little as $12, so it's almost cheap enough to buy it just to try it.
Some descriptions say notebook size, but the key spacing looks
standard to me, in the pictures anyway. -Dave

Hi...Thanks for the reply. I had encountered the HK-2201 in my searching
but it was listed as a "house brand" without the Harma origin. It is one
of the larger "mini" keyboards measuring 320mm accross (12.6") placing it
in the same range as the Zippy WK610 illuminated keyboard (12.4"). The
width alone can be misleading because there may be more keys in that same
dimension than in the standard huge clunker. Maybe that's why only a few
manufacturers list the 19mm key spacing in a mini. I decided to go with
the Fujitsu and add a 6ft ps/2 extension for a total of $28. I found a
used one on ebay that will give me the "sausage fingers" spacing I need
plus small size. As far as I could tell the only (and it could be
important to some users) feature the Ergo-2000 model has is the "Alps key
switches" which it seems lots of old timers remember and like from
vintage IBM keyboards.