TypeMatrix 2030 USB - DV (US Dvorak English) keyboard

by TypeMatrix

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches ; 1.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000B59KQY
• Item model number: EZR2030DV
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 22, 2005

Product Description

With it's small footprint, intuitive layout and true ergonomic design, the TypeMatrix 2030 has become a favorite among typing enthusiasts. The Matrix Architecture (straight vertical key columns) increases typing accuracy and decreases wrist distortion. Large centered BackSpace and Enter keys move usage of some of the most used keys from the weak pinky to the strong index finger - with less reach. The minimal footprint also means less reaching for the mouse reducing arm and shoulder stress.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great keyboard!, October 4, 2006

By 

Graham Cummins "Graham Cummins" (MT, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: TypeMatrix 2030 USB - DV (US Dvorak English) keyboard (Personal Computers)

Summary:

From an ergonomics perspective, this is probably the best keyboard currently on the market. The Touchstream Stealth is better if you can get one (they are no longer made) and handle the steep learning curve and fat price tag, but even then this keyboard is faster for plain English text. If you are concerned about RSI or you need every last character per second of typing speed, buy one right away. There are a few nasty issues for Mac, Unix, and machines without PS/2 ports - see below - but they can be worked around.

Pros:

If you have already learned to use Dvorak, learning the slightly new layout for this keyboard is very easy. The square grid layout really is much easier than traditional staggered layouts, the placement of Enter, Backspace, and Shift is delightful, and Capslock is safely out of your way, so you don't need to disable it in software. The key feel is great. The size is great. The integrated arrows and numberpad are nice and come without the cost of having a huge keyboard that puts your mouse a foot away from your right hand.

The ability to switch to Dvorak layout in hardware is really nice if you share your machine. You can even get a Qwerty skin that overlays the keyboard so your Dvorak-challenged friends can use it. Typematrix will tell you that the skin actually makes the keyboard nicer to type on. This is false, but it is one of the least annoying keyboard skins I've used, and typing with the skin on feels just fine. If you want to learn Dvorak (and you should!) you probably want to get this keyboard and the skin. That way you can painlessly switch back to Qwerty if you really have to get that report typed today. Even if you are the only user of your machine, hardware dvorak is really nice. How often have you found out that your keyboard doesn't work like you want in the BIOS, the OS installer, the runlevel 3 shell (in Linux), or the login password windows (on linux and mac), and especially when you move to your friend's computer.

Cons:

The biggest con is that this isn't a usb keyboard. It's a PS/2 only keyboard that comes with a general purpose USB to PS/2 adapter. The adapters are not perfect, and may generate strange behavior on some systems. I replaced the adapter that came with my keyboard with one I bought separately, and that got rid of several problems (including the fact that Macs can't sleep with the adapter plugged in). I think Typematrix started distributing a better adapter after I bought my keyboard. Even with the best ones, though, there are some issues. I have had keys get stuck on repeat (very infrequently), key chords fail to register as chords, and key timings be slightly delayed. On a PS/2 machine, you could use this keyboard for high-speed games, but you probably can't do that with the USB to PS/2 adapter. Even tiny timing and chording glitches can make a twitch game really frustrating.

The placement of escape and control is bad (they are small and shoved all the way in the corners) and there aren't many "expendable" keys with better locations that you can remap to these functions. Unix and VI users (like me) will find this slightly painful. I've actually modified my keyboard with an extension rod that lets me press the control key with my thumb, and this makes using the keyboard in Unix-like systems much much better. Linux users can probably just remap "start" (aka the "left Windows" key) to Control, but Mac users have a worse time, because the "start" key is also Mac "Command", which you need just as badly as Control.

The keyboard is a bit Windows-centric. It uses valuable key locations for keys like right-Windows and hot keys bound to alt-Tab, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-V, Ctrl-C. The hot keys can't be remapped. For Mac users this is annoying, but not supper critical. I'm giving this keyboard 5 stars and I use mostly Macs and never touch Windows.

5.0 out of 5 stars The best keyboard out there, March 29, 2011

By 

Gregory (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TypeMatrix 2030 USB - DV (US Dvorak English) keyboard (Personal Computers)

This comes from a programmer that type all day long and has tried countless other keyboards for years, most of them traditional QWERTYs.

- Build -
This is a awesome keyboard, period. Very sturdy and well done, super lightweight and small. The keys are responsive and quieter, I can finally type in the night without awaking everybody with the noise hehe. They look similar to laptops keys but are better in my opinion.

- Features -
It includes a full numpad totally accessible with just holding the Fn button so you don't need to lock it, type the numbers, then unlock. It also have other useful buttons for media player (pause, mute, volume, next, prev); copy & paste, browser, calculator, power off, sleep, app switching and more all packed in this tiny beautiful keyboard. The keys are well labeled with words and not icons (icons can be confusing sometimes).

- Keys and Disposition -
The key disposition in matrix form is excellent and feels more natural to me than the traditional quincunx disposition. The keys location is well thought, everything is located where they should be for quick access depending on the key, for example the copy & paste keys are near your fingers for extreme quick access while other less used keys like the calculator or browser are in a corner where they don't annoy anybody. The most notorious being the Enter key right in the middle for faster access without moving your hands from the home row.

- Dvorak -
Now for the Dvorak layout... Well is a bit harder to get used to it for the first time, it really requires practice and patience, so don't ditch your QWERTY keyboard yet, specially if you need it for work or your progress will be hindered while you get uses to this layout. But once you start mastering Dvorak you will be thinking how nobody told you about Dvorak before. I mean your speed REALLY increases and you barely move your fingers; it is more natural and you can type hundreds of words with just the home row keys; and the matrix disposition of this keyboard makes it even more easy. I highly recommend you switch to Dvorak NOW, in fact the record Guinness for faster typing was set by Barbara Blackburn, using, yeah you guessed it, a Dvorak keyboard.

But if you still want to use QWERTY, TypeMatrix sells a traditional QWERTY keyboard but let me tell you this: these keyboards have a button to switch between QWERTY/Dvorak on the fly, the only problem is that obviously the keys are labeled with just one layout but as amazing as this company is, you can buy a official skin for the other layout and put it on the keyboard and voilà, you have labeled keys for both layouts. I haven't tried none of those skins so I can't comment if they are comfortable, durable or not, but I bet they are.

- Compatibility -
This thing works on Windows and Linux right out of the box without the need of drivers or nothing! Just plug and you're set. It seems this work on Mac too but I haven't tried it.

- Conclusion -
I have a couple personal complains though:
1) Thanks to Dvorak some useful shortcut keys like Ctrl-z (undo) are not of quick access anymore, requiring both hands in many cases, they should have included undo/redo keys like they did with copy & paste since they are very used.
2) TypeMatrix still don't have a Spanish keyboard or skin so typing those weird characters like ü or ñ is very annoying.

Overall I'm very happy with this keyboard and I highly recommend it. My fingers thank you, TypeMatrix!

4.0 out of 5 stars Works great, but needs some adjustments for Mac OS X users, January 12, 2011

By 

Alan Coman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: TypeMatrix 2030 USB - DV (US Dvorak English) keyboard (Personal Computers)

I have used the keyboard at work on Windows and UNIX. It works great.

On Mac, however, one has to use KeyRemap4MacBook to use the cut copy, paste keys. And that assumes that you use the Dvorak hardware switch on TypeMatrix and use American(Qwerty) layout in Mac OS X.

I prefer to use the Dvorak layout in Mac OS X and no hardware switch.
In order to use the cut, copy, paste keys, you need to remap some keys using KeyRemap4MacBook and a settings file that must be typed up or I can email to you.

See more info on my blog:
[...]

I hope TypeMatrix realize that they have a great product, but they need better support for Dvorak Mac users. If it were my company, I would have had this available from day 1.

Other pros:
The hands rest very comfortable. The rectangular design is great.
Also having backspace, delete and enter in the middle is a great idea. It works the stronger index finges instead of the weak right pinky.
Very portable
The distance to the mouse is negligible. This is a great advantage that is often overlooked in my opinion.
Also TM provides skins with different other layouts (might be useful if other people who like worse keyboard layouts need to use your keyboard.

Other cons:
Doesn't have a separate numeric keys, so it's not recommended for heavy number crunchers (unless they want to pay extra for a USB numeric keyboard).
Price - steep, which puts the keyboard out of reach for many casual users. Too bad, since Dvorak is the best layout out there (I feel some Colemark fans will disagree - but so be it).

Suggestions:
I think TM should have better support for Mac users and provide the KeyRemap4MacBook directly on their website with the right settings.

I would also suggest they add some USB ports on the keyboard (the way the Apple keyboard has) or provide a wireless version.

Overall a great product, especially for Windows/UNIX users - works great out the box. It can be tweaked in a few minutes to work perfectly on Mac OS X as well.

I highly recommend this product. (I gave it 4 starts because support for Mac can be improved).