I mentioned I was looking for a non-Apple-Pro USB keyboard to use with my Mac, and that I would ideally get to continue using my Key Tronic Lifetime keyboard. Unable to find USB Key Tronic keyboards from resellers, I ordered one directly over their rather cheesy, but straightforward website. Model E03601 Black USB (E03601QUSUSBBC, $21.50 US plus shipping) arrived at my door the other day. I like it well enough: It's your standard 104-key keyboard with quiet but firm keys in the usual arrangement. All the keys work as expected with Mac OS X: Alt is Option, Windows is Command, and the secondary keys and number pad all function. The unit seems excessively deep by about an inch, but it slopes up in a really nice way, and can be tilted further up with Key Tronic's standard feet that fold out. Like many Key Tronic keyboards, backspace is shortened to make room for moving backslash to its left, so Enter can be big and L-shaped. I got used to the Apple Pro keyboard having a big backspace key, but I always hit the right side anyway, so it's not a problem. I'm already typing faster and more comfortably, so it's definitely an improvement.

I don't know enough about keycodes to know what Print Scrn, Scroll Lock, Pause, and Num Lock are expected to do under OS X. (Right now, they beep or do nothing, as far as I can tell.) It'd be really cool if they could be re-mapped to replace the volume and media eject keys I grew to love. So far all I can find is the usual keyboard shortcut for Eject in the Finder menu (adjustable via the Keyboard and Mouse System Preferences panel), but the Finder must be active for that to work (one extra click). I liked an Eject key especially with a slot-loading media drive, so I can easily tap it before trying to stick in a disc, just to be sure I won't jam anything.

Newbie Mac tip: Die-hard Mac users want the command key next to the space bar, which means they want the Alt (Option) and Windows (Command) keys reversed on a keyboard intended for a PC. DoubleCommand seems to be a popular way to do this, among other popular remappings. I'm not used to the Mac way, so this isn't an issue for me, though the Windows key is not positioned or sized for use as common as the Apple Command key. I never really thought the original location of Command was that comfortable either, to tell the truth. Die-hard Unix users believe Control (the most popular Unix meta key, like Command is for Mac OS) belongs to the left of the 'A' key, where Caps Lock is on mainstream keyboards, but it's difficult to remap Caps Lock on mainstream keyboards because it tends to have special behavior in the keycodes it sends. uControl, another keymapper utility, takes advantage of a special code sequence emitted by Caps Lock to simulate normal key behavior for remapping to Control. Perhaps Command belongs where Control is, Control belongs where Caps Lock is, and Caps Lock doesn't belong on the keyboard at all.