[ The PC Guide | Systems and Components Reference Guide | Keyboards | Keyboard Layouts ]

Non-Standard Keyboard Layouts

As the PC world evolved away from IBM dominance towards a more open market, thousands of companies began to create their own designs for various PC hardware components, including keyboards of course. While keyboards radically different from the 101-key or 104-key designs are rare, small modifications and enhancements are common, such as adding keys for special functions.

I couldn't even begin to describe all the non-standard keyboard layouts that are around, and there wouldn't be much point in trying. However, there are a few generic "categories" of non-standard keyboards that I do want to talk about briefly in this section. These include so-called "natural" ergonomic keyboards, programmable keyboards, and also notebook keyboards.

You can find a discussion of some of the extra buttons and keys found on some non-standard keyboards in this section.

Next: Ergonomic ("Natural") Keyboards

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