Japan · 5 keyboards

HHKB (PFU)

The Happy Hacking Keyboard began with one man's frustration. Eiiti Wada, a Japanese computer scientist, was tired of learning a new keyboard every time he got a new computer, so he worked with PFU to build one he could carry from machine to machine. He compared it to a cowboy whose horse dies in the desert. He leaves the horse and takes the saddle. The first HHKB came out in 1996 with membrane switches, and the 2003 Professional moved to Topre electro-capacitive switches, which every Professional since has used. The layout puts Control where Caps Lock usually sits and Esc next to the 1 key, borrowed from Sun's Type 3 keyboard, and blank keycaps were offered from the start because Wada's students liked them. PFU says it had shipped more than 670,000 HHKBs by May 2023. The range now runs from the wired Classic to the Bluetooth Hybrid and the hot-swap Studio.