The Mechanical Keyboard

Cole types on a full-size mechanical keyboard, in Cole’s words “our nice mechanical keyboard that has a macOs/windows switch, 3 device BT/wifi/usb RGB with numpad and RGB”. Unpacked, that is a board with a number pad, RGB lighting, a switch that flips it between Mac and Windows layouts, and three ways to connect, which together let one keyboard drive the Mac mini, a Windows PC and a third device without unplugging anything.

What the features are for

Mechanical switches. Each key sits on its own switch with a spring, instead of a rubber dome under a membrane. Switches come in three broad feels: linear (smooth all the way down), tactile (a bump where the key registers) and clicky (a bump and a click). They last for tens of millions of presses, and on many boards they are hot-swappable, pulled out and replaced without soldering.

A full-size layout. “Full-size” or 100 percent means every key, including the function row, the arrow and navigation cluster, and the number pad on the right. The numpad is the reason to choose it: numbers, spreadsheets and calculations go much faster. The cost is width, which pushes the mouse further out.

Tri-mode connections. The “BT/wifi/usb” in Cole’s description are three separate links:

Mode	How it connects	Good for
Bluetooth	Pairs directly, usually with up to three devices, switched with a key combination	Moving between the Mac, a laptop and a tablet
2.4 GHz wireless	A small USB receiver, a radio link that is not Wi-Fi despite the nickname	Lower latency and a steadier link than Bluetooth
USB cable	Plugged in, which also charges it	Zero lag, and a fallback when wireless acts up

A macOS and Windows switch. Mac and Windows put their modifier keys in different places and give them different names: Control, Option and Command on a Mac; Ctrl, the Windows key and Alt on a PC. A hardware switch remaps the bottom row (and usually the media keys) so the same physical keys do the right thing on either system, with keycaps for both.

RGB lighting. Per-key colored backlighting, with effects and brightness levels. Beyond looks, it makes the keys readable in a dark room. On battery it costs runtime, so dim it on wireless.

Why it fits this setup

The setup this wiki describes spans a Mac and Windows: the Mac mini on the desk, and a Windows PC that does its Unix work in WSL. One board with a layout switch and multiple connections covers both without a second keyboard.

The modifier keys matter more than usual here, because Cole’s tmux keymap leans on Alt: Alt+h and Alt+l to change windows, Alt+a for a new agent window, Alt+s for sessions. On a PC, Alt is simply Alt. On a Mac, the Option key types accented characters by default, so the terminal has to be told to treat it as Alt: Cole’s Ghostty config sets macos-option-as-alt = left, which turns the left Option key into Alt and keeps the right one for accents.

Choosing one

Boards like this are common from makers such as Keychron. Keychron’s full-size K10 Max, for example, lists 2.4 GHz wireless, Bluetooth 5.1 to three devices and a wired mode, with a toggle between Windows and macOS. When comparing boards, the features worth checking are:

• Programmable firmware. Boards that run QMK or VIA let you remap any key and add layers, so you can, say, put the tmux prefix on a single key.
• Hot-swap sockets. Try different switches without buying a new keyboard.
• The connection switch. A physical switch for Bluetooth, 2.4 GHz and cable is quicker than a key combination.
• Layout. If the numpad is not something you use, a 96 percent or 75 percent board keeps most keys and gives the mouse room.

The Mice: MX Master and Magic Mouse page covers the other half of the desk.