The Quest For The Holy HTPC Keyboard

It's been a few years since I started looking for a decent HTPC keyboard. Having spent more than a half of my life working with regular keyboards and mice (and not having a laptop until a couple of years ago), I was stuck on the idea of a keyboard with lots of functional keys, and whatever mouse that can do the job.

Then it dawned on me.

You don't need a mouse on an HTPC keyboard.

You need a trackpad.

I used to hate trackpads before, when I had to use them occasionally. Turned out, the secret is in two-handed operation: you use one hand to move the cursor, and the other to press the buttons. Works more than fine for vast majority of casual computing. More than enough for HTPC.

Have to admit, this idea is still to be proven. The selection of keyboards with a trackpad is small at this point, and I have not heard of any manufacturers before:

• Adesso
• BTC (this one has a joystick, though, not a trackpad)
• SolidTek

Form factors are odd. So are keyboard layouts. Reviews are not that stellar, either.

And then there's the Asus Eee keyboard - still half vaporware at this point, but definitely promising.

I guess I'll wait a bit. But at least I know what I need now.

The Curse of the Black Pearl

Having the trackball cease to function was a major dread for me while I had the Curve. Now that I have G1, the same thought is still in my head.

Apparently, all is not as bad - it's possible to replace the trackball, and they're actually pretty cheap, if you're not afraid of some DIY.

The G1 trackball unit is different and may not be as easy to obtain - let's keep eyes open and fingers crossed.