March 17, 2026
My Keychron Q8 keyboard
I bought this in March of 2026 for $80 on Amazon.
At that price it is an amazing bargain.
I use it on a linux system with "the switch" in Mac mode.
The switch setting hardly matters. See notes on "layers" below.
My board has Gateron blue, which are clicky.
Brown are quiet, but you feel a bump -- Red are linear, no noise or bump.
Missing keys
Most vital is the tilde (and backquote) that get frequent use writing software.
Use fn2 and the ESC key to get ~.
Use fn1 and the ESC key to get the backtick ``.
To get fn keys (F1 to F12) use the fn2 key and the corresponding number.
So, to get F7, use fn2 and 7.
Beyond F10 (obtained using fn2 and 0) imagine that things
just continue along to the right.
In other words, to get F12 use fn2 and the = key.
Other "Alice" layout boards
There are the Q10 and V10. These are bigger and have an actual row of function keys.
The Q10 has a metal case, while the V10 is plastic and perhaps more affordable.
I see the Q10 for $100 on Amazon (the Q8 sells for $80),
but this is "barebone" (i.e. no keys installed)!
They call it a 75 percent Alice layout (the Q8 is a 65 percent Alice).
The price for a fully assembled board is $215 -- unless you find a deal.
Is the Q10 a TKL? Sort of. There is no numeric keypad,
but a TKL is usually called an 80 percent board, so the
Q10 may have skipped some keys.
The Q10 has 88 or 89 keys, depending on the version
(knob or no knob), which is what the usual TKL has.
Maybe calling it a 75 percent board is a bit of spec gaming.
Have any comments? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Adventures in Computing / tom@mmto.org