Should i buy a Spanish keyboard, for English use?

[MSIC]

Hey chaps, i just want to run this by a few of you in case i'm missing something obvious here.
I've seen a cool, usually pricey Logitech Dinovo keyboard on fleabay at cheapo price because it's (clearly marked as) a Spanish keyboard.
Wikipedia tells me that the letter keys are all the same as UK, but there are some differences such as no £ sign, etc.

Since i can live with this (and hopefully tell the install CD and / or my OS to just use English UK anyway), it might not be a problem.

Anything else i should be considering?

[martinp]

I use US based keyboards, I much prefer their layouts compared to the UK style.

I believe Spanish keyboards may also include keys for the Catalan language. If you can see a photo of the keyboard you'd be able to see the differences or search google for a layout pic....

As far as the OS is concerned you can go into International/Regional settings and change it to suit the keyboard or leave it as UK and experiment. Language is separate from the keyboard style in any OS.

[Pob255]

Remember that changeing the keyboard layout in the OS changes the position of symbol keys without changeing the symbols
ie US vs UK the key to the left of enter is ' " on a uk layout it's #~
So if you change the regional setting symbols can become misplaced and you'll have to hunt around every time you need to use them.

One other major oddity I've come across in regional settings is french keyboards.
On a french layout the numbers and symbols are swaped, so you have to use shift to get numbers.
I've been caught out before by that one and spent ages wondering why a windows logon password wasn't working.
I don't know if a spanish layout uses this or not.

A friend of mine got a german logitech G14, because that was the only one she could find in stock at the time, she then used little white sticky lables on a couple of the keys so she could write on the correct symbol for a UK layout.

[Infinite]

One other major oddity I've come across in regional settings is french keyboards.
On a french layout the numbers and symbols are swaped, so you have to use shift to get numbers.
I've been caught out before by that one and spent ages wondering why a windows logon password wasn't working.

Haha same, i felt like a retard asking someone else how to use a keyboard.

[mycarsavw]

Remember that changeing the keyboard layout in the OS changes the position of symbol keys without changeing the symbols
ie US vs UK the key to the left of enter is ' " on a uk layout it's #~
So if you change the regional setting symbols can become misplaced and you'll have to hunt around every time you need to use them.

Yup, but remember you can also buy cheap keyboard overlay stickers from ebay.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Its not only the keys. for instance on a french keyboard for @ you need to hold Ctrl + Alt + press (another key, !forgotten!). i find this really difficult to master.

Perhaps the overlay is the way to go if that is the case.

[malfunction]

Spanish layout - not too bad apart from a few symbols:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboar...tional_sort.29

French layout - evil:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#French

I have bad memories of trying to type SCP commands (with IP addresses) on French keyboards. You need shift for numbers, '.' and '/' and ':' is the 'unshifted' (normal) option for the same key as '/'. Programming is also a bugger - look where the normal, curly and square brackets / braces are. I think I'd sooner use a Scouse Keyboard:

[mycarsavw]

Its not only the keys. for instance on a french keyboard for @ you need to hold Ctrl + Alt + press (another key, !forgotten!). i find this really difficult to master.

Perhaps the overlay is the way to go if that is the case.

Would that not be cured by changing the OS keyboard settings?

[malfunction]

Would that not be cured by changing the OS keyboard settings?

It's fine if you can touch type but not everyone can... If you're buying a non native keyboard I'd say you have to be a *good* touch typist though - even if you could learn to adapt to the different layout it will still throw you on the occasions when you use a standard UK layout keyboard.

[mycarsavw]

It's fine if you can touch type but not everyone can... If you're buying a non native keyboard I'd say you have to be a *good* touch typist though - even if you could learn to adapt to the different layout it will still throw you on the occasions when you use a standard UK layout keyboard.

Sorry, I meant the issue with the French keyboard. I was wondering whether all you had to do was change the OS settings, add a keyboard overlay/stickers and you'd have an English keyboard again

[malfunction]

Sorry, I meant the issue with the French keyboard. I was wondering whether all you had to do was change the OS settings, add a keyboard overlay/stickers and you'd have an English keyboard again

Yes - you can change the layout in the OS and it will 'stick'. Not personally keen on the idea of stickers over the keys - seems like a hassle and falls into the might as well stump up for a UK (or at least US) based layout. Don't forget that different layouts may also have a different number of keys and will almost certainly have different key sizes so even with the stickers you won't have a 100% normal layout (though key size also varies between UK keyboards).

[Domestic_Ginger]

Sorry, I meant the issue with the French keyboard. I was wondering whether all you had to do was change the OS settings, add a keyboard overlay/stickers and you'd have an English keyboard again

It belongs to my French wife!

She'd kill me!

[mycarsavw]

It belongs to my French wife!

She'd kill me!

Ca c'est ne pas bon, oui?

Mange tout Rodney.

[MSIC]

Hmm, thanks for the thoughts guys and gals
Dont know what to do for the best - the RRP is £180, scan sells them for over £100, and fleabay is selling for under £50 delivered. It seems like the regular letters are all in the same UK positions, but i cant tell how much extra hassle it would be.
I dont want to put stickers on keys - i'm buying this to replace a perfectly fine keyboard (logitech basic media keyboard) to get a piece of luxury...
Gonna think about it some more.
I might take a gamble, especially since the Mouse (MX1000) that comes with it is a decent one anyway, and worth a fair penny.

[Ares_202]

I had an Irish style keyboard and could never find ~ or # symbols

it gets kinda annoying when you cant find them even if you hardly ever use them

[peterb]

Spanish layout - not too bad apart from a few symbols:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboar...tional_sort.29

French layout - evil:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout#French

I have bad memories of trying to type SCP commands (with IP addresses) on French keyboards. You need shift for numbers, '.' and '/' and ':' is the 'unshifted' (normal) option for the same key as '/'. Programming is also a bugger - look where the normal, curly and square brackets / braces are. I think I'd sooner use a Scouse Keyboard:

That is changed by the keyboard key mapping - the other combinations are to generate accented letters, again generated by either the code page in use or the localisation settings of the software.