Happy Hacking Keyboard

The Happy Hacking Keyboard is a small computer keyboard produced by PFU Limited of Japan, co-developed with Japanese computer pioneer Eiiti Wada. The current models in production are the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2, Professional JP, and the Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2.

A white Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2 with blank keys.

Common Features

Some of the Happy Hacking Keyboard design tenets, as dictated by Wada, include a minimal 60 key design, no cursor or function keys, and standard keyboard pitch, all optimized for use in UNIX environments.

Happy Hacking Keyboards lack a numeric keypad, and keys outside the typewriter key area are mainly accessible through the Fn key. The keys are arranged in a layout resembling the Sun Type 3 keyboard. Specifically:

• The control key is found where most keyboards place the caps lock. This is the only control key on the keyboard.
• The esc key is located to the left of the 1 key; the tilde key normally found there is at the right end of the same row.
• The delete key is located directly above the enter key; the key normally found there is the second rightmost key on the row above it. Furthermore, this is an actual delete key, not a historically named backspace. Backspace is accessible through Fn+Delete.
• The windows/command keys are located between the space bar and the alt keys, and are represented by ◇.

On the far side of the keyboard there are DIP switches. These may be used to

• Turn the delete key into a backspace. Fn+Delete remains backspace, and Fn + top-right key remains delete.
• Swap the alt and meta keys.
• Enable/disable downstream USB ports on USB models.

Features by Model

Model Name	Model #	Color	Switch Type	Interface	Blank Keytops	Introduced	EOL	Other Features
Happy Hacking Keyboard	PD-KB02	White	Membrane	PS/2, Sun, ADB	No	Dec 20, 1996	Dec 10, 2006	Buzzer (Sun), Power supply switch (Sun/Mac)
	PD-KB02N
Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite	PD-KB100W	White		PS/2		Jun 7, 1999	Unknown	Was also available in black and white non-labeled versions
Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2	PD-KB200W/P	White				Mar 15, 2001	Dec 19, 2008	Arrow keys, 2-port USB hub. Available in Japanese and English layouts.
	PD-KB200B/P	Black
	PD-KB200W/U	White		USB
	PD-KB200B/U	Black
	PD-KB210W/U	White
	PD-KB210B/U	Black
	PD-KB220W/U	White
	PD-KB220B/U	Black
	PD-KB220MKW	White						Mac version, has command and option keys in addition to the other Lite 2 features.
	PD-KB200MKB	Black
	PD-KB200MA	White
	PD-KB220MA	White
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional	PD-KB300	White	Capacitive			Apr 24, 2003	Dec 10, 2006
	PD-KB300B	Charcoal Gray
	PD-KB300NL	White			Yes
	PD-KB300BN	Charcoal Gray
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2	PD-KB400W	White			No	Mar 24, 2006		2-port USB hub
	PD-KB400B	Charcoal Gray
	PD-KB400WN	White			Yes
	PD-KB400BN	Charcoal Gray
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional JP	PD-KB420W	White			No	Nov 10, 2008		HHKB Professional 2 with Japanese layout and arrow keys
	PD-KB420B	Charcoal Gray
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional HG	PD-KB500W	White			No	Oct 12, 2006		Special 10-year anniversary models
	PD-KB500B	Black
	PD-KB500WN	White			Yes
	PD-KB500BN	Black
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional HG JAPAN	PD-KB500J	Wajima-style lacquer
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional 2 Type-S	PD-KB400WS	White			No	June 29, 2011		with Silencing
	PD-KB400WNS	White			Yes
Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional JP Type-S	PD-KB420WS	White			No

See also

• Das Keyboard
• FrogPad
• Optimus Maximus keyboard
• Model M keyboard
• Space-cadet keyboard

External links

• Official Happy Hacking Keyboard homepage
• EliteKeyboards - US Distributor of Happy Hacking Keyboards
• engadget review of the Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2
• Happy Hacking Keyboard Lite 2 online sales page with images of different versions
• Linux Journal review of the Happy Hacking Keyboard Professional
• Linux Gazette review of the original Happy Hacking Keyboard
• CNET article about a lacquered version
• Keyboard layout