Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

I’m Bruce Byfield, a freelance writer on free and open source software and the people who make it. I am also in the process of working with an agent and editor to prepare The Bone Ransom, my first novel, for publication. In my spare time, I collect First Nations art from the Pacific Northwest and give a scholarship at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art. At home, I am kept entertained by two small rescue parrots.

What hardware do you use?

I use a workstation and a System76 laptop. The workstation is the latest machine custom-built by a local computer store. I’ve always used alternate operating systems, but even though Linux support is routine these days, I still like to choose exactly what I work with. The store I frequent is especially good at finding cases with great airflow. My current one never gets above 34 degrees Celsius, even on the hottest day of summer.

Instead of a mouse, I use a Wacom tablet on my workstation, which is far more ergonomic; using the stylus is like holding a pen. I fill the gap between the halves of my keyboard with a macropad raised on a box for arrow keys, which frees up keys on my Moonlander for more customization and puts the arrow keys in the most accessible spot. I wouldn’t dare put my coffee cup in the gap—I’m clumsy enough that such an arrangement would be a soggy disaster waiting to happen.

I also invested in a Herman Miller Sayl chair with lumbar support. As you can see, my Moonlander is part of my quest for ergonomic relief from my long daily hours on the computer.

A guilty confession: On the workstation, I sometimes alternate between a Moonlander and a Keyboardio Model 100 keyboard. Both are innovative in their engineering, and they’re the top ergonomic keyboards for my purposes. The Moonlander is the easier of the two for beginners, but both have the added bonus of aesthetic design. The Moonlander has a science fiction vibe and would be at home in a spaceship’s control center.

On both keyboards, I favor keyswitches with light activation force and lesser travel time. They’re another ergonomic feature, one often overlooked.

And what software?

I’m a longtime Debian/GNU Linux user and was once employed by Ian Murdock. I use Bluefish editor for articles, and LibreOffice Writer for fiction. I use GIMP and Inkscape for editing images, but I keep telling myself that one of these days I’ll master Krita.

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

My Moonlander is laid out for editing and writing in LibreOffice. Its layout is mostly on Layer 0, with some navigation features on Layer 3. Layers 2 &3 are the default Oryx layers, kept in case I need them for a reference. To navigate the layers, I use the number keys, which makes keeping track of the layers easier. One day I might do other layers for other LibreOffice modules, but I don’t use them much.

What would be your dream setup?

More or less what I have now. It emphasizes ergonomics. It’s expensive, but permits hours each day on a computer without many stress injuries.