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ISO Clicky keyboard
I would like to find a good modern replica of the old IBM Model M
clicky-key keyboard that has a Windows key and USB interface. Can anyone recommend one? I find a few that look similar but I read some some reviews that imply that they don't use the same technology and the click is faked, and they they don't have the same durability and reliability. I actually have 3 of the real thing, and they still work as well as ever. I got them by dumpster diving when the company I was working for back then threw dozens of them away! I should have grabbed more. I still love the feel of the keyboard, but that one extra key sure comes in handy sometimes. |
#2
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ISO Clicky keyboard
On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 13:12:37 -0500, Nil
wrote: I would like to find a good modern replica of the old IBM Model M clicky-key keyboard that has a Windows key and USB interface. All the "good" keyboards now are oriented mostly for gaming. Cherry keys with the colors graduating upwards from mushy, opposite that, you're chances for quality in proximity to an IBM replica might improve. Costly, depending -- though they go as low as $50 on occasional sales if the color and brandname using them works out. |
#3
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ISO Clicky keyboard
On 12/5/2014 12:12 PM, Nil wrote:
I would like to find a good modern replica of the old IBM Model M clicky-key keyboard that has a Windows key and USB interface. Can anyone recommend one? I find a few that look similar but I read some some reviews that imply that they don't use the same technology and the click is faked, and they they don't have the same durability and reliability. I actually have 3 of the real thing, and they still work as well as ever. I got them by dumpster diving when the company I was working for back then threw dozens of them away! I should have grabbed more. I still love the feel of the keyboard, but that one extra key sure comes in handy sometimes. Cannot help you. I use a 1990 Northgate Omnikey/102 (gold) myself that I love. The function keys are on the left side where God intended them to be. Lynn |
#4
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ISO Clicky keyboard
Nil wrote:
I would like to find a good modern replica of the old IBM Model M clicky-key keyboard that has a Windows key and USB interface. Can anyone recommend one? You mean like the gaming keyboards that use mechanical switches (Cherry and Alps)? The only manufacturer that I've heard of that still makes the old buckling switch keyboards is Unicomp (they bought the technology from IBM). See http://pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD. |
#5
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ISO Clicky keyboard
On 05 Dec 2014, VanguardLH wrote in
alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt: You mean like the gaming keyboards that use mechanical switches (Cherry and Alps)? The only manufacturer that I've heard of that still makes the old buckling switch keyboards is Unicomp (they bought the technology from IBM). See http://pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD. I've been reading up on the subject since I posted. I didn't realize what the various technologies were. My current keyboards are of the "buckling switch" type, so I'll consider the Unicomp. I really do like the feel of this type, and their durability is a historical fact. I didn't know about the Cherry switch types until today. Sounds like something I might like, and being more modern technology they come with more nice options like programmability and backlighting (I would appreciate that feature very much, I think.) I wish I could try them out. I'm not a gamer, but I am a touch typist, and apparently the various Cherry's sound and touch are more or less appropriate for one or the other.) |
#6
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ISO Clicky keyboard
Nil wrote:
On 05 Dec 2014, VanguardLH wrote in alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt: You mean like the gaming keyboards that use mechanical switches (Cherry and Alps)? The only manufacturer that I've heard of that still makes the old buckling switch keyboards is Unicomp (they bought the technology from IBM). See http://pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD. I've been reading up on the subject since I posted. I didn't realize what the various technologies were. My current keyboards are of the "buckling switch" type, so I'll consider the Unicomp. I really do like the feel of this type, and their durability is a historical fact. I didn't know about the Cherry switch types until today. Sounds like something I might like, and being more modern technology they come with more nice options like programmability and backlighting (I would appreciate that feature very much, I think.) I wish I could try them out. I'm not a gamer, but I am a touch typist, and apparently the various Cherry's sound and touch are more or less appropriate for one or the other.) The Cherry switches come in a variety of colors indicating different tactile and response behaviors. There's red, brown, black, blue, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZF_Electronics (Ignore/close their annual donation campaign frame.) Since you want a clicky response, your choice would be keyboards using the blue, white, or green Cherry MX switches. I don't recall seeing keyboards with the white and green switches (but then I wasn't looking for those) but have seen keyboards listing use of the blue switches. I take it that you're home alone with your noisy keyboards. Used to be 20-30 years ago that the workplace was very noisy with all the clicky clacky of keyboards. Nowadays they provide quieter keyboards, cloth covered and taller cubicle walls, felty blinds, acoustical ceiling tiles, and even pipe in whitenoise to quiet the workplace. Coming in with your old IBM M or Northgate keyboards would make you the noisiest employee. If home alone, you don't care (unless you're in an apartment and don't want your neighbors to know when you're on your computer). When I used to type on my old Northgate, my family would comment that they could tell when I was on my computer from a different floor of the house. With less resistance, I actually found I could type faster on the quieter keyboards (but not the mushy ones). When you type really fast, you don't rely on hearing a click from the keypress to verify you pressed the key. |
#7
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ISO Clicky keyboard
On Fri, 05 Dec 2014 13:00:55 -0600, Lynn McGuire
wrote: Cannot help you. I use a 1990 Northgate Omnikey/102 (gold) myself that I love. The function keys are on the left side where God intended them to be. - I wore one of those out. The switches wore out. Don't believe when I got mine, an earlier Northgate, they were making a "gold" model. Simply their top of the line and highest-priced Northgate keyboard. For awhile, then, there was a stint of a few years when Northgate/Omnikey went out of business. An outfit called FOCUS came along and picked up their resources. It's an Omnikey that's labeled Focus, IOW. Focus also incorporated a mouse in the spacebar, for about the only difference in their "best" model. A tiny little mouseball that's effectively useless (drivers make a huge world of difference, especially when their aren't any - except Microsoft's basic hardware identity). Haven't managed to wear out my Focus, even though it's probably about 10 years old. Suspect I've treated it better than the Omnikey, too. Has that feeling about it that it'll last another 100 years, at least. People tell me a Cherry will go up against it and be the better performer, but I remain unconvinced. (Rosewill is the only "cherry-switched" brand I've seen go for $50 on a sale, and I just never got around to pulling the trigger for trying one out.) |
#8
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ISO Clicky keyboard
On Sun, 7 Dec 2014, DK wrote:
In article , Nil wrote: I would like to find a good modern replica of the old IBM Model M clicky-key keyboard that has a Windows key and USB interface. Can anyone recommend one? I find a few that look similar but I read some some reviews that imply that they don't use the same technology and the click is faked, and they they don't have the same durability and reliability. I actually have 3 of the real thing, and they still work as well as ever. I got them by dumpster diving when the company I was working for back then threw dozens of them away! I should have grabbed more. I still love the feel of the keyboard, but that one extra key sure comes in handy sometimes. Google "machanical keyboard". The good quality one will be $100. I use an old SGI keyboard and you can get those on eBay but they won't have USB or Windows key. I think what happened is we didn't pay attention. I know I tossed some that I'd accumulated, without giving it any thought. I thought they were for the IBM PC (the codes changed with the arrival of the AT), but now I'm not so sure. There was also a period where at least some keyboards could produce either code, there'd be a switch at the bottom usually but I saw one where the switch was inside, so if you didn't look, you'd think it was time to scrap that keyboard. The early "IBM PC" keyboards were expensive, even the clones keyboards were fairy expensive. And then slowly there was a transition to the kinds of keyboards we have now, and it was gradual enough that we didn't notice until it was too late. There was a period when it wasn't uncommon to find the old keyboards at garage sales, but that time is now in the past. I didn't use an "IBM PC" until 2001, so I wasn't paying attention. I didnt' even give it thought, until more recent years, and then I was no longer seeing old keyboards at garage sales. Michael |
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