One keyboard to rule them all....

[AMD64Blondie]

If you're a classic hardware lover like me,you probably remember this wonderful model number:1391401.

That number belongs to the IBM Model M PS/2 keyboard.


(I'm currently typing this on my newly arrived,brand-new condition 1991 IBM Model M-Thank you ,EBay.)

I have 3 other Model M keyboards,2 1991 models,and a 1995.


Sometimes,only a classic will do the job right.

 

[SamirD]

Yep, these are legendary for a reason. My hands type effortlessly on them, literally just whatever I think pops out on to the screen. I started typing on one of these back in the late 1980s and the model F in my typing class in high school. It was probably the one bit of education beside accounting that has served me the most in my life.

I always wanted an industrial model M just because it is a bit more durable. But the plain jane standard ones are pretty unreal durable--just the nature of them being around literally 30 years after their creation is a case in point!

 

[DigDog]

frankly, since i've gone Topre, i've lost interest in everything keyboard.

 

[SamirD]

frankly, since i've gone Topre, i've lost interest in everything keyboard.

I have one of these as well and they're definitely nice. I keep searching for the rare 101 variant that would be a perfectly compliment to the Model M, but they're hard to find in good shape at a decent price.

I want to see if my hands prefer one after using it for a day or so. I know this was the case with cherry greens, but the windows keys drive me nuts, so I want a 101 layout for my daily.

 

[DigDog]

.. i don't know if i want a model M.
It's big .. i mean, to me a modern keyboard is too big, but a model M would be twice the size of my current tenkeyless topre. And that's one point.
I do remember the feel of the keys, and i totally would love to re-live it, if just for a day; but do i want to CLAK CLAK CLAK? Those things are loud, man. I work at night, i got people sleeping on the other side of the wall.
Also, topre are really, really well built; they have a great key feel (once you get used to it, obviously), it's not like i'm on some bad Amazon-brand chinese board with outemu clones. (i got one of those too, FYI)
And finally .. the biggest problem is that my only viable option is to buy a Unicomp (the brand that now owns the factory where Ms were made. or the tooling, i forgot - anyway, they are functionally the same keyboard). Sure, you get USB cables, but i have heard just about every reviewer say the same things: they are not as good.
Apparently the tooling that makes the Unicomp model M is old and worn out (duh) and the keyboards all suffer from minor imperfections - the shell creaks, the keys aren't as smooth ..

i mean, there's a company that makes 1:1 perfect replicas of Model F keyboards, AND with modern internals, but they cost, like $500 each. I already paid $300 for this topre here, im good for the next 10 years.

 

[SamirD]

I like big keyboards and I cannot lie. I actually have one of the M 'battleships' as well, but I don't regularly use it. I still need the full 101 layout due to the amount of work I do with numbers.

I have unicomp boards as well and while the plastics do not compare with the quality of the original M, after using it for a while, you completely forget about that and enjoy the core typing experience which is very much like the original. I wouldn't hesitate to get a Unicomp if I needed an M with native usb.

I even have one of the fabled tlk model Ms that I got actually bnib. It is really nice as it has the same feel with a smaller footprint, but the lack of a number pad is a sore point for me. I could get a separate one, and that's what I want to try one of these days as that may actually even work better for ergonomics.

The noise really isn't an issue for me as it's usually just me. Noise in general doesn't bother me--I floor all my cpu and case fans, have rack servers within earshot--none of it bothers me. Now, I do remember one job where I took an M to work and had to continuously do pdf comparisons where I was alt-tabbing to see differences in pages. Which at 120-140 cpm had my nearby coworkers wondering what in the world I was doing because it literally sounded like machine gun for 8hrs straight, haha. At least they knew when I was hard at work.

 

[DigDog]

ah, if only i had such happy work as you do.

 

[SamirD]

ah, if only i had such happy work as you do.

Oh that work is long gone. I do still have to do some pdf comparisons, but they are now done with the great portable program diffpdf. Only if I have to compare an image pdf to a regular one do I have to do it manually, and I rarely have to pdf compare anymore. Now, it's just more general type and numbers--lots and lots of numbers...

 

[ISAslot]

I was inspired by this video...

...to whip out my old Model F
With the help of autohotkey to remap some keys i'm now using it for WFH.
So clicky

 

[SamirD]

Ah, that guy made about $100k in that effort, but it was definitely a labor of love since he was dealing with factory qc and all the fun stuff that comes from that. Still great to see such a product made.

I've got an F XT in a box somewhere too that I need to play with. I was hoping in my daily setup to have some sort of setup where I have multiple keyboards all connected and then just pick one and use it for the day, but alas nothing like that yet...

 

[Blazer7]

I learned programming on the model M. Great keyboard but that was a lifetime ago. Despite the nostalgia and the M’s quality you won’t find many willing to have it as their go to keyboard today. I know that I would not pick an M nowadays, not with all the options and functions new keyboards offer.

Having in mind the different needs of everyone out there there is clearly no one keyboard to rule them all.

So guys what is your pick now? What is your one keyboard?

 

[AMD64Blondie]

Using the cheap rubber-dome keyboards that come bundled with the Dell and HP desktop computers I use at work. It's no fun.

Can only imagine what 4 or 5 Unicomp Customizer 104 keyboards(the modern version of my IBM Model M.)
would sound like, clicking away in our concrete-floored work area.

 

[SamirD]

Using the cheap rubber-dome keyboards that come bundled with the Dell and HP desktop computers I use at work. It's no fun.

Can only imagine what 4 or 5 Unicomp Customizer 104 keyboards(the modern version of my IBM Model M.)
would sound like, clicking away in our concrete-floored work area.

It would sound beautiful...

 

[mnewsham]

Using the cheap rubber-dome keyboards that come bundled with the Dell and HP desktop computers I use at work. It's no fun.

Can only imagine what 4 or 5 Unicomp Customizer 104 keyboards(the modern version of my IBM Model M.)
would sound like, clicking away in our concrete-floored work area.

Get an IBM beamspring with solenoids.

For anyone wondering, the solenoids are almost entirely for aesthetics, the feel/sound being nearly identical to existing typewriters from that era, so touch-typists could easily move to this keyboard.

Obviously, later beamspring keyboards would not keep the solenoids.

 

[Topweasel]

Ah, that guy made about $100k in that effort, but it was definitely a labor of love since he was dealing with factory qc and all the fun stuff that comes from that. Still great to see such a product made.

I've got an F XT in a box somewhere too that I need to play with. I was hoping in my daily setup to have some sort of setup where I have multiple keyboards all connected and then just pick one and use it for the day, but alas nothing like that yet...

Honestly I'd feel bad for him if he only made 100k. That's 6 years of work outside just engineering the thing. Good supplemental income as long as he was working somewhere else and was able to keep the work to a minimum. But it's less than 20k a year for something I know cost him several hundreds of hours of work.

 

[ISAslot]

Just a note if you get an Model F, they are power hungry! My PS2 port died, turns out they can pull over 300 mA. I bought a USB to PS2 dongle to fix. I also found another Model F in my stash that I'm restoring.

 

[Harry_Wild]

I have to replace my keyboard every few years because the key cap letters dissolve, diminish. I am try to find a laser printed keyboard that not a Mac keyboard and is under $100!

 

[Topweasel]

I have to replace my keyboard every few years because the key cap letters dissolve, diminish. I am try to find a laser printed keyboard that not a Mac keyboard and is under $100!

Laser printing is just as bad for "dissolving" letters as printed. Need Dye Sub or Dualshot keycaps. Something there the either the letter or the paint around it isn't surface layer and prone to coming off with rubbing and hand oils.

 

[DigDog]

small brag update on my part.

I have opened, lubed (with bicycle lube), silenced (with the cheapest Topre O-rings off Amazon) and then managed to re-seal my Topre which is a process i recommend to NO-ONE to do because you're one tiny step away from abysmal failure all the time.
The reason is that the "keys" just sit in place.
While the switch has a part of the mechanism which is stuck in place, the rubber dome and the spring inside it have nothing to hold them, and when re-sealing the keyboard, the domes need to be *exactly* in the right spot on the PCB or they will not fit correctly.

So yeah you can open it, but once you remove the plate and the domes are free to bounce everywhere, if that happens, good luck putting them back.

However, the keyboard sounds amazing now, that "thocc" sound you hear on Youtube brag videos, and feels even better.

 

[DigDog]

I have to replace my keyboard every few years because the key cap letters dissolve, diminish. I am try to find a laser printed keyboard that not a Mac keyboard and is under $100!

chances are that your keyboard has MX-compatible stems; if that is the case, you can buy fairly cheap PBT keycaps sets off Amazon / eBay and they are of a surprisingly high quality and feel.

 

[AMD64Blondie]

Still using(and loving) my 1991 IBM Model M.