Model M keyboard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_M_keyboard

by edward • 12 years ago

23 24 12 years ago

en.wikipedia.org

robobro• 12 years ago

Why is this getting voted up? "LOL, I USE A MODEL M KEYBOARD, SO I BETTER UPVOTE THIS"?

potato• 12 years ago

Just the weekly jerk.

https://www.google.com/#newwindow=1&q=site:news.ycombinator....

brudgers2• 12 years ago

I didn't upvote it, but keyboards are, despite the rise of touchscreens, still a useful technology. Particularly for people who spend all day using them.

The Model M is a great choice for some people because of it's buckling spring design. Though for me, the Natural Erognomic 4000's layout trumps the superior tactile feedback - it also is very comfortable when sitting in my lap. But I've toyed with getting another Model M, one with the trackpoint...my ancient Toshiba Laptop has one on it's excellent keyboard and the trackpoint is the best mouse alternative out there...in my opinion...because I don't even have to move my hands from the home row.

rdtsc2• 12 years ago

Why is "State of MetaFilter" upvoted? "LOL, I USE METAFILTER, SO I BETTER UPVOTE THIS"?

Why is "Pokemon Crystal disassembled source code" upvoted? "LOL, I PLAYED POKEYMON SO I BETTER UPVOTE THIS"?

What is your point exactly? People upvote what interests them. Don't like it don't upvote. What is the point of complaining just of its own sake without adding anything to the discussion.

jburwell2• 12 years ago

My all time favorite keyboard. In the mid-90s, Unicomp (http://pckeyboard.com/page/ABUS) licensed the design from IBM. Today, they sell the Model M with updates such as USB connector, Windows and Mac key layouts, and black case color (http://pckeyboard.com/page/category/UKBD). I use one everyday, and love it. Highly recommended.

jseliger• 12 years ago

It is. A couple years ago I wrote a review of Unicomp's version: http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/product-review-unic.... These days I'm using a Kinesis Advantage, but anyone who a) isn't working in the same room as another person and b) wants a conventional keyboard layout won't find better.

jburwell2• 12 years ago

Relatively recently, Unicomp introduced a Mac version (http://pckeyboard.com/page/product/UW4ZP4A). Mine predates that option, and while not perfect, the Windows layout works with a Mac. Thankfully, I telecommute so the noise is not a factor for anyone else, but I will give Unicomp credit for accurately reproducing that aspect of the Model M as well.

acheron• 12 years ago

I use one as well. It makes loud clicky sounds, doesn't feel like you are typing on oatmeal, you could kill a man with it, and it doesn't have Windows keys. Aside from the USB connection, it could have been made in 1988. So it's pretty much perfect.

bradleyjg• 12 years ago

At the office we have one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Omnikey102p3248.jpg

I like that layout better because it makes Ctrl, Alt, and Escape much more accessible by forcing useless caps lock and semi-useful tilda/backtick to give up their valuable real estate.

groovy2shoes• 12 years ago

I have a Unicomp Classic that I use daily at work. It's simply the best keyboard I've ever owned. Worth every penny.

X41• 12 years ago

to be honest, i have yet to use a keyboard that is better than my Model M

jiggy2011• 12 years ago

The lack of a start key could be annoying.

omilu• 12 years ago

if you buy one today from unicomp, they have the start key.

jeremysmyth2• 12 years ago

I've got Scroll Lock as my start button. For my other missing-keys-on-my-old-Model-M mods, see http://jeremysmyth.com/2012/06/30/remapping-and-on-us-keyboa...

stronglikedan2• 12 years ago

Ctrl+Esc. Not as convenient, but it works. Alternatively, pair it with a new mouse fro m the MS Sculpt line, and you have a start button on the mouse.

jeremysmyth2• 12 years ago

Sadly Ctrl-Esc doesn't work for the various Win-key shortcuts (show desktop, dock to screen edge, lock, etc.), or any of the things you can do with Super_L in Linux (I've got Super_L as my i3 key for example)

jasode• 12 years ago

Ctrl+Esc only brings up the Start menu which is probably the least common thing power users do. Instead the Windows key is used for shortcuts such as Win+UpArrow (maximize window), and Win+E (Windows Explorer), Win+L (lock desktop), Win+Tab (cycle through windows), etc.

Modern keyboards also have the "context menu" key which does the same thing as right-click on the mouse. A very convenient key to minimize lifting the hand from the keyboard and grab the mouse only for a right-click menu.

mdellabitta• 12 years ago

Relevant subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards

rdtsc2• 12 years ago

I have an original IBM keyboard (mid 1980's) and I really like it. The other one I like is on my laptop -- Thinkpad, also IBM.

Just like smartphones, keyboards are something people touch every day, and I think it is something that it is easy to get attached to.

If I someone took away my monitor, I could replace it and it would be alright. If my keyboard disappeared, I would be more distraught, even though logically I could just as easily buy another one.

cpwright• 12 years ago

If I someone took away my monitor, I could replace it and it would be alright. If my keyboard disappeared, I would be more distraught, even though logically I could just as easily buy another one.

The thing is that you can't always just buy another one. I used to be a fan of Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite's, but now they are not manufactured in the same layout or with the same feel. After about 15 years of typing on one kind of keyboard, I found out two years ago about the discontinuation and couldn't buy another when one of mine broke.

I've now switched to a Kinesis Advantage with linear feel switches, and at $325 it is a lot more than the $30 the MS Natural Elite was; and it also took a bit of getting used to, but when I had an intermediate MS ergonomic keyboard (not elite) my hands would start hurting, and I couldn't type as accurately.

I just need to look a monitor, and different machines are pretty much the same but maybe faster or slower; but the keyboard is how I interface with the machine, and its comfort and design are of paramount importance.

psychometry• 12 years ago

The guy in the apartment next to mine uses one of these. I know this because I can hear the clicking through the wall.

dlevine• 12 years ago

I have a Unicomp Spacesaver that predates the Mac Version. It was my main keyboard for a while, but I've since switched to a Leopold Tenkeyless with Cherry MX Browns (and blank keycaps).

While the Unicomp is nice (built like a tank and very clicky), it's quite loud, and also takes up a lot of desk space. The keys also take a lot of actuation force, and I found my fingers getting a bit sore after using it for a while. So I switched to a keyboard based on Cherry switches, which are also pretty good.

brudgers2• 12 years ago

I had a Model M for a few years in the mid 1990's - and I didn't know what it was, just that I liked it.

It came with the PS/2 Model 8580-71 that was being discarded by the office I was working for in 1996. They even gave me the invoice with it - something north of $10,000 new [1]. Anyway, after I left to join the spinoff firm, I brought it into the office to run the plotter [HP DesignJet 750C]. We ran it as a sneakerNet server, even after we got a real network and file server with [QIC tape drive]. By the time I left a couple of years later, the keyboard had made it's way back to the home office and I used it on the old 486 running bootlegged Advanced Server from my brother-in-law as a backup device - also had a QIC tape drive I picked up for about $12 - I was using a PII box as my primary machine, by then and a USB keyboard just because it was so finicky that the PS/2 keyboard would sometimes not work after a reboot [a really cheap and crappy machine that was]. So my model 80 went away when I donated the 486, and then many years later I learned what it was.

The 8571 was just a gorgeous hardware with a cast aluminium case and a carrying handle. The hard disk inside was about the size of a small cat and sounded like a washing machine when it was running.

[1] http://www.cs.cuw.edu/museum/IBMPS280.html

Model M keyboard

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