Rediscovering the Model M
Now that my main desktop—for now—is a Linux box running on a commodity PC platform, I switched back to using the legendary IBM Model M keyboard that I originally purchased around 1990-1991. That means the keyboard is now almost 20 years old. Think about that. Twenty years on a keyboard. Now, I’ve not used it as my primary input device in the past few years, largely because it’s missing some keys to be a good Mac keyboard. In fact, I had to seek out a similar buckling spring keyboard from Matias just to get a similar feel.
So how is it? Well, it’s still a tank of a keyboard, built better than today’s Mercedes-Benz, and with a feel that is incomparable. The Matias was the best of the modern keyboards for me, but it always had a slight metallic “twang” to every keypress that would get on my nerves. The IBM has no such annoyance, and simply works.
Now, if I could figure out where the key cap for the left arrow went.
This entry was posted at 2:14 pm on 18 May 2009 and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the post-specific RSS 2.0 feed.
In fact, I had to seek out a similar buckling spring keyboard from Matias just to get a similar feel.
One can actually get the Model M new from a company called Unicomp, although now the keyboard is called the “Customizer;” see more in my review, including why the Customizer better than the early version of the Matias Tactile Pro. Perhaps Matias has by now fixed their quality problems.
Now, if I could figure out where the key cap for the left arrow went.
I believe Unicomp will also sell you a new key if you haven’t found it by now.
(Note: the blog system ate my URLs. Unicom’s site is: http://www.pckeyboard.com . You can find the review, including details about using the Customizer with Macs, at http://jseliger.com/2008/05/07/product-review-unicomp-customizer-keyboard .)
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I’m using one happily on my mac, after remapping Caps-Lock to be a Command-key.