The Best Keyboard Ever Is Back

Megalith

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Is the IBM Model F really the best keyboard ever? As someone who prefers flat, scissor-switch keyboards, my answer would be “no,” but IBM’s 1981 buckling-spring keyboard is inarguably legendary and has legions of fans. It is so popular that one enthusiast decided to start selling faithful Model F reproductions.

The second coming of the high-quality Model F (not to be confused with its more affordable plastic successor, the Model M) isn't a throwback attention grab from IBM, nor a nostalgia play from Big Keyboard. Instead, it's the longtime work of a historian in love with the retro keyboard's unparalleled sound and feel, but frustrated by the limitations of actual decades-old tech. The Model F Keyboards project, now taking preorders for the new line of authentic retro-boards, was started by Joe Strandberg, a Cornell University grad who's taken up keyboard wizardry as a nights-and-weekends hobby.
 
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When I got out of the Air Force I worked for a short time as a mover. Was moving a bunch of stuff for a church. I saw a few boxes of keyboards and asked the NiC how much she wanted for one. The Nun in Charge said I could have it gratis. It was an IBM Model M. There were probably 40 or so of them, in several boxes.
 
About 10 years late to the party. Nowadays clicky clacky keyboards are everywhere.

That being said, I could kick myself for getting rid of 2 black ones in the 90's when I was selling everything that wasn't nailed down. Oh well.
 
I had an nec model my clone and I loved that thing up until it broke. I have a model m I'm working on, but I love those keys and the feel.
 
I have a model m still in the box, sealed, but can't use it, since it doesn't have the windows/super key and I use that a lot.

A shame really.

Sell it, people will pay through the nose for once in good to excellent condition.
 
I had never heard of the Model F. I have 4 Model Ms, 2 Portuguese, 1 German and 1 US (typing this on it right now). Someone remembered people "throwing out" Model M boxes, I remember an insurance company went out, and I used to know a guy that worked there, back in 91/92, they used IBM PS/2... later he told me the computers, keyboards etc went to the landfill. Back then I used an IBM alike Olivetti keyboard, so I thought all keyboards were good... then I discovered membrane keyboards. I've been through a few of them and then discovered Model Ms being sold online so since then that;s all I use. When it comes to the sound, just remind people what a typewriter sounds like and ask them to choose.
 
I have a Model M that I'm using to type this. Also have a couple spares just in case, but haven't needed them, despite using this keyboard for almost 20 years.
I just pull the key caps and clean them ever few years, and the keyboard looks like new again.

These keyboards are built like tanks, literally :p. It weighs probably 20x what the new keyboards Dell currently ships.

Glad the newer motherboards include a PS2 port, so I don't have to bother with an adapter.
 
I have a Unicomp Model M, and while I really like the feel, the very limited key rollover was noticeable for me in games so now it sits in my closet.
 
Is the IBM Model F really the best keyboard ever? As someone who prefers flat, scissor-switch keyboards, my answer would be “no,” but IBM’s 1981 buckling-spring keyboard is inarguably legendary and has legions of fans. It is so popular that one enthusiast decided to start selling faithful Model F reproductions.

The second coming of the high-quality Model F (not to be confused with its more affordable plastic successor, the Model M) isn't a throwback attention grab from IBM, nor a nostalgia play from Big Keyboard. Instead, it's the longtime work of a historian in love with the retro keyboard's unparalleled sound and feel, but frustrated by the limitations of actual decades-old tech. The Model F Keyboards project, now taking preorders for the new line of authentic retro-boards, was started by Joe Strandberg, a Cornell University grad who's taken up keyboard wizardry as a nights-and-weekends hobby.

Scissor switch keyboards? Ugh........That's nasty.

In any case, I don't know if its the best keyboard ever, but I liked the old IBM Model M's. I never had a model F.
 
Sell it, people will pay through the nose for once in good to excellent condition.

Brand new, never used, in the box. But when I looked on eBay, they were around 50 or so new.

viscountalpha

In Windows, Ctrl+Esc performs the same function, in case the keyboard lacks this key.

That doesn't work for most uses.

There are other ways, but a bit finicky.
 
IMHO the Model F does have the best switches of any keyboard ever made. They are an absolute dream to type on.

The layout is pre-modern standards though, making the Model M and their Unicomp modern production models a much more usable keyboard with still great (just not as great) switches.

I'm just waiting for someone to take Model F switches (or even Model M switches) and design a modern industrial design with modern layouts and some modern features (USB, NKRO, backlighting, etc.)

I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

I just can't make myself buy a communist beige/gray design in 2017, especially at $300.
 
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This is neat and all but I hated typing on those things. We had them when I was in high school. I never could type very fast on them due to having the long key press. I have several mechanical keyboards and they are put away because I can't type on them as fast as I can my cheap(er) Logitech scissor switch boards or my laptop keyboard. Wonder if these are going to ship with a free bottle of Tylenol so you can give to the people around you when typing on this thing.
 
IMHO the Model For does have the best switches of any keyboard ever made. They are an absolute dream to type on.

The layout is pre-modern standards though, making the Model M and their Unicomp modern production models a much more usable keyboard with still great (just not as great) switches.

I'm just waiting for someone to take Model For switches (or even Model M switches) and design a modern industrial design with modern layouts and some modern features (USB, NKRO, backlighting, etc.)

I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

I just can't make myself buy a communist beige/gray design in 2017, especially at $300.

While i love buckling spring keyboards, they never quite had the tactile feeling of an old industrial IBM typewriter where the keypress is met with a mechanical twack of a solid 50 gram aluminum ball striking the paper just milliseconds later and the rumble of the motor massaging your fingertips. It's like a massage chair for the fingers. By comparison, the best modern keyboards feel lifeless in comparison. Maybe it's time to make a vitbrating unicomp with a voice coil feedback actuator wired to a modern controller.
 
Do you think there is any profit involved? Or is this classified as obscene profiteering.

There is definitely profit but it's not always as much as people think. Getting the schematics drawn up and hiring some factory to fabricate these components doesn't yield low prices unless the orders are in the thousands range. For example, custom keycap sets can go for $200 each for an order of less than 100 from most manufacturers because it's not in their best interest to retool machinery to sell for such a low quantity. That and the fact that it's such a niche market that most factories can charge whatever they want to build these things due to lack of competition.
 
I think the $$$ they are asking for is INSANE thus, I will not be buying one.
 
I'm staring at $200 worth in 3 keyboards and and almost as much in 3 mice.
We interact with a pc using these 2 input devices, buy the best you can get while realizing that the best does not necessarily mean the most expensive.
There was a time I would have given my eye teeth to own one of those clackey keyboards, but that time has passed.
Get off my lawn
 
This is everything I don't want in a keyboard.

I like my soft backlighting and near silent keys so I can putz around in low light while the wife sleeps without the constant clickety clack of ancient tech making her snarl at me.
 
The best keyboard ever made is the cheap pos that replaces the one that my fist demolished. Seriously people...keyboards?
 
The best keyboard ever made is the cheap pos that replaces the one that my fist demolished. Seriously people...keyboards?


Stop being such a rage-tard, braking your shit, and then maybe you can have nice things :p


Yes, keyboards. The thing you use more than anything else when using your computer. Having a good one is a night and day difference. I started out on clicky Model M's in the 80's, and then used those awful soft rubber domes for most of the 90's and early 2000's. I rediscovered Model M's in ~2004 or so, when they were still reasonably cheap on eBay, and these days I use new production Model M - type keyboards by Unicomp.

I can't even imagine going back to typing on rubber dome keyboards. The squishy awful feeling is horrendous.
 
While i love buckling spring keyboards, they never quite had the tactile feeling of an old industrial IBM typewriter where the keypress is met with a mechanical twack of a solid 50 gram aluminum ball striking the paper just milliseconds later and the rumble of the motor massaging your fingertips. It's like a massage chair for the fingers. By comparison, the best modern keyboards feel lifeless in comparison. Maybe it's time to make a vitbrating unicomp with a voice coil feedback actuator wired to a modern controller.


I remember being impressed typing on those as well. The latency was a little much though :p

That might be a little bit overkill for computer use though :p
 
I have a model m still in the box, sealed, but can't use it, since it doesn't have the windows/super key and I use that a lot.

A shame really.

I have the later model which went to membrane keys sadly. Same reason I wouldn't use one today is the lack of winkey.
They are heavy and solid enough you could literally kill someone with it. Can't say the same about anything since, maybe the steelseries stuff you could though...
 
I'm still using Model M keyboards at my main work PC, and my home PC. One was made in 1992, the other in 1994.

Unless they die, I will never stop using these keyboards, and I suspect that they'll survive for many more years to come.
 
"M" stands for magnificent ...

model-m-jpg.14869
 
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