IBM Model M keyboards

[Howard Garner]

Nothgate made a keyboard that would compete with the IBM M.
I miss mine.

Howard

[Duane Meadows]

Nothgate made a keyboard that would compete with the IBM M.
I miss mine.

Howard

I had one of the Northgate keyboards, really liked it. It had the old 5 pin Din connector... won't fit anything I have now and the adapters are rather a pain.

Gotta admit that the newer ones are quieter! I have been using a Microsoft Keyboard for the last 10-12 years or so. Would really hate to see it die, but I can live with the newer cheapies if I must. Already do on my Ham Shack PC!

[Myk Rian]

I have 3 or 4 of those IBM KBDs. They are all I use. Bought my newest one (USB) at Walmart when they closed them out. I think it was about $80.
They all have the wrist pad.
Taking a look at the bottom, it says Model M 1984. I love these things.

[Curt Harms]

The Model M keyboard isn't dead!!!
Check out these guys:
http://www.pckeyboard.com/
Ultra Classic White Buckling Spring USB

Note where the company is located - Lexington KY. where Lexmark made the later Model M keyboards. They also make what they claim is a high quality quiet keyboard:

Quiet Touch R/D

While we specialize in making buckling spring keyboards, we do offer most of our models with a rubberdome (R/D) keyswitch for users who want the other benefits our products offer but don't want the audible "click" and tactile feel of the buckling spring version.. Those include the robust design, integrated mouse devices, customized layouts , and custom microcode. We call our rubberdome keyboards Quiet Touch (QT).

I don't have either so can't vouch for them but the buckling spring model is on my 'someday' list. I bought a used Microsoft "internet keyboard" for $7 at a computer place. It uses a PS2 adapter which is a little bit of a pain but has a pretty decent tactile feel and isn't too loud.

[Larry Browning]

Curt,
I am very well aware of Unicomp. They are keeping the Model M alive. They own the rights to the buckling spring key switch and are still manufacturing them. If you do not own an original Model M this is the place to get the next best thing. Actually these keyboards offer a couple of nice advantages over the original model M. You can get them with a USB connector and also with the extra windows keys.
There is also a web site dedicated to all things Model M, where you can buy authentic Model M keyboards, replacement parts and they even have a repair service. There is a wealth of information on this site. http://www.clickykeyboards.com/

[Dan Hintz]

Hintz will probably lose his lunch if he see this...
Attachment 330359

Eye twitch city!!!

I was going to mention Unicomp, but it looks like I was beaten to the punch.

[Brian Elfert]

A co-worker has a model M keyboard and loves it. I found another one when cleaning out a storage closet, but he didn't want a spare. I put the keyboard in recycling, but I don't think the recycling has been picked up yet. I should probably save it after reading this thread.

I personally use mechanical keyboards with the Cherry blue key switch. I have three of them as I work at two different offices and also have one at home. I use the Rosewill version as they are least expensive and seem to work fine. Cleaning crew at work broke one and they replaced it.

[Keith Outten]

I own one of the keyboards that came with the original IBM PC, back when they didn't have a hard drive. The keyboard must weigh at least ten pounds and has the round DIN plug.
I also have one of the old ESDI hard drives, the thing is huge and is very heavy. You had to have a spacial ESDI controller board for these drives back in the day.
I think that I still have some other computer parts that I saved from the early days stored in boxes in one of my outbuildings. At one time I had one of the 8" square floppy drives
.

[Chris Padilla]

LOL...you are dating yourself, Keith!

[Larry Browning]

Speaking of those old floppy discs, the first computer I ever owned was a Commodore Vic 20 (yeah, that's right, it preceded to famous Commodore 64). I actually bought it at Montgomery Wards. Needless to say the sales guy was clueless. I still remember him saying "....and for just another $100 you can get the sloppy drive to store all your programs". That's when I knew he was totally clueless. I told him "That's ok, I think I can just use the $50 cassette drive for what I will be doing with it."

[Larry Browning]

Nothgate made a keyboard that would compete with the IBM M.
I miss mine.

Howard

I had a Northgate years ago and even though it was WAY better than the mushy ones, it was no model M. Mine died a horrible death when a co-worker spilled his entire can of Sprite right on my keyboard. The Model M would have kept on working and not a drop of sticky Sprite would have gotten to the key switches, due to its unique design.

[Scott Donley]

Well, my first computer was an ATandT 8088, no hard drive, 640k ram, 2 5 1/4 floppy's and a 300 baud phone receiver modem. Seemed like science fiction at the time. I never cared about the key board considering I could not type, still can't.

[Tom Stenzel]

I guess I'm in the silent majority group. The keyboard I use is the ZKB-2 in the lower right hand corner, straight from the Christmas 1989 Heathkit catalog:

ZDS keyboard.jpg
Individual switches for each key, excellent feel. I don't know what I'll do when it up and dies.

-Tom

[Keith Outten]

LOL...you are dating yourself, Keith!

I'm afraid so

My first computer had a cassette player to save the BASIC programs I had to key in manually so they could be used but it did have a 300 baud modem. I remember the first time I connected to a local BBS in upstate New York I thought that it was pretty amazing that my machine was talking to another machine in another town. My second machine was an IBM PC Junior, no hard drive but it had a 180K floppy disk and i spent a fortune upgrading the ram to 360K so I could setup a ram drive and be able to copy files from the floppy drive so the programs would run faster.

I think it was in 1984 that we got the first IBM computers at work that had five meg hard drives at the Niagara Mohawk Power Station in Oswego NY. Up until that time all we had were terminals to the company main frame.

[Chris Padilla]

I'm afraid so

My first computer had a cassette player to save the BASIC programs I had to key in manually so they could be used but it did have a 300 baud modem. I remember the first time I connected to a local BBS in upstate New York I thought that it was pretty amazing that my machine was talking to another machine in another town. My second machine was an IBM PC Junior, no hard drive but it had a 180K floppy disk and i spent a fortune upgrading the ram to 360K so I could setup a ram drive and be able to copy files from the floppy drive so the programs would run faster.

I think it was in 1984 that we got the first IBM computers at work that had five meg hard drives at the Niagara Mohawk Power Station in Oswego NY. Up until that time all we had were terminals to the company main frame.

Speaking of those old floppy discs, the first computer I ever owned was a Commodore Vic 20 (yeah, that's right, it preceded to famous Commodore 64). I actually bought it at Montgomery Wards. Needless to say the sales guy was clueless. I still remember him saying "....and for just another $100 you can get the sloppy drive to store all your programs". That's when I knew he was totally clueless. I told him "That's ok, I think I can just use the $50 cassette drive for what I will be doing with it."

I was first introduced to an Apple I in 7th or 8th grade and then the Apple II. That would be 1982 or 1983 for me. At home, we had a Commodore 64. I even got a Timex Sinclair at one point with a large black memory box on the back. No idea what happened to it or where we got it. Good stuff!!