In search of an excellent keyboard?

I'm still using an original IBM keboard complete with the springs under each
key, and have 3 or 4 spares 'just in case'.

Actually the one I'm using right now in a 101-key style IBM that was
manufactured by Lexmark 13-Apr-94 Modem M.

Several of my spares are several years older than this one. The only thing
I've had to change over the years is the cable. Changed the old IBM-AT style
connector cable for a newer PS/2 connector cable on a couple of the older
spare keyboards.

With these keyboards, if you spill something on them, you can actually take
them apart and clean them unlike todays keyboards.


"Rocket" wrote in message
...
Fortunately keyboards are destined for the technology graveyard along with
the dot matrix printer, roller-ball mouse, Zip drive, and the most recent
inductee... the floppy drive. CRT's may hang out a while yet until faster
LCD & plasma monitors are affordable for gamers.
I would also expect that everything PCI will soon fall.
...and the beat goes on...
--
Rocket



"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
It looks and sounds pretty good on the web site, but I'll bet that the
quality
is a lot lower than the good old IBM 101... Ben

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 16:37:21 GMT, "Robert"
wrote:


"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
Let me recommend the original 101-key IBM keyboard, last manufactured
by
Lexmark
(IBM spinoff) in maybe 1994 or 1995. Elegant? Absolutely not.
Sturdy?
YES!!!! Built like a rock. Absolutely wonderful positive touch,
like
the old
IBM Selectrics, but each key press makes a noisy click. No Windows
keys
and no
internet keys, but so what?

I believe this design is also available at
http://store.yahoo.com/pckeyboards/cus101usenon.html

There was a New York Times article a while ago that recommended this
keyboard for people who loved the old IBM.

Robert

Springs & contacts indeed!... I remember cleaning my old IBM.
New keyboards are very cleanable... takes about 5 minutes to remove the 6
screws and a thin sheet of Mylar.
Wipe off the Mylar & the case is upper rack dishwasher safe.
--
Rocket



"Timothy Drouillard" wrote in message
...
I'm still using an original IBM keboard complete with the springs under
each
key, and have 3 or 4 spares 'just in case'.

Actually the one I'm using right now in a 101-key style IBM that was
manufactured by Lexmark 13-Apr-94 Modem M.

Several of my spares are several years older than this one. The only thing
I've had to change over the years is the cable. Changed the old IBM-AT
style
connector cable for a newer PS/2 connector cable on a couple of the older
spare keyboards.

With these keyboards, if you spill something on them, you can actually
take
them apart and clean them unlike todays keyboards.


"Rocket" wrote in message
...
Fortunately keyboards are destined for the technology graveyard along
with
the dot matrix printer, roller-ball mouse, Zip drive, and the most
recent
inductee... the floppy drive. CRT's may hang out a while yet until
faster
LCD & plasma monitors are affordable for gamers.
I would also expect that everything PCI will soon fall.
...and the beat goes on...
--
Rocket



"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
It looks and sounds pretty good on the web site, but I'll bet that the
quality
is a lot lower than the good old IBM 101... Ben

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 16:37:21 GMT, "Robert"
wrote:


"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
Let me recommend the original 101-key IBM keyboard, last
manufactured
by
Lexmark
(IBM spinoff) in maybe 1994 or 1995. Elegant? Absolutely not.
Sturdy?
YES!!!! Built like a rock. Absolutely wonderful positive touch,
like
the old
IBM Selectrics, but each key press makes a noisy click. No Windows
keys
and no
internet keys, but so what?

I believe this design is also available at
http://store.yahoo.com/pckeyboards/cus101usenon.html

There was a New York Times article a while ago that recommended this
keyboard for people who loved the old IBM.

Robert

I agree that those old 80s keyboards were better built. But they were
noisy/clunky. I really like the late 90s keyboards from Dell. The feel was
good. And they'd last for years.

The newer ones sometimes bind up. I'm on my second keyboard on my
18-month-old Dell at work. My wife's keyboard lasted only about 18 months.

Both keyboards still work, but the sticky/binding was annoying, so they got
tossed and replaced.

"Timothy Drouillard" wrote in message
...
I'm still using an original IBM keboard complete with the springs under
each
key, and have 3 or 4 spares 'just in case'.

Actually the one I'm using right now in a 101-key style IBM that was
manufactured by Lexmark 13-Apr-94 Modem M.

Several of my spares are several years older than this one. The only thing
I've had to change over the years is the cable. Changed the old IBM-AT
style
connector cable for a newer PS/2 connector cable on a couple of the older
spare keyboards.

With these keyboards, if you spill something on them, you can actually
take
them apart and clean them unlike todays keyboards.

In article ,
says...

The newer IBM-branded keyboards are pretty nice, too, but not in the same league
as the old ones. I guess I'll switch to a newer one if and when I move to a
system with no PS/2 keyboard port... Ben Myers

Curiously, the Latitude D series laptops have no PS/2 ports, but the
D series port replicator does have them.

When I ordered my laptop, the Dell website gave me a good view of the
connectors on the laptop, but not of the port replicator, so I made
my move away from PS/2 keyboards.... retiring a much-used and much-
appreciated IBM PS/2 keyboard. There are none better.

When I looked at new keyboards, it wasn't just the feel that was
horrible. WHY OH WHY do so many keyboards have a bigger control
panel than the space shuttle????? Applications, cut-and-paste,
mouse buttons, media control, and more, all laid out in arbitrary
patterns with tiny buttons, tiny icons, and tinier text (if any
text at all)? The keyboards are the size of aircraft carriers,
and generally have goofy rounded shapes that cause the keyboard
to take even more space than would be necessary even with the
far-too-many buttons, dials, joysticks, thumbwheels, cartwheels,
and whatever.

For a good USB keyboard, I went with Apple! Good feel, no
frills, nice looking, and takes no more desk space than
necessary for the essentials. With a USB KVM switch, I can
now use my Mac and PCs with a single mouse/keyboard/monitor
combination.

Diane

In alt.sys.pc-clone.dell Steve wrote:
I guess I've been out of the loop too long. I was at CompUSA looking at a
whole isles worth of keyboards for my new system and came away thinking that
for something a person would spend hours working with the quality seems like
they were meant to be about as enduring as Gillette disposables. Can anybody
recommend a corded keyboard that, dare I say, strikes one as being elegant,
sturdy, and a fitting part of a $2,500 system?

I agree with the general sentiment of others who have said that today's
crop of keyboards are pretty crappy. I have always been a fan of Key
Tonic keyboards, but I don't know if they are still around anymore. The
last one I bought of theirs was a "Propeller Head" keyboard. Not as good
as the "classic" Key Tronic that I remember (and still have in the
basement) but it is a nice unit.


-
jay

don't send me email, I don't check it.
post a follow-up instead

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 12:10:20 GMT, "MyndPhlyp"
dijo:

How about an old Northgate OmniKey Ultra keyboard? ...

Unfortunately, Northgate no longer exists. But at least one of their
keyboards does and I have it. Definitely a collectors item if you
experienced the PC industry changes from the 80386 to the Pentium.
Personally speaking, Northgate would never have been able to make a living
building and selling these keyboards - they're just too damned good.

Indeed, they are great keyboards. I have two of them. Unfortunately,
both have broken keys. They were great keyboards to type on, but they
didn't hold up terribly well.

When my last good one developed a bad key I searched around and
discovered that there is an outfit still making them. They purchased
the dies from the old Northgate Company (perhaps at a sheriff's sale),
and you can still get a brand new one. I bought one, but was
dissatisfied. It's the same as the old Omnikey 102, but does not play
well with current computers. It used to switch suddenly to INS mode
all the time. When I replaced it with a $5 keyboard from CompUSA, the
INS mode problem disappeared, so I know it was something weird in the
keyboard.

My hand still wants to go to the left of the keyboard when I need a
function key. Sigh.

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

"Marek Williams" wrote in message
...

My hand still wants to go to the left of the keyboard when I need a
function key. Sigh.

Don't forget the backslash-pipe key just to the right of the right shift key
and the asterisk between the right Ctrl and Alt keys. Quite handy for those
of us who actually used DOS. I could never figure out a need to move the
tilde-back accent key down between the left Alt and Caps Lock keys though.
All the reminiscing of the past made me decide to put the current Dell
keyboard on the dust pile, buy a PS/2-PS/2 cable, place the PS/2-PC cable
lovingly along side the Dell keyboard and resurrect the Omnikey Ultra just
for old time's sake.