Dan's got a new article about clicky keyboards going. It's pretty good reading from Dan, as always.
He came across a site called Clicky Keyboards. It looks like part museum, part antique keyboard store. The buyer's guide is especially helpful. I really liked their identification chart. I've got something like a dozen Model M keyboards, so it's nice to know the Lexmarks from the older Scottish-built IBMs.
One of the best finds from Dan's article was this little adapter. It's apparently reliable enough to allow the PS2 connect on the old IBMs to hook up to a modern day USB port without issues. I'm going to have to pick up a few of them (I'll definitely need one if I ever get a Mac). The PS2 port is going to die for good at some point soon, regardless of platform.
All this means the spare 1984-era Model M languishing in a box near my feet can finally make it on over to my machine at work (via the USB-only KVM that sits between the input peripherals and the desktop PC and laptop docking station). My cubemates are going to love me. Maybe I ought to take over the quieter 71G4644 version instead. If anyone gives me crap about having a loud keyboard, I'll bring the really clicky one that I would have otherwise brought in and give them a choice between the two. See? I decided on that particular quieter one because I was thinking of their needs!
At any rate, wrist and finger numbness from a long day at work are over. woot!
UPDATE: The site had a link to the patent for the buckling spring mechanism used in the Model M keyboards. That would be United States Patent #4,118,611: BUCKLING SPRING TORSIONAL SNAP ACTUATOR to you and me. Here is how it all works.
I also found a link on how to clean them. They thoughtfully included a set of "Model M pr0n" links, saving me from the trouble of doing so.
You could say that I'm a snap actuator fan..
Just ask Tony about sharing an office with a clicky keyboard... :)
Welcome to the LOUD side!!!!
Posted by Scott Kennedy at June 12, 2005 8:12 PMYeah, Tony hated it plenty when he put me in the office next door to his -- the one I shared with two other people. I maintain that my quick move to an office by myself across the hall was due mostly to my installation and subsequent use of a vintage Model M.
Not that I'll get that kind of love at Google. I'm mainly in it for the non-wrist-pain. But it does lend credence to something I've believed for many years now: It always pays to have a spare clicky keyboard (or 8) laying around.
Posted by wee at June 13, 2005 2:41 AMDude, I worry about you and this obsession. Mostly, I worry that Jim and Dave, after about a week of being trapped in a glass cube listening to clicky-clicky, will beat you senseless with the keyboard itself, which is heavy, and could cause significant head trauma. You may want to consider wearing a helmet to work.
Posted by Tess at June 15, 2005 3:59 PMWell, Jim and Dave both have headphones. They give you good ones -- for free even! And they even wear them most of the time.
And besides: If any of them two are feeling frogy, then they can jump.
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