Best PC Keyboard: The Vintage IBM Model "M" Keyboard

[zylon]

[ovalbugmann]

Very nice vintage Radio Shack PC keyboard!, in good shape and clean too. What year is it from? early to mid 80's?

[Hatta]

I have one of these too. Unfortunately it's PS/2 and doesn't support the original proprietary Tandy keyboard protocol, so I can't use it on my 1000TX. FYI, these are rebadged Fujitsu FKB4700. The keys are quieter than a Model M, but still provide lots of tactile feedback. I'd still give the Model M the edge.

 

What I can use on my 1000TX is my Northgate Omnikey. This keyboard uses authentic Alpine switches, and has dipswitches to select the interface protocol. XT, AT, Tandy, Amiga, and AT&T systems are supported. I'm probably never going to have an Amiga 2000, or a AT&T 6300, but that's good to know anyway. It even supports Dvorak layout, not that I'm likely to use that either.

Edited April 15, 2014 by Hatta

[jmetal88]

What I can use on my 1000TX is my Northgate Omnikey. This keyboard uses authentic Alpine switches, and has dipswitches to select the interface protocol. XT, AT, Tandy, Amiga, and AT&T systems are supported. I'm probably never going to have an Amiga 2000, or a AT&T 6300, but that's good to know anyway. It even supports Dvorak layout, not that I'm likely to use that either.

 

Nice! I also have an Omnikey, but I do generally prefer my Model M, so I just use my Omnikey on computers that have the 5-pin DIN port instead of the PS/2 mini-DIN port.

[zylon]

Very nice vintage Radio Shack PC keyboard!, in good shape and clean too. What year is it from? early to mid 80's?

 

Late 80's. It's from a long dead 1000 RL. I use it on my Dell currently.

I have one of these too. Unfortunately it's PS/2 and doesn't support the original proprietary Tandy keyboard protocol, so I can't use it on my 1000TX. FYI, these are rebadged Fujitsu FKB4700. The keys are quieter than a Model M, but still provide lots of tactile feedback. I'd still give the Model M the edge.

 

What I can use on my 1000TX is my Northgate Omnikey. This keyboard uses authentic Alpine switches, and has dipswitches to select the interface protocol. XT, AT, Tandy, Amiga, and AT&T systems are supported. I'm probably never going to have an Amiga 2000, or a AT&T 6300, but that's good to know anyway. It even supports Dvorak layout, not that I'm likely to use that either.

The 1000 AX,SX,TX all used the same keyboard and used a "keyboard reset" line. I had heck of a time finding one for an SX I'm building up. My TX is on the back burner while I source some parts...

[fujidude]

One day I'll get one of those unicomps with the clit mouse. I can't think of anything better.

 

Alright... but please, please, resist the urge to lick it. And if you find you can't, please don't come back here and tell us about it!

[Tempest]

Are Model M keyboards really worth that much? We've got several of them here in the lab that I'm sure I could get my hands on. I have one for use with my classic gaming PC.

[Osgeld]

dunno, I gave less than 5 bucks in decent condition for mine after tax at a local computer shop

[MarkO]

With the individual keys being rated for 25 Million keystrokes, it's 'The last keyboard you will ever have".

 

MarkO

[carlsson]

Checking eBay: Out of the past 450 (!) sold Model M keyboards of various sub models, the cheapest ones which were complete and working went for $10-15. Several were around $20, not counting space savers of course. If you got a lab full of working space savers in decent condition, you should be looking at around $100-250 per keyboard based on actually sold ones. Tell the person in charge they're worth $20 each and resell privately for a nice profit. :-P

Edited December 17, 2014 by carlsson

[Tempest]

It's not FULL of them, but there are several around here in various states of grunginess. I'll have to see if they're available or not.

[fujidude]

Given that Unicomp makes keyboards that are the same, but offer things like USB connectivity and, Windows keys etc. for less than $100 brand new, soemone would be a fool to spend more on a used IBM one. But then, there are many who are probably ignorant of the Unicomp products.

 

I myself have perfectly working IBM model Ms, but bought a Unicomp for the extra keys, black bezel, and USB interface. But then I managed to break the unbreakable by punding on it (really hard) during a fit of cyber gaming rage. Now lest anyone think I'm out of control.... I actually thought the keyboard could take it. Had I known it wouldn't, I would have been gentler. So anyway, now I'm back to the PS/2 101 key IBM. I was looking at some high end mechanical keyboards with backlighting. Supposedly the Cherry MX mechanical keys are rated for like 50 million strokes... plus they offer no click types that still have tactile feedback (Cherry MX browns). I think a quality keybaord with macros and backlighting is the cat's ass.

 

Thougts?

[Tempest]

I think a quality keybaord with macros and backlighting is the cat's ass.

 

Excuse me? The WHAT'S ass?

[fujidude]

 

Excuse me? The WHAT'S ass?

 

Uhh, well... how about the "schizz nits."

[carlsson]

Are the Unicomp keyboards compact though, or the same footprint as a regular Model M and most other standard PC keyboards? I don't know who would pay an extra $150 to get a keyboard that takes a few inches less space on the desk, but given the number of completed auctions where those Space Saver keyboards actually found a buyer > $250 tells me either the buyers are fake accounts to boost the perceived market value, or that people really are willing to spend that much money on an used IBM keyboard.

[jaybird3rd]

Are the Unicomp keyboards compact though, or the same footprint as a regular Model M and most other standard PC keyboards? I don't know who would pay an extra $150 to get a keyboard that takes a few inches less space on the desk, but given the number of completed auctions where those Space Saver keyboards actually found a buyer > $250 tells me either the buyers are fake accounts to boost the perceived market value, or that people really are willing to spend that much money on an used IBM keyboard.

It depends on which model you get. Unicomp's "Classic" series (which is what I use) are exactly the same size as the vintage Model M keyboards, while their "Ultra Classic" keyboards are the same price and use the same keyboard mechanism inside a more compact case which (according to their description) occupies 20% less desk space. The "SpaceSaver" keyboards seem to be aimed specifically at Mac users.

[jaybird3rd]

An ill-mannered correspondent (I'm tempted to post his name, but I won't) just sent me an e-mail taking me to task for my statements here and elsewhere in praise of the Unicomp Model M:

Re: your ongoing posts claiming that unicomp keyboards are "exactly" the same as original IBM Model M's

You're quite wrong. Unicomp's are notoriously inferior. Yes, they have the same overall design, but they use much cheaper materials (cheaper plastic, faulty USB option, etc.). They weigh half as much as the original Model M's. Although IBM held Lexmark to almost as tight standards as IBM, things went noticeably downhill with Unicomp.

A quick check of the various keyboard-related forums (geekhack.org and may more) readily attest to this stark difference.

Please stop misinforming people that buying a Unicomp board is "exactly" the same as an IBM original Model M. You're needlessly raising their expectations. While some may argue they are "similar" that is glossing over noticeable difference and inferiorities of the Unicomp models. But at least they're not misleading folks by stating (as you do) that they're identical or exactly they same. They're not.

re: your misleading posts on:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/223052-best-pc-keyboard-the-vintage-ibm-model-m-keyboard/page-2

He's referring to my previous post in this thread. For the record, when I said "exactly the same", I was referring to the size of the keyboard, because I was responding to a question which asked how the footprint of the Unicomp Model M keyboards compares to that of the original IBM Model M keyboards. I thought this would have been clear enough from the context, but I guess it wasn't, so I clarified my post.

 

As for the rest ... I can only speak from my own experience as someone who has owned several Model M keyboards from both Unicomp and IBM (although the only IBM that I have left at this point is a Lexmark-manufactured rubber dome keyboard from 1996, as well as a few 122-key terminal keyboards that aren't PC compatible). I've opened both varieties of Model M keyboards numerous times, and while I have noticed certain differences in the materials—the Unicomp plastic is lighter and doesn't have quite the same glossy texture as the IBM, for example, and the cable is more like a modern PS/2 or USB extension cable than the heavy coiled cables the IBM keyboards used—these differences don't seem to affect the operational characteristics of the Unicomps in the slightest, so I haven't considered them important enough to mention. In the seven years that I've owned my buckling-spring Unicomps, I can honestly say that they have held up just as well, and provide a typing experience that is just as pleasing, as their IBM-branded predecessors. The Unicomps that I use the most are PS/2 models (which, incidentally, use the exact same 8041 microcontroller that IBM's keyboards used), but their USB keyboards have worked perfectly well for me also, and I haven't seen any evidence of a "faulty" design. Perhaps a user here or there has received a defective one, but that would be true of any keyboard, and Unicomp's customer service is better than most.

 

Unicomp may well have made changes to the design and materials of their Model M keyboards for the purposes of cost reduction, and perhaps those differences are more noticeable to hardcore keyboard enthusiasts. I can certainly understand computer hobbyists' appreciation of the quality and the workmanship that went into vintage computers and computer peripherals (I share it, in fact, and I talk about it a lot here on AtariAge), but I don't have a problem in principle with cost reducing a product, as long as it does not diminish its overall quality and longevity. To my eyes, Unicomp has managed to strike the right balance: they're no more immune to cost reduction than anyone else, but they've maintained the quality of their keyboards where it matters the most, and if anything, the most noticeable changes they've made have been changes for the better. Their straight cables, for example, are much more manageable with mini-tower computers, which are typically placed under a desk at some distance away from the keyboard, than coiled cables would have been.

 

I'm not going to respond to the other points the author raised; I can appreciate a good keyboard, and I might otherwise have been interested in the keyboarding forums he mentions, but they seem to be geared more to keyboard modders (which is something I'm not especially interested in), and his overall rudeness makes me disinclined to investigate them further.

[+wood_jl]

WELL-SAID, jaybird3rd. I use the Unicomp keyboards, and THEY ARE EXCELLENT!!! Worth every penny! It replicates the experience of using an original IBM model-M, and can go USB and has the "extra" Windoze keys. What more could I want? So it weighs a little less? I guess I need to stick some lead wheel-balancing weights to it, so I won't be "disappointed" when I pick it up. But I don't pick it up. I just type on it. And for that, it's just as good as the original. I consider myself lucky to have the Unicomp keyboard, in this world of thin chicklet-style throw-away keyboards that ship with even relatively-expensive systems.

[jaybird3rd]

The lightness of the plastic (compared to the original IBM Model M) is only noticeable to me, by the way, when I open the keyboard and remove the mechanism for cleaning. An empty Unicomp keyboard shell, all by itself, probably weighs about as much as the flimsy lightweight keyboards that are typically provided with Dell or HP systems these days. The Unicomp is still more than heavy enough to sit solidly and firmly in place during normal use.

[telengard]

I love these keyboards, been using them since the late 90s! However, some downsides have kept me from using mine lately. First off, they are loud so I can't use them at work (sounds like a machine gun when I type). 2nd, as I'm getting older, I'm finding it painful to use for long periods of time due to the effort to push down the keys. Past couple of years I've noticed this.

 

My alternate favorite is the Mac aluminum keyboard. So different from the clicky, but I like it.

[BurritoBeans]

I LOVE my Model M. I don't know why, if it's the click it makes or the feel or what. It's just a nice keyboard overall, it feels nice, is heavy (I like that) looks great and keeps the retro feel on my new PC

[ovalbugmann]

Well, its good to see my thread on the Vintage Model M Keyboard is still active, I think people realize how important and nice it is to have a great keyboard to use with their computer. I think it's great that Unicomp is still making reproduction Model M keyboards, and have added modern features, and are basically the same as the original vintage models, perhaps a bit lighter I have heard. I have ordered some dark blue key covers to make my model M look like the Dark Grey Vintage Industrial Model M Spacesaver keyboard in my first pic on page 1 - that keyboard did go for $800 usd or so which was totally out of my range. Hence my Unicomp order of select blue keytops lol. So I've built a little collection of Model Ms, I have 1986ers(with and without lights), a 1987, & 1990 models and of course the pièce de résistance of my collection a 1984 IBM Personal Computer AT Keyboard which has slightly thicker contact springs requiring a touch more pressure to activate and is a bit louder as well - I just love it! No I am not an english major, writer, but I did well (A's) in english 101/102 in college and took a typing class in high school. Every chance i get to use my IBM PC AT keyboard or the model Ms is somehow surprisingly a joy, I change out a keyboard every few months and use all of IBM keyboards I have. My errors seem to be reduced, speed is increased, writing/typing satisfaction is high. I have a nice Logitech illuminated wireless keyboard that I keep close and turn on if I need a modern feature, also tried the Cherry MX Green and Blue switches(black key keyboards) and their nice but I just prefer old original IBMs. Currently using my IBM Personal Computer AT keyboard, I think its my favorite. Picture below:

Edited January 3, 2015 by ovalbugmann

[The Usotsuki]

Ah, a Model K?

[fujidude]

Model Ms are cpacitively switched, which is the best, most robust, and reliable type.

[ovalbugmann]

Ah, a Model K?

Well, I don't see any reference to it being called a Model K, on the below site but maybe it was - not sure. The IBM PC AT keyboard does perform great tho.

 

http://www.clickykeyboards.com/index.cfm/fa/items.main/parentcat/9934/subcatid/0/id/582346