zerker wrote:

Well, I haven't personally used a Model M since the 90s, so I can't provide my own comparisons. Better than any keyboard I've used recently, however. I recently picked up a Matias Quiet Pro keyboard, which I THOUGHT would be a great modern keyboard. One RMA later and I STILL have issues with duplicate key on that thing.

I'm debating between getting another RMA or just using it for spare keycaps and microswitches for this Dell one.

I GOT ONE WITH A BROKEN CAPS LOCK KEY, THE LIGHT WON'T STAY ON TELLING YOU WHEN YOU'VE TURNED ON CAPS LOCK. .....oh

schlang wrote:

Model M is so overrated. just because it doesn't break doesn't mean it's the ultimate keyboard...

Choice of keyboard is kind of like choice of underwear -- highly personal. Having said that, I love the feel of buckling springs.

Model M is godly. I pray night and day for a bargain find. It was my first keyboard. Amazing typing..

White complex alps are better. Very hard and loud. Perfect for bugging those around you. Including the typer as the keys will eventually get stuck 😒

appiah4 wrote:

Model M is godly. I pray night and day for a bargain find. It was my first keyboard. Amazing typing..

I'm probably going to get killed by another vogoner for saying this but my all time favorite is some (presumably cheaply made) Acer Multimedia keyboard i found at a yard sale like 7 years ago for 2 dollars. I hit my fastest typing with this thing and its the only thing I can currently tolerate for modern competitive PC gaming.

Mines currently missing most of its multimedia keys (and the playbutton is jammed) and 3 or 4 keys are missing (all the vitals are there. The worst is the fact that my tab button currently has the home buttons keycap on it) from me getting angry (and once throwing it at someone) and punching it or something. The essentials are there and tbh I'm planning to buy another of this model soon.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

I'm probably going to get killed by another vogoner for saying this but my all time favorite is some (presumably cheaply made) A […]
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appiah4 wrote:

Model M is godly. I pray night and day for a bargain find. It was my first keyboard. Amazing typing..

I'm probably going to get killed by another vogoner for saying this but my all time favorite is some (presumably cheaply made) Acer Multimedia keyboard i found at a yard sale like 7 years ago for 2 dollars. I hit my fastest typing with this thing and its the only thing I can currently tolerate for modern competitive PC gaming.

Mines currently missing most of its multimedia keys (and the playbutton is jammed) and 3 or 4 keys are missing (all the vitals are there. The worst is the fact that my tab button currently has the home buttons keycap on it) from me getting angry (and once throwing it at someone) and punching it or something. The essentials are there and tbh I'm planning to buy another of this model soon.

I've been using an RT7D20 Dell keyboard for years now and I've always liked these more than the very old (and stiff) IBM keyboards.

They still do seem to make a lot of noise (even though I think they aren't very loud) since even when on TS everyone can still hear me type 🤣!

Mine was €2 and bought several of them like over 10 years ago 😀

xplus93 wrote:

zerker wrote:

Well, I haven't personally used a Model M since the 90s, so I can't provide my own comparisons. Better than any keyboard I've used recently, however. I recently picked up a Matias Quiet Pro keyboard, which I THOUGHT would be a great modern keyboard. One RMA later and I STILL have issues with duplicate key on that thing.

I'm debating between getting another RMA or just using it for spare keycaps and microswitches for this Dell one.

I GOT ONE WITH A BROKEN CAPS LOCK KEY, THE LIGHT WON'T STAY ON TELLING YOU WHEN YOU'VE TURNED ON CAPS LOCK. .....oh

I had the same problem with my Model M - but I made to fix this issue. The reason for this is that the contacts on the ribbon connector terminals oxidize with time. You might just try to clean them. In my case this worked and my CAPS LOCK light is back.

I love the feel of old key's with springs and those alike. I just hate the sea of clicking noise.
Model-M the best? Not so much if you ask me. Preferances differ though, as said in this tread.

Well,

I love Model M as in my opinion no other keyboard better invokes the atmosphere of those days long past. But again, I'm a 386-485 guy and this might not be so for someone starting from Pentium or Pentium II. My cousing had one and we used it for playing UGH!, Prehistorik, etc. And this is just enough to make it the best keyboard ever. For me.

Actually, that's the same reason why I prefer PC Speaker sound and music. It's just so "mine own".

I love the weight, the strudiness and the overall quality. There are some issues, of course - like these oxidizing contacts, some spacebar issues (mine is kina rough on the sides), but I don't care 😀 Have two of them and will keep them, as they're essential for my idea of going retro.

Someone had earlier asked for detailed photos of a Tualatin cooler, well here are mine of the Tualatin Celeron 1300Mhz. Hope they help.

I haz a box!

The Slot-1 CPU is only there to show the size of the box but it kind of backfired as the perspective makes the box look smaller.

In the box we find something wrapped in paper!

In the paper we find... wrapping-paper!

I'm skipping a few steps here or this would become rather silly! (4 pics per post).

In the bubble wrap inside the wrapping-paper inside the paper inside the box we find... more bubble wrap!

What will we find when we dig deeper? How many layers do this Matryoshka doll have?

Stay tuned and you will all soon find out!

Model F's and Model M's are great for typing. But for gaming, not so much in my opinion.

Why is that?
I'm not a big gamer, but I never had a problem with a model F I used to own when playing games. Now old complex white alps suck for playing games as they tend to get sticky.

I am still waiting for Skyscraper's unwrapping 🤣

gdjacobs wrote:

Choice of keyboard is kind of like choice of underwear -- highly personal. Having said that, I love the feel of buckling springs.

I could not find a google image that matched what I pictured in my mind. Dangit.

schlang wrote:

Model M is so overrated. just because it doesn't break doesn't mean it's the ultimate keyboard...

People fapped to the Model M because for a while it was plentiful and dirt cheap, after the hype they are not so cheap online. As for me I am using a $1 Dell AT101W.

I have eaten now, lets do this!

Inside the bubble wrap inside of more bubble wrap inside the wrapping-paper inside the paper inside the box we find some aluminium foil

I'm skipping another step here as I need two image slots for the next exciting Ebay adventure.

In the paper inside the aluminium foil inside the bubble wrap inside of more bubble wrap inside the wrapping-paper inside the paper inside the box we find... A CPU! (In fact two in fact as there were two small foil packages).

Aaaaaand that's why Ebay shipping is so expensive!

These are two Barton XP-M 2500+ 1.45V CPUs. 😀

The next adventure is even more exciting!

I won this CPU lot with an opening bid of £20! The auction had been in my watch list for agas and no one seemed interested but for some reason I took a closer look and then decided to bid eventhough the shipping cost was pretty steep as you can see.

Here is the sellers picture showing the gods (this was the only picture). Use your resize, enhance and sharpen skills to see if you can spot the mismatch in the auction text when compared to the CPUs in the picture.

DEC Powerstorm 4D50T (MSMT406) aka underclocked Intergraph RealiZm Z13 sold for DEC workstations. But finally have texture memory modules (16MB) for mine RealiZm Z13 and RealiZm II ZX13.

Personally, I love these dell keyboards. Nice to type on and they have a nice set of media controls with a volume knob. I pick them up when I see them at goodwill. They used to be plentiful, but not as much now. Only problem is the usb ports are absolutely useless for thumb drives, and i'm hesitant to use a wacom tablet on one.

xplus93 wrote:

http://www.dengler.net/SK-8135/SK-8135.jpg […]
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Personally, I love these dell keyboards. Nice to type on and they have a nice set of media controls with a volume knob. I pick them up when I see them at goodwill. They used to be plentiful, but not as much now. Only problem is the usb ports are absolutely useless for thumb drives, and i'm hesitant to use a wacom tablet on one.

Those were my favorite of the modern Dell keyboards for a long time, have one in one of my offices at work for diagnosing issues with computers there actually, except the knob is missing (the common problem with these). I used to deploy these things new for Boeing back in 2007-2011 (Dell tech). However, there were some versions of these that I disliked, they were the earlier ones, they were too springy for me.

TBH though, I prefer clicky keyboards myself, I have a Monterey K104 for my 286, and my 486 uses a Chicony XT/AT Switchable 5161 with Alps Keyswitches. I love alps more than buckling spring Model M's, but my #1 favorite was the Northgate OmniKey 102 with the function keys down the side as I use the function keys a lot. I wish I still had the OmniKey but it got destroyed in moving.....hope to find another one or a OmniKey Ultra someday for a price under $200, RE-PC has one in Seattle for $75-100ish, but I'm not sure about paying $100 for that keyboard.

Monterey K104

Chicony 5161 XT/AT Switchable