my trusty 102 IBM M worked perfectly until last month, needs a membrane replacement, that's not a problem as I have a lot of them and one model F (getting one in good condition in spanish is difficult as hell this days, so I've worked hard the last years to get replacement parts).
After years using these keyboards I'm convinced they are the best to write on, but not the best for gaming and other uses, so finally last month I decided that, beside repairing my 102, I want a keyboard with cherry MX switches programmable and backlit.
There are a lot of gaming options, none with all the things I want and built to last as much as the model M and after having a model M I've wanted a more solid keyboard.
Looking for solutions I remembered I have two 122 IBM model M that I don't use because they need extensive repairs but I love (all those available keys
), repairing it's an option but the membrane and circuitry is old, installing a teensy can solve the programmable keys but I think they are 2KRO anyways, not counting with backlit.
So after being thinking this month, a few days ago I finally decided to try to repair one of the 122 with the parts in good condition of the other and build a frankenboard using the one with the ruined parts, making a new plate for cherry MX switches with more space and bendings between rows to make it concave upward, needless to say that although I am Spanish and here we use an ISO layout, I would opt for an ANSI layout in US english without double vertical keys, and a wire soldered matrix with a teensy++ 2.0 and another USB cable for the extra LEDs (the wall power outlets on my desktop are too much populated), a hell of wires inside the case.
So finding this project it's the best option for me now. I will wait some more time before doing anything more to see if this gets interesting again, so count with me.
By the way, the PCB design is awesome.