Hey guys,
I thought this might amuse you a bit. At least it’s KB-related...
I have a brilliant but—well, should I use the P word? Okay, paranoid—friend I'll call Frank. He doesn’t trust Windows, so he uses a CD-based version of Linux online, and DOS (that's right!) for everything else. (He says that with DOS he “knows where everything is and what it is.”) It's rather amazing that he trusts me enough to let me visit him, and even take him out for dinner now and then. We’ve known each other 30 years, though, so I guess he’s gotten used to me.
We met soon after my wife and I moved to Vancouver. We both called a local BBS where everyone got to know each other virtually. (Those of you who are under 50 probably don't remember Bulletin Board Systems, but they were the precursors of the Internet—text-based forums that people operated as a hobby, on PCs connected to dedicated phonelines.)
Frank's a medical transcriber, so he needs a serious KB. His main client provided him with a Unicomp 104, but he's often complained to me about the Windows keys. (Neither he nor his client were aware that 101-key Unicomps were available.)
I was looking around on eBay tonight when a Win-key-less Unicomp suddenly appeared with a BIN of $15 plus $17 shipping. (That's right—the board was cheaper than the postage, LOL!) It was tested and guaranteed, just a bit grimy—as often happens with well-made boards people can actually use for more than than year or two.
So I grabbed it. Many of you have been doing this much longer than I have, and have seen even better deals (like, free). But this was the best deal I’d ever seen on a buckling-spring board.
It’ll arrive in a few days (expedited shipping even!). I’m going to clean it up and give it to Frank as a present. I'm sure you'll agree, there's nothing like a KB story with a happy ending.
