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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: McStuff on Mon, 09 August 2010, 23:09:01

Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Mon, 09 August 2010, 23:09:01: So I've been on the hunt for a Model M at thrift stores, but I haven't been searching too hard, and I haven't turned anything up. I finally broke down and picked up a Model M from ebay for 26.50 shipped. It'll take 3 days for the payment to clear, so that won't happen until wednesday. It'll be a little while, but I'm looking forward to a nice upgrade. I've been typing on the same cheapo dell rubber dome keyboard since I got it about 4-5 years ago. Here's the auction link btw: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320570784053&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

P.S. I plan on swapping around the keycaps and trying out dvorak.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: audioave10 on Mon, 09 August 2010, 23:29:43: Welcome to GeekHack and that looks like a good deal. I have one of those.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: ThirdLap on Tue, 10 August 2010, 00:14:42: Great choice and a great price. Welcome to Geekhack!
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Tue, 10 August 2010, 00:28:55: Thanks for the warm welcome guys. I'm really looking forward to this. I know that the Model Ms are notoriously loud, but I don't think it'll bother me.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: NamelessPFG on Tue, 10 August 2010, 12:59:06: Heh, reminds me of how I got my first 1391401...and then have been utterly spoiled ever since.

Hopefully, it suits your tastes. I've found the distinct tactile feedback corresponding EXACTLY to switch actuation rather intoxicating. Easily-switchable keycaps could also come in handy, especially if they're the two-piece variety (though I'm not expecting it on that one since it appears to be a Lexmark board).

Just be careful here on Geekhack if you don't want to find your wallet suddenly empty...you might just get the urge to start collecting boards with different keyswitch varieties!
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: HaaTa on Tue, 10 August 2010, 13:11:54: Ahhh, the sweet sound of a Model F AT NIB.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Tue, 10 August 2010, 16:21:09: Quote from: NamelessPFG;211001
Heh, reminds me of how I got my first 1391401...and then have been utterly spoiled ever since.

Hopefully, it suits your tastes. I've found the distinct tactile feedback corresponding EXACTLY to switch actuation rather intoxicating. Easily-switchable keycaps could also come in handy, especially if they're the two-piece variety (though I'm not expecting it on that one since it appears to be a Lexmark board).

Just be careful here on Geekhack if you don't want to find your wallet suddenly empty...you might just get the urge to start collecting boards with different keyswitch varieties!

I'm hoping that it's got the two-piece keycaps because that would make it easier to try dvorak. Although, if it doesn't, I can always stick with dvorak. And I know this might sound foolish, but I don't plan on buying any more keyboards. The Model M seems like it's a really nice keyboard, especially for the price, and I don't think I can justify spending <100 on a keyboard. We'll see though.
Quote from: ripster;211002
Model M isn't particularly loud.

Now THIS is loud.

Man, from most of the clips, I've actually enjoyed the sound of the Model M. That keyboard is just painful.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: EverythingIBM on Tue, 10 August 2010, 16:57:16: Quote
IBM Model M keyboard with PS2 input so no adapters are needed for modern desktops.
Heh, most modern computers now only come with USB.

People actually use the Model M feet? I find the keyboard is already so slanted from the chassis that I could never use the feet. I did buy a gel wrest though, it's fairly high up than most keyboards.

Quote from: McStuff;211097
I'm hoping that it's got the two-piece keycaps because that would make it easier to try dvorak. Although, if it doesn't, I can always stick with dvorak. And I know this might sound foolish, but I don't plan on buying any more keyboards. The Model M seems like it's a really nice keyboard, especially for the price, and I don't think I can justify spending <100 on a keyboard. We'll see though.

Man, from most of the clips, I've actually enjoyed the sound of the Model M. That keyboard is just painful.

The keys are still easy enough to pull off regardless of two-piece caps. It's actually difficult pulling off the caps by themselves cloistered by other keys.

The Model Fs are indeed fairly noisy. But they also allow you to type much faster.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 10 August 2010, 16:59:59: A lot of new computers still come with PS/2 ports. At work I was setting up new HP's we just bought and they had both PS/2 and parallel ports.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Tue, 10 August 2010, 18:55:30: I haven't seen a motherboard that doesn't have PS2. I don't think it's going to go away any time soon. And I'll probably be taking it apart for a deep clean, so I'll probably take off the keycaps then.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: microsoft windows on Tue, 10 August 2010, 19:08:49: You've never seen an iMac mobo?

(http://www.dvwarehouse.com/images/661_2548_b.jpg)
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Tue, 10 August 2010, 20:23:21: Many new Intel motherboards lack a PS/2 port. But no one but idiots and misinformed yo-yos use Intel-branded motherboards anyway, so no problema.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Tue, 10 August 2010, 22:04:30: Quote from: microsoft windows;211160
You've never seen an iMac mobo?

Show Image
(http://www.dvwarehouse.com/images/661_2548_b.jpg)

I don't use apple computers very often.
Quote from: Phaedrus2129;211186
Many new Intel motherboards lack a PS/2 port. But no one but idiots and misinformed yo-yos use Intel-branded motherboards anyway, so no problema.

We don't need an AMD vs. Intel flame war in my keyboard thread.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Tue, 10 August 2010, 22:28:18: ? Not doing Intel vs. AMD, I don't care who designed my CPU. But it's a fact that Intel branded motherboards (not Intel chipset boards in general) lag behind the third party vendors, and charge full price for a board lacking in features.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Tue, 10 August 2010, 22:59:47: Quote from: Phaedrus2129;211227
? Not doing Intel vs. AMD, I don't care who designed my CPU. But it's a fact that Intel branded motherboards (not Intel chipset boards in general) lag behind the third party vendors, and charge full price for a board lacking in features.

Oh, my bad. I misread your post. But ya, I'd never use an intel branded mobo for my build. I suppose the only thing that matters is that the mobo I run has a ps2 port, so I'm fine.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: audioave10 on Tue, 10 August 2010, 23:06:52: Mcstuff...I have the same 1996 keyboard and it DOES have the two-piece keys.
Hopefully, yours will too.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Tue, 10 August 2010, 23:18:25: Quote from: audioave10;211245
Mcstuff...I have the same 1996 keyboard and it DOES have the two-piece keys.
Hopefully, yours will too.

That's good to hear, but I suppose I'll have to wait and see.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 11 August 2010, 05:07:27: With those later Model Ms, it's a bit of lottery whether you get one with single or double piece keys.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Wed, 11 August 2010, 21:33:32: Im still waiting on my payment to clear, but I did stumble on some keyboards at frys today. I was just messing around on them until I found one that felt rather different. I tried it a little more, and it was really nice. I looked down and it turns out that I was typing on a Siig Mechanical Keyboard. This makes me even more excited for my Model M.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: aegrotatio on Wed, 11 August 2010, 22:29:14: Quote from: McStuff;211722
Im still waiting on my payment to clear, but I did stumble on some keyboards at frys today. I was just messing around on them until I found one that felt rather different. I tried it a little more, and it was really nice. I looked down and it turns out that I was typing on a Siig Mechanical Keyboard. This makes me even more excited for my Model M.

If you like it go over to www.notestation.com and get the DSI Solidtek ASK-6600 which is the less expensive version of the SIIG Mechanical Keyboard.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: McStuff on Wed, 11 August 2010, 23:06:19: Quote from: aegrotatio;211732
If you like it go over to www.notestation.com and get the DSI Solidtek ASK-6600 which is the less expensive version of the SIIG Mechanical Keyboard.

My only keyboard (for now) will be my model m. I was just commenting on how much nicer a mechanical keyboard is than rubber dome. Although, if I do tire of my Model M, I'll keep that in mind.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: maxlugar on Thu, 12 August 2010, 02:04:17: Quote from: McStuff;211747
My only keyboard (for now) will be my model m. I was just commenting on how much nicer a mechanical keyboard is than rubber dome. Although, if I do tire of my Model M, I'll keep that in mind.

The DSI Solitek ASK-6600 is a great deal for the money. Mine has genunine ALPS branded simplifed Type 1 key switches. Without the ALPS brand, they are called Fukkas.

The typing experience is OK but I find the key presses hollow and unsatisfying. Complicated original white ALPS like on the Focus and Northgate Omnikeys are much better IMO.

Also, the ASK-6600 layout is not the standard US ANSI 104-key layout. It has a large inverted L Enter key and small Backspace key. That alone is enough to keep most people away.
Title: My First Mechanical Keyboard!
Post by: aegrotatio on Fri, 13 August 2010, 11:13:31: Still, the caps lock key doesn't have a step in it. I don't find the L-shaped ENTER key to be as bad as I thought I would even though my other posts in this forum have lambasted it. The space bar is *very* odd, it's rather high and shallow and doesn't have a click, but I think the designer wanted to avoid having a "clocky" spacebar sound like so many other boards do.

I am posting this also to say that I'm not as hyper-critical about the ASK-6600 as I am of other boards because this board is not a $50 board selling for $100+ like the horrid Adesso I reviewed earlier. The ASK-6600 is exactly what I expect. It's a $50 board selling for $50. I'm not going to scrutinize key legends or crookedness as much on keyboard that is priced *right*.