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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Strange One on Wed, 07 December 2011, 21:24:46

Title: Newbie with some questions :)
Post by: Strange One on Wed, 07 December 2011, 21:24:46

Hello, everyone! I'm new to the forums, but not new to "normal" keyboards.

I'm in the market for a new keyboard, thanks to a batch of keys on my 6 y.o. Comfort Curve repeatedly kicking the bucket. I've been dealing with the keys on this one doing this death/rebirth bull since the day I bought it, and have finally had enough.

Started wandering the major electronics store sites, found a few indie retailers in the area I'd never heard of, then discovered there exists companies who still believe in making keyboards that sound and feel like actual keyboards. Yes, I've been a fool these long, hard years since becoming a convert into the membrane religion. I was tricked into thinking keyboards skinny enough to fit into a CD drive are the way of the future, and that not knowing when you've successfully typed a letter or not is the "in" thing. That getting one's hind-quarters whupped in TF2 because your keyboard screams "Nein! Too many buttons, little man! Must only push two at once!" is the natural way of things.

But, alas, I must get on with my post:

I discovered Unicomp and their shockingly "Made in USA" keyboards, and am pretty sure I'm done my search. Only problem is, I have a teensy desk, in which there lives a positively microscopic keyboard tray. I asked and found out the Customizer 104, which at 19.4 inches wide, is too big.

My question, after all this psychobabble and time-wasting, is this: how wide is the Space Saver model? I'm unfortunately in the need of something just under 18 inches.

Title: Newbie with some questions :)
Post by: Tony on Wed, 07 December 2011, 21:44:57

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/zerogravitas/kbds.jpg)

From top to bottom:
1987 IBM Model M 84 key Space Saver
2007 Unicomp Space Saver Model M Variant.
A regular 1991 IBM Model M.

Picture courtesy by zerogravitas (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?4096-Keyboard-pics&p=59725&viewfull=1#post59725).

Title: Newbie with some questions :)
Post by: Strange One on Wed, 07 December 2011, 21:56:11

A Space Saver model it is! Thank you for the photo!

Title: Newbie with some questions :)
Post by: jkercado on Wed, 07 December 2011, 22:02:27

Quote from: Tony;466259

Show Image

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/zerogravitas/kbds.jpg)

From top to bottom:
1987 IBM Model M 84 key Space Saver
2007 Unicomp Space Saver Model M Variant.
A regular 1991 IBM Model M.

Picture courtesy by zerogravitas (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?4096-Keyboard-pics&p=59725&viewfull=1#post59725).

Excellent timing for this pic. I was wondering if the Unicomp gray keys were too "intense" to be used in an IBM white keyboard. I think they would look bad...

Title: Newbie with some questions :)
Post by: demik on Wed, 07 December 2011, 22:12:48

Quote from: Tony;466259

Show Image

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/zerogravitas/kbds.jpg)

From top to bottom:
1987 IBM Model M 84 key Space Saver
2007 Unicomp Space Saver Model M Variant.
A regular 1991 IBM Model M.

Picture courtesy by zerogravitas (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?4096-Keyboard-pics&p=59725&viewfull=1#post59725).

Space Saving Keyboard, not Space Saver.

Unicomp is the space saver. Not IBM.