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geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: jacobolus on Tue, 11 March 2014, 14:23:21

Title: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: jacobolus on Tue, 11 March 2014, 14:23:21
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191096940661

"Guaranteed to be in good working condition." (Not sure how they tested that one.)
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: riotonthebay on Tue, 11 March 2014, 14:31:34
Shoot, I was hoping this wouldn't be posted here :(.

I PM'd the seller with an offer and asking if I could pick it up locally, but he said he'd like to see how the auction pans out.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: jdcarpe on Tue, 11 March 2014, 14:37:56
LOL, I have a snipe bid on that one, too.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: riotonthebay on Tue, 11 March 2014, 14:38:25
LOL, I have a snipe bid on that one, too.

:|
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: jdcarpe on Tue, 11 March 2014, 14:39:04
Beam spring is the last piece I'm missing.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: REVENGE on Tue, 11 March 2014, 14:48:14
Is it Great Finds, or Finding Great Disappointment?
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: JPG on Tue, 11 March 2014, 15:05:42
Is it Great Finds, or Finding Great Disappointment?


Great find = Let the war begin!
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: berserkfan on Tue, 11 March 2014, 16:07:31
really quite amazed. the folks on this site seem to have access to unlimited piles of cash...
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: REVENGE on Tue, 11 March 2014, 16:29:11
really quite amazed. the folks on this site seem to have access to unlimited piles of cash...
As expensive as any of this stuff is, it's still on the order of magnitude of $100s of dollars. That's pretty much in line with most consumption electronic goods.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: False_Dmitry_II on Tue, 11 March 2014, 17:16:47
really quite amazed. the folks on this site seem to have access to unlimited piles of cash...

It's also probably different people. Or at least, I hope it's not three people buying all the industrials or ssk's. Although it would only take one or two millionaires.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: berserkfan on Tue, 11 March 2014, 23:11:35
really quite amazed. the folks on this site seem to have access to unlimited piles of cash...
As expensive as any of this stuff is, it's still on the order of magnitude of $100s of dollars. That's pretty much in line with most consumption electronic goods.

That's true, except you don't buy consumption goods every few days. EG my TV is 7 years old now and still going strong; my main monitor is 4 years old. This desk I'm using is over 20 years old; the atomic clock (now a normal clock since there's no atomic signal here) I'm looking at is 16 years old. Seems as though some of the folks here report buying or winning a new keyboard for $200 or something every few days.

But then again, this is America. In Asia it's common for people to spend 45% of their pretax incomes on housing loans for 35 years, so Asians really don't have money to spend like the Americans do.

To make things even more ridiculous, in China all residential property has a 70 year leasehold. And people have been taking on loans that are like 300x their yearly incomes. I don't know how it will end, but although it should theoretically end badly, it hasn't yet.

Yeah, come to think of it, it's the Americans living within their means. Industrial SSK at $800 is pretty cheap; about 0.1 square meter/ one square foot of Chinese low end property. And it's a freehold collectible guaranteed to increase in value. Your Chinese property will be confiscated by the government in 70 years.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: Techno Trousers on Tue, 11 March 2014, 23:21:45
People taking on loans they can't pay back is a recipe for a housing market crash. The U.S. is finally just coming out of a big one.

Just wanted to say I'm kind of bummed too that everyone is sniping the beam spring. I would love to own one of those someday.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: jacobolus on Tue, 11 March 2014, 23:39:15
That's true, except you don't buy consumption goods every few days. EG my TV is 7 years old now and still going strong; my main monitor is 4 years old. This desk I'm using is over 20 years old; the atomic clock (now a normal clock since there's no atomic signal here) I'm looking at is 16 years old. Seems as though some of the folks here report buying or winning a new keyboard for $200 or something every few days.
Median household income in the US is ~$50k/year. About 20% of households in the US make >$100k/year. A few hundred dollars for keyboards is not going to break the bank, and is a relatively small expense compared to televisions, cell phones & data plans, computers, fancy audio equipment, attending concerts, eating out at restaurants and drinking at bars, fancy kitchen appliances, etc., not to mention cars, college tuition, health insurance, rent/mortgage...
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: ed_avis on Wed, 12 March 2014, 10:09:36
And you drive this keyboard... how?
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: berserkfan on Wed, 12 March 2014, 10:18:21
That's true, except you don't buy consumption goods every few days. EG my TV is 7 years old now and still going strong; my main monitor is 4 years old. This desk I'm using is over 20 years old; the atomic clock (now a normal clock since there's no atomic signal here) I'm looking at is 16 years old. Seems as though some of the folks here report buying or winning a new keyboard for $200 or something every few days.
Median household income in the US is ~$50k/year. About 20% of households in the US make >$100k/year. A few hundred dollars for keyboards is not going to break the bank, and is a relatively small expense compared to televisions, cell phones & data plans, computers, fancy audio equipment, attending concerts, eating out at restaurants and drinking at bars, fancy kitchen appliances, etc., not to mention cars, college tuition, health insurance, rent/mortgage...

That's if you are talking about one purchase only. It seems some folks buy 1 every week for $100 on average (often more) and that works out to like $5k a year. Spending 5% of your income on this seems a  little excessive. As you said yourself, there are a load of other expenditures that you simply cannot call discretionary - eg exorbitant health insurance, paying rent, paying car loans, fuel, heating, internet service, student loans. You can live without a 20th keyboard, but you can't default on student loans and expect to get away with it.

I don't have a problem with spending $5000 on a keyboard, if I could genuinely be assured that it is Ze Ideal that I can Use For The Rest of My Life and Never Get Tired of It. But I don't like the idea of buying things as a habit. Hell, I'm also vulnerable to it!
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: ZeDestructor on Wed, 12 March 2014, 10:24:28
That's true, except you don't buy consumption goods every few days. EG my TV is 7 years old now and still going strong; my main monitor is 4 years old. This desk I'm using is over 20 years old; the atomic clock (now a normal clock since there's no atomic signal here) I'm looking at is 16 years old. Seems as though some of the folks here report buying or winning a new keyboard for $200 or something every few days.
Median household income in the US is ~$50k/year. About 20% of households in the US make >$100k/year. A few hundred dollars for keyboards is not going to break the bank, and is a relatively small expense compared to televisions, cell phones & data plans, computers, fancy audio equipment, attending concerts, eating out at restaurants and drinking at bars, fancy kitchen appliances, etc., not to mention cars, college tuition, health insurance, rent/mortgage...

That's if you are talking about one purchase only. It seems some folks buy 1 every week for $100 on average (often more) and that works out to like $5k a year. Spending 5% of your income on this seems a  little excessive. As you said yourself, there are a load of other expenditures that you simply cannot call discretionary - eg exorbitant health insurance, paying rent, paying car loans, fuel, heating, internet service, student loans. You can live without a 20th keyboard, but you can't default on student loans and expect to get away with it.

I don't have a problem with spending $5000 on a keyboard, if I could genuinely be assured that it is Ze Ideal that I can Use For The Rest of My Life and Never Get Tired of It. But I don't like the idea of buying things as a habit. Hell, I'm also vulnerable to it!
Agreed. Just about the only board I would legitimately pay over 1k for would be a Model F Unsaver..... And considering how often they show up, I'm unlikely to ever get one....
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: berserkfan on Wed, 12 March 2014, 13:37:14
Try RecycledGoods.com

Someone said it really well, but I can't remember the exact quote. Something like the awesome layout of the Model F XT in a casing with a generous F 122 footprint.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: jdcarpe on Wed, 12 March 2014, 13:41:52
Try RecycledGoods.com

Someone said it really well, but I can't remember the exact quote. Something like the awesome layout of the Model F XT in a casing with a generous F 122 footprint.

Yes, I was talking about that Model C with the huge footprint (3178 keyboard):

All the advantages of the XT layout, now in an even bigger size!!
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: False_Dmitry_II on Wed, 12 March 2014, 15:11:05
And you drive this keyboard... how?

There is more than one controller project. I've seen one working one (but didn't read much about it), and I also know that Soarer is working on being able to replace the CPU with a teensy on things like this. So even if it wasn't possible to use it now, it will be at some point.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: berserkfan on Thu, 13 March 2014, 01:46:44
Try RecycledGoods.com

Someone said it really well, but I can't remember the exact quote. Something like the awesome layout of the Model F XT in a casing with a generous F 122 footprint.

Yes, I was talking about that Model C with the huge footprint (3178 keyboard):

All the advantages of the XT layout, now in an even bigger size!!

GREAT!

Thank you JDCarpe!

Now let me rewrite your statement and make it even more American...

The Model F XT, upscaled and supersized to fit the modern MacMansion!
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: ebacho on Thu, 13 March 2014, 02:00:48
The XT had advantages?  :))
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: berserkfan on Thu, 13 March 2014, 15:06:07
The XT had advantages?  :))

For one, it trained you to use your right pinky very well. Most people are lazy thanks to 2.25x return keys on the same row.

XT makes sure that you learn some real muscle memory so that you can hit a 1x1 spot at an in-between position. Awesome or what?  ;D
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: JPG on Thu, 13 March 2014, 15:12:33
The XT had advantages?  :))


Hell yea, the XT is a thumb gym! Use it daily and you are guarantee to double your thumb muscles within 2 weeks. Plus smashing a 10x spacebar-gym makes you feel more badass for sure.


And it's still an F, so the switches are miraculous! It's just the layout that is not, but it's just for a few keys. For gaming, it's not so bad in fact if you don't need to you your enter and right shift and left alt (or control, depends on how you map it).
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: kennyk64 on Thu, 13 March 2014, 17:25:36
What is the type of connector on IBM 3727?
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: dorkvader on Thu, 13 March 2014, 19:28:15
What is the type of connector on IBM 3727?

It's a d subminiature connector. DA-15 to be exact.

You can see pictures of texasflood's pictures here (3101 appears to be the same physical KB as the 3727, and used the same connector)
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=12082.0

I suspect the pinout to the the same or similar to the 3104
(http://www.kbdbabel.org/conn/kbd_connector_ibm3104.png)
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: E TwentyNine on Thu, 13 March 2014, 21:12:07
...and ending at $152.50 + shipping.
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: jacobolus on Thu, 13 March 2014, 21:13:56
The other beam spring board on auction at the same time ended at $94 shipped. Apparently I didn’t bid high enough:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151248621277
Title: Re: IBM 3727 beam spring keyboard, bids starting at $60 shipped
Post by: mr_a500 on Thu, 13 March 2014, 21:22:56
Damn it. I was the first bidder on both of those beam springs - and I lost them both. Can't you people leave me alone. ;)

The other beam spring board on auction at the same time ended at $94 shipped. Apparently I didn’t bid high enough:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151248621277

It didn't end up "$94 shipped" for me. It was $118 shipped to Canada - and that was too much for a filthy beam spring I wanted mainly for extra parts.