Hey all, newbie here.
Brief "about me": Network engineer for a regional ISP. Always been picky about my keyboard, but only recently started getting into the "mechanical keyboard scene." Use a 1999 IBM-UK-manufactured Model M (42H1292) @ work and have been loving every keystroke. Favorite laptop keyboard was the NMB model in my ThinkPad T42p, but the T60p Alps (manufactured the keyboard, not switches in the keyboard...if only!) I currently have isn't too shabby either. Found this forum while shopping around for a keyboard for my Mac Mini.
Anyway, yeah: need a good keyboard for the Mini, and although I love me some Model Ms, I wanted something more Mac-centric. Got wind of the Apple Extended Keyboards several months ago, and actually remember having used them before many, many moons ago, and decided that's what I wanted. I've been shopping for a mint-condition one ever since, with varying degrees of dedication on my part at different times.
Finding an AEK or AEK-II (would rather the AEK as I actually prefer my keystrokes to be audible) in excellent condition for a reasonable price (or even for an unreasonable price!) has been frustratingly difficult, so I started looking around for other options, and heard about the DataDesk Mac-101e. I read iMav's thread and his account of trying to purchase one from them, and after a brief PM exchange with him, decided I would give them a call and try to see if they would let me place an order.
They did (though the price is now $99...ouch
better be worth it...), although the person that I was speaking to (forgot to get his name) seemed really surprised that I would actually want one of these old 'boards, and even tried to talk me out of it a few times during the course of the conversation. But I persisted.
What is interesting, though, is that when I first called them, I got an automated phone attendant who said that I had reached "SoloMatrix," not DataDesk (DataDesk was option #2). As the phone call was winding down, I causally asked the gentleman I had been speaking with what was up with that. "Oh, that's the name of our new company. DataDesk will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoloMatrix. You can see the new web site at
http://www.solomatrixinc.com/"
So I surf on over there, and the first image that I see there intrigues me. "Wait, so...am I to understand that you are making an iPhone keyboard?" I ask.
Yes they are, or so they claim. Apparently the design has been finished and tested, so they have a product that they are ready to take into production, but still have to raise some more capital before they can begin production, so it will probably still be several months out before we can see one, if it manages to get to that point.
The part that intrigued me, though, is that the guy claims that they managed to build one such that it works with the phone even without requiring that the user jailbreak his/her phone and install special software or drivers. I didn't think the iPhone had any kind of keyboard support, and I certainly didn't think that it would be possible to make one work with the standard SDK and APIs.
We'll see if this ends up being for real; the impression I have been getting is that DataDesk is a really small company that has existed for eons and has practically spent itself already -- much like Unicomp except worse -- so I'm not holding out hope. But if they do come out with a physical iPhone keyboard, I'm
so there.
-- Nathan
