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My wife suffers from repetive stress problems in her fingers and wrists. ...she finds old-fashioned mechanical typewriters much easier on her fingers because they offer gradual resistance rather than the feeling of moving through air then hitting a wall...

The old Model M IBM keyboards, with it's buckling spring", will meet the requirements, and for keyboard snobs like myself are the only way to type. http://www.3m3718.com/modelm.php http://www.preater.com/modelm/

Looks like one of those Lame-squishy keyboards to me. Not the rock solid, spring-loaded, nicely tactile and loud IBM Model M's which actually let you type at a reasonable speed.

Much to my surprise, I find myself seriously considering buying one of these $500 Macs.

I have wanted a Mac since I got to use one of the originals which was on display at Science North in Sudbury, Ontario the summer after their commercial release in 1984.

Price has always been the major sticking point. When I was thinking of upgrading my Commodore 128, I had a few choices. In the Time Before the Internet (for us home computer users), I wrote Apple and got brochures back for their two new models, the Mac SE and the Mac II. According to the price list that came with them, the cheaper Mac SE cost more than three times as much as a similarly equipped Commodore Amiga or Atart ST. Remember, all of these computers were roughly equivalent at the time.

In the 1990s, I started buying the horrid, commodity IBM PC clones, starting with 486s, and I have not changed since then. If Apple were to release a cheap Mac, I would be seriously tempted to buy it.

Why? Because my recent brushes with Apple hardware and software have been positive. I used iTunes on my PC to convert my CD collection to MP3s. Later, I bought a used 10GB second-generation iPod, and have been pleased with it too. After the front-page articles on Slashdot, I even have downloaded and run Mac OSX on my 2.5GHz 32-bit PC using Pear PC. The emulation was slow (the two times I tried it), but it did give me some idea of what a Mac is like.

So, now to my question: I have a favourite keyboard, an IBM Model M. What kind of keyboard port is standard on Macs these days?

From my limited knowledge, I would guess that this new headless Mac would take a USB keyboard, in which case I would need some kind of USB to PS/2 converter.

Does anyone have any experience with present-day Macs using IBM PS/2 keyboards?

... in the MMMMMMMMMMMaster of all keyboards....
here is a short description(wiht pics;o))(cause I suppose you've never seen a kbd, have you???)!!!!).

Surely Model M has its place in the history....

I'm a fan of the IBM Blue Logo keyboard. We have some of them here at my university and the heavier keys are great, kinda like a typewriter. Looking for something similar on the Web I found this one, with swapped Control and Caps Lock. I tried to swap'em via xmodmap and it's great for Emacs.

If you're an Emacs user, try swapping these two.

This is one of the few peices of computer technology that needs to have a better upgrade path... I mean, I get a new video card every year or two... and a complete new system at least once every 4 years... the damn keyboard hasn't changed much in at least the last 10...

Long Live The Model-M (The One True Keyboard!)

Check out these sites:

Model M Keyboard Vendor
Model M Fansite

An IBM Model M keyboard's keys all fit nicely on each other's slots.

I rearanged the keys on one and am learning Dvorak in my spare time.

Contact me if you are interested. (jason@vallery.net)

You can find out more about these keyboards here (Warning: Not my site, Turn speakers off before visiting).

FYI: Ctrl+Esc has the same function as the Windows key.

IBM Model M.

Let your kid paint it himself.

He'll probably like the clickyness as well.

Dave

I don't know if it solves your problem, but at at this site there are many model m keyboards dissassembled. Maybe if you chat with the author of the site he might help you...

Here's another site that might be helpful.

This site is dedicated to the one and only real PC keyboard. Quoting from it: Geeks will debate about the best keyboard in existence long after the sun supernovas. I happen to really like the IBM Model M. The fact that I have collected more than two dozen of the keyboards is testament to that. Or that I am clinically insane.

I have six of them: two at work, one at home, three spares (not that I think I'd ever need them, given the amount of abuse these babies can take, but I don't want to take any chances).

After destroying several cheap plastic keyboards in succession, I got myself an IBM Model M, the original "clicky" keyboard. It uses buckling springs and capacitance switches, it's built like a tank, lasts forever, and its diswasher safe.

There is no other keyboard out there with the sweet tactile response of a Model M. They can be had for 15-20 bucks + shipping on E-Bay. One of the sellers offers them used, but protected with the old "keyboard condom" dust covers - get one of those, clean it up with some isopropyl and WD-40, and you'll have a keyboard that is in mint condition.

.. unless it has drain holes for the spilled coffee.

My list:

1. Several shirts and pants, and a sweater (needed the shirts n' pants for work - sweater is nice, too).

2. The TAB Build Your Own Robot Kit - coolness!

3. VHS copies of Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Wild Palms.

4. A gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.

5. $25.00 cash.

6. This strange "key fob" thing that "transforms" from an eliptical shape into a small pair of pliers (with phillips and standard screwdrivers, too) - plus it was engraved w/ my initials...

My gifts to myself (hey, who says you can't or shouldn't?):

1. A General Reality CyberEye CE-200M HMD, with a CyberTrack II 3DOF headtracker (ultra-coolness, and the most excellent deal off of eBay).

2. A Radio Shack ProbeScope oscilloscope.

3. An IBM Model M "clicky" keyboard (found one cheap in a local computer recycling store - couldn't resist).

Merry Christmas, all!

but good luck finding any.

I can imagine this article causing more religious arguments than almost anything else recently

hear hear.

My IBM PC/XT has a keyboard that weighs 12kgs (26 pounds), and has fantasic feel. If only it would work on newer PCs... apparently the 'PC-compatible' world is not actually compatible with the original PC anymore.

The XT also has tank-like engineering throughout compared to newer machines. You get the impression that when IBM told the guys at Boca Raton to do it cheap, they didn't really get it.

According to some correspondence I had this weekend, the IBM Model M is what to look for, although I'm not sure where - EBay I guess. Nearest I've gotten brandnew is the IBM 42H1292 from http://www.pckeyboards.com/
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the telephone rings / problem between screen and chair / thoughts of homocide