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Enthusiast Resurrects IBM's Legendary 'Model F' Keyboard (popularmechanics.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Popular Mechanics: You may not know the Model F by name, but you know it by sound -- the musical thwacking of flippers slapping away. The sound of the '80s office. The IBM Model F greeting the world in 1981 with a good ten pounds of die-cast zinc and keys that crash down on buckling metal springs as they descend. It's a sensation today's clickiest keyboards chase, but will never catch. And now it's coming back. The second coming of the high-quality Model F (not to be confused with its more affordable plastic successor, the Model M) isn't a throwback attention grab from IBM, nor a nostalgia play from Big Keyboard. Instead, it's the longtime work of a historian in love with the retro keyboard's unparalleled sound and feel, but frustrated by the limitations of actual decades-old tech.
The Model F Keyboards project, now taking preorders for the new line of authentic retro-boards, was started by Joe Strandberg, a Cornell University grad who's taken up keyboard wizardry as a nights-and-weekends hobby. He started as a collector and restorer of genuine Model F keyboards -- originally produced from 1981 to 1994 -- a process that familiarized him with their virtues and their flaws... Working with a factory in China, Strandberg has carefully overseen the reproduction process one step at time, from the springs to the unique powder-coating on the keyboard's zinc case. Despite the expense (Strandberg estimates spending $100,000 to revive the tooling necessary for the production run), it was the only viable option given the kind of abuse your average keyboard takes on a daily basis. "With 3D printing," he says, "the keyboard wouldn't last a year."
The first prototypes have just left the assembly line, and he's already racked up over a quarter of a million dollars in pre-orders. Does anyone else fondly remember IBM's hefty and trusty old keyboards?
The Model F Keyboards project, now taking preorders for the new line of authentic retro-boards, was started by Joe Strandberg, a Cornell University grad who's taken up keyboard wizardry as a nights-and-weekends hobby. He started as a collector and restorer of genuine Model F keyboards -- originally produced from 1981 to 1994 -- a process that familiarized him with their virtues and their flaws... Working with a factory in China, Strandberg has carefully overseen the reproduction process one step at time, from the springs to the unique powder-coating on the keyboard's zinc case. Despite the expense (Strandberg estimates spending $100,000 to revive the tooling necessary for the production run), it was the only viable option given the kind of abuse your average keyboard takes on a daily basis. "With 3D printing," he says, "the keyboard wouldn't last a year."
The first prototypes have just left the assembly line, and he's already racked up over a quarter of a million dollars in pre-orders. Does anyone else fondly remember IBM's hefty and trusty old keyboards?
Plenty of cherry buckling spring keyboards available at a reasonable price.
Ya, I'm typing on one now, but it ain't made with "a good 10 pound of die-cast zinc".
Does it come with an authentic XT connector so I have to use XT>PS/2>USB so I can use it with my modern computer?
long live Selectric!
I figured I would do that to "clean" it. About 500 parts sprung out. I never got it back together again.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
Unicomp has been making brand new Model Ms for years, using the same tooling that was originally used by IBM to make them.
What makes the Model F better, other than the historical angle? And if it's just the historical reasons, why bother with a $300 remake instead of the real thing, when you can just buy a new Model M from Unicomp for a lot less money and get the same feel with identical inauthenticity?
If you're confused reading this, welcome to the club. :)
Besides...Gateway made the best keyboards back then.
Yeah, right.
What's next, will you try to claim that a tool from Harbor Freight is better than a Snap-On tool ?
One thing Slashdot always does is bring the idiots out of the woodwork. And yes, I am calling you an idiot, Mister HornWumpus.
I have a stack of the original IBM XT keyboards in the storeroom. They are PC-XT, so will not work on newer ('286 and up) machines. And they are 83 key so do not have the number pad. They mate up nice to the stack of original PC-XT machines in the same room. ( no XT clones allowed, though there is a stack of salvaged clone motherboards.)
Shipping it in a box, in a Styrofoam padding?? WTF, if it can't be shipped straight up, that's not a model F.
But I'm old enough to remember being in a computing lab filled with clicky keyboards back then. Heck, I remember how a room filled with typewriters sounded.
I'll take today's quiet keyboards, thank you very much.
#DeleteChrome
I can't remember having seen a site slashdotted in a long time....
I finally just got the order page up. Prices start at $325. No thanks.
Beware of the Leopard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I'm sill using an original 1990's IBM Model M (PS2 style) every day. I've changed OS and computers over the decades but not the keyboard. I have to take it apart every few years and clean out the stuff from under the keys. It may be the reduced cost version of the Model F but it's still a usable, sturdy, and reliable keyboard.
You're just mad because your Mac Pro doesn't have a PS/2 port on it.
... And Take My Money!
Without padding and a box it is a hazard to the other items in the shipping center.
Really!! I mean Really!!! I just cleaned out my storage unit a few months back that had stuff in it for 20 years. I just tossed 50 of the original IBM keyboards because no one wanted them, Some of them with such light use they still had the original box. Posted them on eBay and Craigslist for months no-one wanted them. Now everyone wants one. WTH!!
Model Ms have always been my fave but typing on Cherry Blues right now and all is well.
Cherry's clicky switches do not use buckling springs. They have a much inferior tactile feel (and less of a sound as well).
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Buckling springs were a cost reduction over the ultimate keyboard design - which was Keyboard D and associated. Those were the "beam spring" keyboards that shipped with the IBM 3278, IBM 3279 and so on. Absolutely fantastic keyboards, wonderful touch, a near perfect force/displacement profile. They were quiet - so quiet, we had to put an electric clicker into the keyboards, software selectable so typists could hear the keystrokes.
I had one for years and years. I had an interface that supplied it with the +8.5v, +5vand -2.2v it needed, took its parallel output and mapped it to an ASCII symbol set. I had one wired to a 6809 Forth machine for a few years, but it fell into disrepair when the IBM PC arrived, and suddenly I had a C compiler to code with.
... then I'm going to want to have a clear rubber covering on it that can to protect it from things like accidental spills, even while using it (my roommate back in the day always referred to the one I had at the time as a keyboard condom). Back then, there were just the two styles of keyboard, either XT or extended XT style, and you could get a cover for either one. If something spills on it, you just wipe it with a damp cloth and you're done, or if it gets really bad you peel it off and wash it As far as I know they don't make those anymore because there's too many styles of keyboards now.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
I used a Model F early in my career (@ 16 and 17 YO), then I moved to a Model M.
Almost no difference.
This is a pure retro/hipster/fad thing.
Get a good modern Keyboard, where you get a good backlight, lightweight, and good mechanical (for your taste) key feedback, with modern set of keys and macro-recording, and you will be much better served than reliving the days of yore...
my 2 cents YMMV
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
I've had $10 keyboards. Heck, I have a $100 Mac keyboard. The feel isn't the same. When I'm typing on one of my Model M's, I know what I'm typing is getting through. With the squishy keyboards, I keep having to backspace because I'm missing a letter, which sucks when I'm on a unix box typing in commands (which I do most of the day).
I've had my Model M since 89 and it still works great (I'm on it now). Work has provided Dell keyboards, Mac keyboards, and various other brand and non-name brand keyboards. Just nothing works like the IBM I have, to the point that I bought a second one just on case :)
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Cherry MX switches are NOT buckling spring. They are mechanical but not the same mechanism at all.
Gateway? I think you misspelled "Northgate". The Omnikey Ultra was my all time favorite.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
but I'd kill for the Microsoft natural layout with clicky keys. I've tried those split keyboards but they don't slant the keys at an angle so they're a mess.
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The Cherry mechanicals certainly beat your basic rubber domes; and have become conveniently widely available; but they are a completely different type of keyswitch than used in either the model F or model M. Given the price, you'd really, really, have to care; but the differences aren't confined to a more industrial enclosure.
Dye sublimation is better than just simple-minded surface printing (which is utterly unacceptable), but double-shot injection molding is preferred. Too bad they did not make the right choice. Big black mark.
Gateway made the best keyboards back then.
Nope. The keyboards that Honeywell-Microswitch made for HP's terminals were the best, no contest.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I'm trying to find out the difference betweent he F and the M....?
I've been having some trouble with that lately too. Back when I was in school the one with a penis was the M and the one with the vagina was the F. But apparently it's a little more complicated than that now. ;-)
What? That's barely more than the list price in 1981. Considering that the original was $670 in 2017-dollars, you're actually getting it at half-price!
And if you think about it as something you can pass down to your children and grandchildren (like a cast iron skillet), the cost ends up being less than $1 per month.
dom