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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?
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.
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/...
You're just mad because your Mac Pro doesn't have a PS/2 port on it.
Without padding and a box it is a hazard to the other items in the shipping center.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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. ;-)