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IBM is still making ThinkPad keyboards
- aaronbrethorst 11y agoLooking up the driver info in Linux, it appears to be manufactured by Lite-on, who do indeed still manufacture Thinkpad parts for Lenovo. [...] So perhaps that's it: IBM is still making Thinkpad-style keyboards for its rack- mounted servers, possibly only in China. I'm confused: how does Lite-on == IBM?
- smackfu 11y agoThey have the IBM logo on the back. You would expect Thinkpad-style keyboards manufactured in 2014 to have only Lenovo logos.
- theandrewbailey 11y agoIBM might not have the equipment to produce simple low margin parts like keyboards, so it contracts out to a high volume peripheral manufacturer.
- throwaway7767 11y agoThe ThinkPad keyboards were indeed made by different manufacturers. When I needed a replacement for my old ThinkPad, there were 3 different FRUs depending on the source manufacturer (ALPS, NMB and Chicony). They each had a different typing feel (one was too mushy for me, another one had about the right amount of tactile feedback and I never got to try the third one).
- papercrane 11y agoManufactured by Lite-on for IBM, but the arrangement is quite common. For example, Foxconn manufactures all current generation consoles, but we still say "Microsoft makes the Xbox One."
- joezydeco 11y agoLite-on also builds the power supply for the 4th gen AppleTV... https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/JZCBHisKVpM6G1eN.huge https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/JZCBHisKVpM6G1eN.h...
- dclowd9901 11y agoThey also used to build the shit out of CD-ROM drives; didn't seem to matter which company sold the drive -- it was almost invariable a Lite-On drive.
- kayfox 11y agoMitsumi still manufactures a large portion of Nintendo's product.
- corin_ 11y agoEvery time he says "makes" about IBM, read "commissions" or "sells", as in they are officially IBM branded. The same way that you'd say Lenovo sell ThinkPad keyboards even if they are made by Lite-on.
- WizzleKake 11y agohttp://www.pckeyboard.com/ http://www.pckeyboard.com/ Unicomp is still keeping the glory days of the IBM Model M keyboard alive.
- artursapek 11y agoOh my god, those Windows keys. This takes me back.
- throwaway7767 11y agoI have one of those. While they're very much a descendant of the Model M, I'd say their quality control is lacking. The PageDown key on my keyboard is much lighter than all the other keys, it feels really mushy and doesn't have the same tactile feedback that it's supposed to have. All the other keys are fine. I can live with it, but I never saw such an issue with any of the Model M keyboard I've used. Also, their USB firmware sucks. Sometimes it won't work during bootup (say, if I want to go into the BIOS or pick something from the GRUB menu), and only gets properly initialised when I get into linux or windows. This only happens sometimes. Other keyboards work consistently, and the problem disappears if I plug the unicomp into a KVM switch that actually shows up as its own HID device instead of just switching the USB ports around. I've seen other keyboards with similar problems but for such an expensive keyboard, it's really quite annoying.
- webkike 11y agoI've had the failed to initialize problem with many keyboards, including my Kinesis. If you're using a UEFI bios it could possibly be related to fastboot being on.
- sevensor 11y agoI have one, and I found that problems with it not working during bootup were related to its large power draw. It's been working fine for me since I plugged it into a powered usb hub. YMMV.
- throwaway7767 11y ago
- chrisBob 11y agoThis guy went out of his way to buy something with a trackpoint? Surely this is a hoax.
- thrownaway2424 11y agoThe TrackPoint is God's own pointing device. If He had wanted us to use a mouse, He would have given us a third arm.
- mercurial 11y agoYeah, but the Devil messed with Lenovo's design process when they started trying to ape Apple with their single-piece, absolutely terrible, attempt at a Mac-like touchpad. This makes the trackpoint nearly useless. Apparently they got back to their senses with the more recent models, though...
- breischl 11y agoTrackpoints are fantastic once you're used to them. Particularly for reading long documents - they had a "scroll mode" button that would let you use the trackpoint to scroll through a document one-handed without moving from the home row. I miss that thing.
- esaym 11y agoI know some people that can't use mice without pain. Hence they are trackpoint all the way. I only use the trackpoint on my laptop as well, but I'd rather have my logitech mouse with 'tilt' style wheel.
- ferrari8608 11y agoOne of my coworkers has this issue. He brought in a trackball for that reason. Makes sense the trackpoint would be the ideal mouse in a laptop for that reason. No need to move your hands off the home row.
- jamescun 11y agoBack in the late 90s I had a Toshiba Satellite Pro 420 with the green nipple mouse. It was by far better than any touchpad that came along until very recently. (If anybody knows the actual term other than "nipple mouse" please let me know).
- gozo 11y agoAs far as I know IBM still sold server up until last year when that department was also sold to Lenovo. So it makes sense that they were still making peripherals for server use, they probably aren't anymore though.
- scott_s 11y agoThat was the x86 line of servers. IBM still sells Power and Z systems. (I work for IBM Research, but not on any of that.)
- thrownaway2424 11y agoToo bad it doesn't have the tricolor IBM logo.
- binaryapparatus 11y agoGlory days, can't not smile when I remember tech decades old. I still have two buckling spring Model M keyboards and they are really made to last. Oh and bought them when they were new and selling, that's how ancient I am. I really wish IBM starts doing complete PC line again.
- dclowd9901 11y agoA Watson in every home!
- beginpanic 11y agoUnfortunately it won't happen. As an IBMer, I see how quickly IBM sheds anything that is not a top earner, and hardware (especially consumer hardware) will never be a top earner again. The recent partnership with Apple (replacing employee ThinkPads with Macbooks) doesn't look favorably on them making consumer goods anymore either. If you want IBM approved consumer hardware, it's not even the Thinkpads anymore. Apple makes the modern day IBM hardware.
- jonbaer 11y agoDoes no one remember the Butterfly keyboard on the 701? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ThinkPad_Butterfly_keyboard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ThinkPad_Butterfly_keyboar...
- joezydeco 11y agoIBM did some creative (and useful!) things with the early Thinkpads. Remember the 755CD/V? You could pull the backlight off the LCD and strap the laptop to an overhead projector. http://thinkwiki.de/images/0/07/755cdv-overhead.jpg http://thinkwiki.de/images/0/07/755cdv-overhead.jpg
- iliis 11y agoAwesome, I would never have tought that this is/was an actual product! We tried to do something like this as teenagers with an old (normal) LCD, but some ribbon-cables were in the way. Still, there are people building projectors themselves using that method.
- joezydeco 11y agoI have one. It's pretty simple in practice, although the LCD fades as it heats up from the projector's light.
- agumonkey 11y agoNever had the pleasure to own or use one. My best was this : http://mla-s1-p.mlstatic.com/mouse-ibm-ps2-ball-scroll-point-12j3618-15523-MLA20103849543_052014-F.jpg http://mla-s1-p.mlstatic.com/mouse-ibm-ps2-ball-scroll-point... Fond memories.
- acomjean 11y agoI had one once upon a time.... The trackpoint on a mouse was truly great.
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- brudgers 11y agoIt wouldn't surprise me if there were service contracts requiring continued manufacture of the keyboard to insure replacement parts.
- valarauca1 11y agoReplacement parts are normally made in the same production run as Production parts. You just project the number of replacement/warrenty claims, and build 10% over that. Cuts the cost of dyes/run times. This is also why replacement parts become next to impossible to find 10-15 years down the line. If they are available they'll become outrageously expensive due to another company purchasing the rights to make spare parts. Source: Worked as a military contract and sourced engine parts from Level3 Communication.
- MichaelGG 11y agoEngine parts from Level3? Like generators?
- valarauca1 11y agoNope transmissions. Level3 purchased a large number of John Deer patients from the 1950's and 60's and produces surplus tank parts. Well technically its a manufacturing company with their controlling interests owned by Level3. Its very steady predictable revenue. Literally an investor centric board member's wet dream.
- brudgers 11y agoThat's one way to do it. The scale of ThinkPad keyboards may be susceptible to alternative approaches since there's a product line aspect, i.e. many products with interchangeable parts produced over many years.
- hepek 11y agoI have this keyboard. Mine was made in 2008.
- pjgomez 11y agoI have had the very same keyboard shown in the article for more than ten years and it still works perfectly, although I was a bit disappointed at the time because it didn't feel quite the ones in the laptops. Lately though, I went all nostalgic and undusted an old IBM 1391405, that clicks like a charm while I am typing this.
- mschuster91 11y agoBit unrelated: there are upgrade kits available for Thinkpad laptops - does anyone know if there is a way to replace the motherboard of a 2004-era R40 with something at least a bit faster?
- robin_reala 11y agoLooking at the Thinkwiki page for the R40 [1] it looks like they come in Celeron, Pentium 4 and Pentium M models. You’d want the 1.7Ghz version of the Pentium M for the best speed I’d think. There’s some talk of changing the motherboard out on an R40 here [2] and there seem to be plenty of motherboards on ebay for cheap. [1] http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:R40 http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:R40 [2] http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=80880 http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=80880
- gcb0 11y agothere's modern design by a company called Tex that has true mechanical keys plus the center mouse thingy. tex yoda. look it up. i don't use mine much because they dumbly made it a two buttons mouse only.
- chdir 11y agoI use a standing desk, and hence require a separate keyboard to go with my laptop for proper head & wrist position. I've been searching for a wireless thinkpad keyboard which is a replica of the T series keyboard (with touchpad & dedicated mouse buttons). It seems not many people ask for it and hence they don't make it. I've tried logitech & Microsoft's wireless keyboards, they aren't that much fun to use. Posting it here, in case some keyboard enthusiast has a recommendation I could try.
- driverdan 11y agoWhy do you want a touchpad as part of your keyboard? Why does it need to be wireless? A better alternative is to get a mechanical tenkeyless keyboard and a mouse or a 60% keyboard if that's still too big. Learn keyboard shortcuts so you can reduce your reliance on mice.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- polpo 11y agoThere's the UltraNav USB Keyboard [1] which is basically a clone of a 2008-era T series keyboard. The trackpad feels a little cramped compared to modern trackpads, and there's no Windows key, but it's still a very nice keyboard. Not wireless, though. [1] http://www.amazon.com/IBM-UltraNav-Keyboard-Integrated-Pointing/dp/B00ZGHV178/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1444068209&sr=1-3&keywords=ultranav http://www.amazon.com/IBM-UltraNav-Keyboard-Integrated-Point...
- pkamb 11y agoNot wireless, and no trackpad, but this is a replica of the best T-Series keyboard and is very good: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd005137 https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd005137
- BrianEatWorld 11y agoWatch out when shopping for this model. This specific model is tough to find reasonably priced and the current iteration doesn't have a built in USB cord. Instead, it connects via a USB mini-5 that is pretty weak mechanically. I was using mine as a keyboard for my media pc and it broke after two months of fairly normal use.
- p_eter_p 11y agoThere is a special place in hell reserved for the designer who swapped the function and control key placement on that keyboard. Thankfully you can change it in the bios.
- bad_user 11y agoI have both a ThinkPad and a MacBook Pro and MacBooks are also doing it. I prefer to override Caps Lock to be another Ctrl and I can't remember the last time I felt the need to use the normal left-Ctrl. The best part is that Caps Lock is here to stay because many users like to write ALL CAPS.
- MichaelGG 11y agoThe Lenovo X1 Carbon actually did remove caps, instead putting home/end there. I believe it also removed the F keys, instead adding an "adaptive" touch strip. They undid it in the latest version. I wouldn't consider anything safe from the terrible designers at Lenovo. It is fine that they wanna experiment. I just wish they'd sell a premium option with the old style, good, keyboards.
- bluecalm 11y agoAt least they gave us the physical trackpoint buttons back.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- ansible 11y agoI don't write in ALL CAPS, but I do have to type code where some constant like SERVER_RETRY_TIMEOUT will be in all caps. So I do use my caps lock key a lot.
- retbull 11y agoIsn't there a to caps functionality for a lot of ides and editors?
- v4n4d1s 11y agoI switched to DasKeyboard Ultimate S a few years ago, never looked back to the old IBM ThinkPad keyboards.
- dijit 11y agono mobile though. I had the crazy idea of sticking a cubietruck into a ten keyless mechanical keyboard, attaching it to a 10" tft/lcd and adding an adjustable kickstand. I really do like to have a good keyboard when mobile. :\
- pkamb 11y agoThe "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint" is the updated version of the OP's keyboard, with nice improvements such as the "big delete key" and slightly more modern build quality. Sold from ~2009 to ~2013. https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd005137 https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd005137 I use one of these full time at my desk. All TrackPoint, no mouse or trackpad. Lenovo is now unfortunately making only the "Compact" keyboard, with the same chiclet keys as new ThinpPads. But the one linked above is still widely available and comes very recommended.
- dnr 11y agoCould you point to where that model is "widely available"? It doesn't seem to be on amazon or newegg, and I'd really like to get another one (or two). It's my favorite keyboard as well.
- pkamb 11y agoThere seem to usually be a few available at any given time on eBay or Amazon. But yes, getting harder to find unfortunately. And now I have competition...
- dnr 11y agoYes, there are some used/refurbished on amazon for $200+ (or $300+ new). I don't like it _that_ much :) But this prompted me to look on amazon again and I found an older revision for $80 and nabbed it. No luck on ebay.
- atallcostsky 11y agoI'm not sure where to buy them separately, but I'm pretty sure they come on the Lenovo T410 and Lenovo X220i laptops.
- dnr 11y agoThat's why I like it so much: I've been using thinkpads for years and got used to the feel of the keyboard, and also the trackpoint, so I wanted it when I was at a desktop too. It's really nice to not have to move your hand to the mouse for small motions, although I do still use a mouse for extended things like aimless web browsing.
- Havoc 11y ago>the modern chiclet-key Lenovo equivalents I kinda like them actually from a tactile point of view. The trackpads on the Lenovos on the other hand...someone deserves to be shot for that. Same for the person that switched the CTRL and fn keys. Seriously WTF?
- njharman 11y agoWorst part of avoiding further RSI via split keyboard is no more home row fingerable pointer. Now I gotta leave home row to twiddle with mousey thing.
- Puriney 11y agoNothing could be impossibly manufactured at China, e.g. Huaqiangbei Shenzhen. Take it as a friendly reminder from a Chinese. See also the news describing everything could be found at Huaqiangbei (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gallery/2014/jun/13/huaqiangbei-shenzhen-market-smartphone-parts-in-pictures http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gallery/2014/jun/13/hu...)
- robotjosh 11y agoApple should stick the magic mouse surface onto keyboard keys. Imagine being able to use a home row key as a tiny trackpad. You could also scroll by swiping down on a key. Never have to move your hands from home row. Come on apple!
- bunkydoo 11y agoIt was kindof a shame when they moved to chiclet keys a few years back. The keystrokes felt much different after that transition, and I can't say it was an improvement.
- sanoli 11y agoI use one of these (model's a bit different, but pretty close) every day to write and edit text. I emulate Jef Raskin's Canon Cat navigation model on the trackpad buttons, and it works exceptionally well. If the demand was there, I'd make a commercial version of my text editor to be used with these keyboards. Best thing for writers I've ever used.
- unexistance 11y agoprevious thread - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3394546 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3394546
- better_buttons 11y agoThe think I love the most about these keyboard/trackpad/trackpoint peripherals is the physically distinct mouse buttons. Do you KNOW how insanely awful current model trackpads are? Every single manufacturer seems to think it's a good idea to fabricate the trackpad as a solid unit, and have it act as both the left and right buttons, and it is SO horrendously impractical that it pains me to even broach the subject. Every single fucking laptop I see tries this, and fails. They are all bad. And yes, I know Apple does it. And you know what? The MacBook trackpad/button unit also sucks. But. They have the capacity to tailor the operating system for a closer behavioral fit. And that's the only thing that separates the Apple product. Note physically separate mouse buttons on this IBM/Lenovo unit. These buttons are so much more reliable and accurate. When you press one button, there is little risk of accidentally interacting with the other button, because they are not physically united by the same piece of plastic..
- blobbers 11y agoIBM is still making ThinkPad keyboards... ...and I'm still using one!
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]