5 ms·

> If you're interested in buying one of these, Unicomp ... Or get a used Model M at a flea market, on eBay, or the like. They are relatively indestructible, an

> If you're interested in buying one of these, Unicomp ... Or get a used Model M at a flea market, on eBay, or the like. They are relatively indestructible, and generally still work fine 30+ years after production. > if you find [a Model F] in the wild, it'll be really expensive This is a recenct phenomenon. The price e.g. on eBay has gone way up in the past 10 years. You used to be able to buy them for quite cheap. It’s absurd that people will spend >$100 for an XT keyboard with its overlong spacebar, terrible layout, and obsolete communications protocol. There were hundreds of thousands if not millions of Model F keyboards produced (both XT and AT varieties). The keyboard being recreated in https://www.modelfkeyboards.com https://www.modelfkeyboards.com is something different: a very obscure banking keyboard, cf. http://kishy.ca/?p=648 http://kishy.ca/?p=648

cipherboy 7y ago
> They are relatively indestructible. I can second that. I have the pleasure of having my grandfather's Model M ('87) and I use it nearly every day. I had to clean it extensively when I first got it, since both grandparents smoked in their house. Cleaned up nicely, good as new. To think, grandma wanted to throw it out! I've flown with it several times... Gotten a few smiles from older TSA agents. Haven't mailed it, but its gone both under the seat and in checked baggage and survives each time. (It fits snugly in my messenger bag). I use it a lot more than my laptop's keyboard and I've had to replace the laptop's up arrow a couple of times... Oh, and it works wonders with my father's text editor too (vi, though I prefer vim).
- thelazydogsback 7y ago
  > I have the pleasure of having my grandfather's Model M ('87) Yikes. Thanks for that little kick in the pants :)
  - cipherboy 7y ago
    It is about a decade older than me too. :)
lightedman 7y ago
"They are relatively indestructible" Over 800 dishwasher cycles later and the keyboard still functions as if it were brand-new. All I need to do is replace the PS/2 cord which has worn out at the strain relief.
- unwind 7y ago
  How often do you put it in the dishwasher? That sounds ... very ambitious.
  - lightedman 7y ago
    I will clean my keyboard in the dishwasher every time after I've descaled/cleaned the dishwasher and run a rinse cycle to clear everything else out, so maybe every other month. But this keyboard came from my elementary school, where they'd clean them weekly, because we all know how nasty kids can be. The vast majority of these cleaning cycles came from that school.
- mdip 7y ago
  Reading your comment, I thought either "nobody is going to believe this guy" or "people are going to think he's nuts". Actually, I thought it sooner than that, because I almost shared a story about how I used to clean up my Northgate Omnikey and decided not to because I didn't want to be judged. :) And yet, here you are, with an equally insane, similar but much better approach. My method for cleaning my Omnikey was to fill the kitchen sink with water and clean it like one cleans a dish. After a quick towel-dry, I'd toss it in the oven for 12-or-so hours at the lowest temperature (I think about 150-200 degrees American). I did this at least 10 times during the decade and a half that I used this board (and it was sold in perfect, working condition). I'm sure I did some damage, somewhere. There's got to be parts in that keyboard that corrode, but it always came out "like new". I haven't owned a keyboard like it since and I expect the one I use day-to-day wouldn't survive a strong gust of wind. I'm not completely, nuts, though. The first time I performed this all-day, insane, cleaning routine was after I had lost all hope of resurrecting my keyboard due to an unfortunate encounter with a full glass of Mountain Dew. At no point did I ever consider putting it in the dish washer. That would have saved me hours!

cipherboy 7y ago

> They are relatively indestructible. I can second that. I have the pleasure of having my grandfather's Model M ('87) and I use it nearly every day. I had to clean it extensively when I first got it, since both grandparents smoked in their house. Cleaned up nicely, good as new. To think, grandma wanted to throw it out! I've flown with it several times... Gotten a few smiles from older TSA agents. Haven't mailed it, but its gone both under the seat and in checked baggage and survives each time. (It fits snugly in my messenger bag). I use it a lot more than my laptop's keyboard and I've had to replace the laptop's up arrow a couple of times... Oh, and it works wonders with my father's text editor too (vi, though I prefer vim).

thelazydogsback 7y ago
> I have the pleasure of having my grandfather's Model M ('87) Yikes. Thanks for that little kick in the pants :)
- cipherboy 7y ago
  It is about a decade older than me too. :)

lightedman 7y ago

"They are relatively indestructible" Over 800 dishwasher cycles later and the keyboard still functions as if it were brand-new. All I need to do is replace the PS/2 cord which has worn out at the strain relief.

unwind 7y ago
How often do you put it in the dishwasher? That sounds ... very ambitious.
- lightedman 7y ago
  I will clean my keyboard in the dishwasher every time after I've descaled/cleaned the dishwasher and run a rinse cycle to clear everything else out, so maybe every other month. But this keyboard came from my elementary school, where they'd clean them weekly, because we all know how nasty kids can be. The vast majority of these cleaning cycles came from that school.
mdip 7y ago
Reading your comment, I thought either "nobody is going to believe this guy" or "people are going to think he's nuts". Actually, I thought it sooner than that, because I almost shared a story about how I used to clean up my Northgate Omnikey and decided not to because I didn't want to be judged. :) And yet, here you are, with an equally insane, similar but much better approach. My method for cleaning my Omnikey was to fill the kitchen sink with water and clean it like one cleans a dish. After a quick towel-dry, I'd toss it in the oven for 12-or-so hours at the lowest temperature (I think about 150-200 degrees American). I did this at least 10 times during the decade and a half that I used this board (and it was sold in perfect, working condition). I'm sure I did some damage, somewhere. There's got to be parts in that keyboard that corrode, but it always came out "like new". I haven't owned a keyboard like it since and I expect the one I use day-to-day wouldn't survive a strong gust of wind. I'm not completely, nuts, though. The first time I performed this all-day, insane, cleaning routine was after I had lost all hope of resurrecting my keyboard due to an unfortunate encounter with a full glass of Mountain Dew. At no point did I ever consider putting it in the dish washer. That would have saved me hours!