3 ms·

I have a NeXT cube from the 1990s. It is one of the best built products in terms of build quality, I have ever seen.

jseliger 15y ago
How does it compare to Model M keyboards? Or the recent editions of those keyboards (see more: http://jseliger.com/2008/05/07/product-review-unicomp-customizer-keyboard/ http://jseliger.com/2008/05/07/product-review-unicomp-custom... )?
- spitfire 15y ago
  I actually prefer the feel and sound of the NeXT keyboard over the model M. Though I much prefer the layout of the model M to the NeXT. Coding was a pain on the NeXT keyboard - no pageup/dn home/end keys. But it was fantastic for writing papers and working with mathematica, frame, etc.
  - ams6110 15y ago
    IIRC the vertical bar (or was it the tilde) was in a totally nonstandard and awkward place too... didn't seem very smart considering it was still a UNIX machine. The navigation keys were not such a big deal once you realized that all text fields accepted basic Emacs keystrokes for cursor movement.
    - spitfire 15y ago
      Yup. The keys were wonky. Fine for openwrite, mathematica and such. Bad for programming. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/Next_Station_Keyboard_s1.jpg http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/Next_Station_Keyb...
      - thought_alarm 15y ago
        > Bad for programming. Unless you like emacs. No Caps Lock taking up precious space, Control/meta/super keys in great position, and the emacs keybindings work not only in emacs, but system wide.
- thought_alarm 15y ago
  > How does it compare to Model M keyboards? The 1st-gen NeXT keyboards use Alps key-switches, like the Apple keyboards of the late-80s. The one I have is rock-solid and one of the finest keyboards I've used. It also had some clever innovations: - It is very compact. It has the same width as a traditional PC keyboard, but without the top row of function keys. That means it's only 5 rows high. - Consequently, the Escape key is next to the "1" key, where the backtick/tilde key would normally be. However, the tilde is an important character in Unix, so if you hit Shift+Escape as if to type a tilde, you'll still get a tilde character. It's a nice touch. - The Control key is next to the "A". Command and Option keys are on both sides of the space bar. - There is no Caps Lock key. To engage Caps Lock, press Command+Shift; green LEDs on both Shift keys light up to indicate Caps Lock. - There are no home/end/page up/page down keys. They are replaced with Power, Volume up/down, and Brightness up/down. All NextSTEP applications support the traditional Emacs shortcuts for Home/End/Page Up/Page Down etc., and that tradition lives on in OS X. - The hardware (cube, monitor, or printer) has no buttons or switches of any kind. Power, volume, and brightness can only be controlled from the keyboard (like a modern laptop). That means you can't turn the machine on or off without the keyboard, and the keyboard connects to the monitor!
  - ConstantineXVI 15y ago
    The OS X keyboard technically still has a Caps Lock key; but you're free to remap it to any of the other modifier keys (or none of them) in the keyboard prefs. Being a Vim user I don't use Control much, so I put it to ⌘ to call up Alfred more easily.

How does it compare to Model M keyboards? Or the recent editions of those keyboards (see more: http://jseliger.com/2008/05/07/product-review-unicomp-customizer-keyboard/ http://jseliger.com/2008/05/07/product-review-unicomp-custom... )?

spitfire 15y ago
I actually prefer the feel and sound of the NeXT keyboard over the model M. Though I much prefer the layout of the model M to the NeXT. Coding was a pain on the NeXT keyboard - no pageup/dn home/end keys. But it was fantastic for writing papers and working with mathematica, frame, etc.
- ams6110 15y ago
  IIRC the vertical bar (or was it the tilde) was in a totally nonstandard and awkward place too... didn't seem very smart considering it was still a UNIX machine. The navigation keys were not such a big deal once you realized that all text fields accepted basic Emacs keystrokes for cursor movement.
  - spitfire 15y ago
    Yup. The keys were wonky. Fine for openwrite, mathematica and such. Bad for programming. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/Next_Station_Keyboard_s1.jpg http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/Next_Station_Keyb...
    - thought_alarm 15y ago
      > Bad for programming. Unless you like emacs. No Caps Lock taking up precious space, Control/meta/super keys in great position, and the emacs keybindings work not only in emacs, but system wide.
thought_alarm 15y ago
> How does it compare to Model M keyboards? The 1st-gen NeXT keyboards use Alps key-switches, like the Apple keyboards of the late-80s. The one I have is rock-solid and one of the finest keyboards I've used. It also had some clever innovations: - It is very compact. It has the same width as a traditional PC keyboard, but without the top row of function keys. That means it's only 5 rows high. - Consequently, the Escape key is next to the "1" key, where the backtick/tilde key would normally be. However, the tilde is an important character in Unix, so if you hit Shift+Escape as if to type a tilde, you'll still get a tilde character. It's a nice touch. - The Control key is next to the "A". Command and Option keys are on both sides of the space bar. - There is no Caps Lock key. To engage Caps Lock, press Command+Shift; green LEDs on both Shift keys light up to indicate Caps Lock. - There are no home/end/page up/page down keys. They are replaced with Power, Volume up/down, and Brightness up/down. All NextSTEP applications support the traditional Emacs shortcuts for Home/End/Page Up/Page Down etc., and that tradition lives on in OS X. - The hardware (cube, monitor, or printer) has no buttons or switches of any kind. Power, volume, and brightness can only be controlled from the keyboard (like a modern laptop). That means you can't turn the machine on or off without the keyboard, and the keyboard connects to the monitor!
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  The OS X keyboard technically still has a Caps Lock key; but you're free to remap it to any of the other modifier keys (or none of them) in the keyboard prefs. Being a Vim user I don't use Control much, so I put it to ⌘ to call up Alfred more easily.