We all love mechanical keyboards, but are there any normal keyboards that hold a special place in your heart?

I for one love the keyboard on the old IBM thinkpads.

I also have a special place in my heart for the old Dell membrain keyboards that used to be in every school library in the 90’s

2 points

I know its technically still a ‘mechanical’ keyboard but its not an MX style switch: IMB Model M. I still daily drive one for work even though I can’t use some shortcuts (no win/super key) and I have a handful of modern mechanical keyboards at home.

If not that, then probably the one I had for work a few years back, similar era but membrane, unknown brand. It had a little bit of an old smell to it and found it in an abandoned warehouse at work. Left it for my replacement when I left that job.

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1 point

I made a “Soarers” converter for my two. One was a terminal board, so it has about a dozen remaps and is semi-permanently wired in, but the other is a little black box that will take any PS/2 keyboard and make it a USB keyboard that changes the right Control key into a Win key.

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11 points

I really liked my Microsoft Natural Keyboard in the late ’90s.

It was so huge, I ended up learning to mouse with my left hand, so I wouldn’t have to reach so far.

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9 points

My boss still uses these to this day. A while ago he found a deal and bought like 10, new in box. He has one everywhere and backups to spare.

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3 points

I’ve been using a split keyboard ever since this exact model was brought home. I finally gave up on the Sculpt and got a Keychron in Alice layout (K15). Not the same but the closest I’ve found in mechanical

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1 point

How do you like it?

I have a Q6 that I’m very happy with except it being non-ergo.

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2 points

Absolutely love it.

I greatly miss the arc from the Scultp and I use a microfiber cloth to induce an angle between the keyboard and a bad aftermarket wrist pad.

The QMK firmware is a major bonus. I built a custom mouse jiggles into my keyboard

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3 points
*

Yup, best keyboard I’ve ever used. They made slightly different versions over the years that fit my hands as well, but none that lasted the way those do; mine is still fully functional.

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4 points

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1 point

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3 points

I had one of these about 7 years ago. didn’t realize their history went so far back

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3 points

Not any specific model, but I kinda like low-profile keyboards using scissor switches often found in laptops. Not as great as a mechanical, but I like how they bring over some of the aspects of clicky/tactile switches while also being low profile.

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1 point

I probably type fastest on a keyboard like that, but I still don’t like how the actuation is all the way at the bottom. That makes it a bit annoying for gaming in my opinion, where you need to hold pressure to hold a key down

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1 point

I feel the same way! They’re pretty neat.

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4 points

I was also thinking old Thinkpad keyboards, and Dell membraine keyboards. Those were both widespread enough that nearly everyone back then had used them, and some of us still remember them lol

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0 points

I bet someone has taken the original thinkpad keyboards and put it in a housing to use like an external keyboard, just haven’t looked into it. I have the shinobi which is a mechanical interpretation of the thinkpad keyboard. It’s OK but I prefer the original.

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4 points

Someone certainly has… IBM and Lenovo themselves! Both have sold external ThinkPad keyboards over the years that are (in some cases) literally laptop keyboards, with a TrackPoint, in housing.

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2 points

ZX Spectrum. That is all.

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Mechanical Keyboards

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