What's your piece of keyboard unobanium?

[cakeanalytics]

damn that compact beamspring looks sexy...

[Invisius]

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One of these gems, or a first generation LINC laboratories keyboard would be quite the find!

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[ddrfraser1]

great for gaming too.

[Yasu0]

unicomp is working on a tkl, but as I understand it they are understaffed due to covid, and so everyone who would be working on developing the tkl is currently working in assembly so that they can still fill orders.

Saw this was finally available. Good news, ordered. Factoring in the under $150 price and availability of 'custom' caps.. this is pretty good unobtainum. With a beige zinc case could be my flavor of endgame.

[zrrion]

The melting point of zinc is low enough that it might be possible to home make a sand cast and pour your own mold. Would be an incredibly cool project for sure.

[E3E]

OG Kishsaver or F77, pretty much. Not repros.

Aside from that? Hmm, hard to say. So much has gotten so expensive these days that a lot is just priced out of most budgets.

[Yasu0]

I'm thinking about building a buck for a run of them. I just don't want to screw it up on some mundane detail. Which I'm apt to do.

Having something over $200 where I'm not comfortable drinking coffee around it, will make me nervous. This would be better..

[ifohancroft]

IBM 5251. And even not just the keyboard but the whole terminal.

[TNT]

[Redmaus]

Looks like I'm not the only one...

[TNT]

Looks like I'm not the only one...

Yeah, but it's easy to see why. It got the color on the buttons and everything

[micmil]

Topre Realforce or HHKB. I think we'd get along.
Anything real Alps. Acer switches are nice though.
A full-size board with Box Jades. Screw the clients, they can deal with the noise.

Yeah, I'm a broke bastard. Too busy piling money into an impending stock crash to buy keyboards.

[Muirium]

Acer’s oooooooooohkay, if you really are recently divorced, now on the hook for alimony kind of broke. It’s the kind of switch that will remind you why you don’t deserve nice things.

[davkol]

I don't think acers sound or feel any worse than MX Blue and respective clones. Not a high bar, I know, but some people actually like that.

[micmil]

Acer’s oooooooooohkay, if you really are recently divorced, now on the hook for alimony kind of broke. It’s the kind of switch that will remind you why you don’t deserve nice things.

They're the Model M of Alps. Fite me IRL. When Covid's blown over and I can actually go to Scotland. We'll do it at a pub. With beer. But without the fighting.

[Muirium]

Actually, you're not far off with that claim. Model M is only so-so, too! Acer was aiming at something they also could not match.

[hellothere]

* Beamspring. Just to see what the fuss is all about.
* Alps plate-spring. I already love the sound.

I've already had a couple Models F, several models M, lots of colors of Alps, etc. If I could find a tactile or clicky Hall Effect switch keyboard, that would get me going. I should check the wiki for some ideas.

[Lalaland124]

Black Beamspring Model

[Weezer]

Black Beamspring Model

That's the Green Machine!

It is literal unobtanium because they were only made for the marines and due to the information security policies of the marines they need to be destroyed when taken out of service.

[zrrion]

the boards existed outside of that application, so it is possible, but still very unlikely. I have seen exactly one on ebay.

[Weezer]

the boards existed outside of that application, so it is possible, but still very unlikely. I have seen exactly one on ebay.

Are you sure? Do you have pictures? Where did you learn that they were used outside of that?

[Jacobalbertus1]

this would be my piece of keyboard unobtanium, this is also my daily driver keyboard.

[Lalaland124]

Black Beamspring Model

That's the Green Machine!

It is literal unobtanium because they were only made for the marines and due to the information security policies of the marines they need to be destroyed when taken out of service.

Didn't know that but makes sense!

What about this one?

[JP!]

Black Beamspring Model

I've never seen this one before

[Weezer]

Yeah that's the only picture I could find of it on the internet. It originates from a former marine's blog http://www.cincinnatvs.com/Cincinnatvs.jsp where he stated that it was the computer terminal he worked on when he was stationed in Beaufort, South Carolina in the 1980's. He states that the system was made specifically for the Marines. This is also something that is corroborated by the full name of the system which was: Automated Data Processing Equipment for the Fleet Marine Force, as well as this Naval postgraduate thesis paper from 1982, https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a120358.pdf which states that the system, including the the 4110 and the portable 4978 terminals, was commissioned specially for the Marines because they needed job processing that was mobile, water resistant, and dirt resistant. If there is any evidence that it was used outside of this purpose I'd be very curious to see it because everything I can find points to the system being used only by the Marine Corps. I also cannot think of another entity outside of the government that could field the enormous cost of having something one off like this produced.

[Weezer]

Black Beamspring Model

That's the Green Machine!

It is literal unobtanium because they were only made for the marines and due to the information security policies of the marines they need to be destroyed when taken out of service.

Didn't know that but makes sense!

What about this one?

That's the data entry console for the "big one" processor complex cpu's from the late 70's. The 303X line was pretty popular at the time based on what I've read so those could theoretically be around, but I've never seen one outside of grainy photos from the 80's. You can search IBM 3031, 3032 or 3033 for more info as those were the cpu models that the console attached to.

[Bethanie Rich]

ahhh, I want PFU Happy Hacking Professional 2 (HHKB2)

[raoulduke-esq]

ahhh, I want PFU Happy Hacking Professional 2 (HHKB2)

Isn’t that pretty attainable?

[John Doe]

Black Beamspring Model

How to confirm it's a beamer? but yeah, it's fuckin awesome

[Lalaland124]

Black Beamspring Model

How to confirm it's a beamer? but yeah, it's fuckin awesome

True, but with that looks I wouldn't really care if Microswitch or Beamsprings or sth else

Also this one would be a dream

Spoiler:

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