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Mechanical Keyboards
bhtooefr:
It's actually kinda amazing how many Model Ms hit the scrap heap, and how many have been fished out.
I think that's reducing now, now that people realize they have value on eBay (and the ones that were in service in businesses have already hit the scrap heap).
Then again, the Model M does have two achilles heels, both related to the membrane. If any contamination does work its way into the membrane, it's done, good only for parts. (Later ones had drainage channels to alleviate that, though). And, compounding the first problem, all Model Ms are held together by stakes in the top plate, that are melted and squeezed in place, then allowed to cool, forming "rivets". Those rivets, especially on older keyboards, are likely to break, affecting the feel and durability of the keyboard (which is where the "bolt mod" comes from - drill out the rivets, replace with bolts and nuts).
--- Quote from: Redball on 16 Apr 2013, 17:13 ---In another thread a month ago, I was describing the problem with using a duplex teletype machine 55-60 years ago in Western Union offices. The machines had a maximum rate of 65wpm and locked up if you tried to burst. It made for a very rhythmic typing technique.
--- End quote ---
I hear the Hell Feldfernschreiber (Feld-Hell for short, used in amateur radio nowadays, a simplex teletype of sorts, but sending images of the characters instead of an arbitrary bitstream representing the character) is an especially... fun... one to try to type fast on. 2.5 characters per second (for 30 wpm), and the key will only go down when the drum is in the correct position to start a character, meaning you have to stage the next character, and drop it at just the right point. (And, the drum and paper feed are geared off of the same motor, IIRC - this also means that the paper is always coming out even when there's no transmission or reception.)
KingOfIreland:
Oh man, I had a model M. It was my favourite thing in the world until I somehow managed to break it.
bhtooefr:
I've only actually seen two totally dead ones, and one was in a rather catastrophic power surge event.
Let's see what it took out...
Surge protector (yes, it actually took it out, and yes, it was a surge protector, not just a power strip).
Power supply
Motherboard
Presumably CPU
RAM (to the point that, when I put the RAM in another box, smoke started pouring off the RAM, and that box never POSTed again)
Keyboard controller
Mouse
WAN port on wifi router (but nothing else. I've still got that router somewhere, and it's got DD-WRT, so I could pretty easily work around that)
Cable modem
All drives were somehow spared, the monitor was spared.
I resurrected that 1391401 with the controller from a parts keyboard (a 52G9658 of very similar vintage (so same controller revision), with a damaged cable - moved the SDL connector from the original controller to the 52G9658's controller), and I still have that keyboard.
Also, another 1391401, that my mom was using, got stuff in the membrane and started acting up.
ankhtahr:
Wow, lucky the drives were spared.
But thare is another thing that Model Ms are not good with, and that is dust. I have a Model M 122-Key Terminal keyboard, which was used in a garage or something, and the whole keyboard was covered in, I'd guess it was dust from brakes. It works without any trouble, but the keys are hella scratchy. I guess the only solution would be bolt modding, and washing the barrel plate.
KingOfIreland:
Yeah, I have no idea how it happened. I do remember that at the time (I was living at home then) my dad used to complain that my typing would wake him up on the other side of the house. BEST KEYBOARD.
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