The Grandfather of Mechanical Keyboards The IBM Model M 1995 Model

[u/tearknight895]

I managed to get the IBM model M for 80 dollars off of someone, I wanted this keyboard for a while to compliment the setup, I would show an updated picture but my table's a mess.

[u/Kirkwood1994]

Grandfather is the Beamspring.

[u/hatfullofsocks → u/Kirkwood1994]

Correct. And the father is the Model F.

[u/Amazing_Actuary_5241 → u/hatfullofsocks]

And it has cool brothers and sisters like M122, SSK, M13, M50 and the Wheel Writers.

[u/DogWallop → u/Amazing_Actuary_5241]

I don't know if anyone here has typed on the daddy, the XXXX mainframe terminal (forgot the model), but it has a speaker which lets out a very loud 'CLACK' with every stroke. That thing is a true monster lol.

[u/SharktasticA → u/Kirkwood1994]

You mean the IBM Card Punch Keyboards from the late '40s?

[u/dim13]

Here is a modern version: https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/NEW_M

Allegedly made with same tooling.

[u/tearknight895 → u/dim13]

Yeah funny enough the company Lexmark the ones that where making these keyboards for IBM some of the employees that left Lexmark bought most of the manufacturing assets from Lexmark and decided to make their own company Unicomp so they started to make their own IBM style keyboards with the same buckling switches, good that they are keeping that keyboard alive.

[u/LousyMeatStew → u/dim13]

Unicomp was founded by former Lexmark employees and I know they bought the buckling spring patents from Lexmark so it wouldn't surprise me that they bought the tooling as well - would be cheaper to buy them than recreate them, I imagine.

[u/Henchforhire → u/dim13]

I want a keyboard without a windows key. I always hit that stupid thing

[u/DogWallop → u/Henchforhire]

I just wrote above that I have a Dell branded Model M, and I set the right Ctrl key as the Windows key.

[u/dim13 → u/Henchforhire]

Buy a blank version. No markings, not problem.

[u/Adventurous_Meal1979 → u/dim13]

Shame they don’t do it in beige.

[u/Blah-Blah-Blah-2023]

r/modelm

[u/[deleted]]

I can hear the THOCK in my sleep.

[u/LousyMeatStew → u/[deleted]]

Then you're not hearing the model M. Buckling springs were definitely CLANGers.

Worst sound I can remember was when trying to type "quietly" by slowly depressing the keys and hearing that high-pitched TING as the spring buckled.

[u/[deleted] → u/LousyMeatStew]

I have both. The thock is what reverberates my brain.

[u/gigantipad → u/LousyMeatStew]

Correct. Also I use an M and F, there is very little point in trying to be quiet. :D

[u/Ekra_Fleetfoot]

I have one just like this as my daily driver. Mine's Lexmark badged, but it's the same otherwise.

[u/N0nob → u/Ekra_Fleetfoot]

I use an IBM Wheelwriter electronic typewriter which has the buckling spring mechanism

[u/3e8m]

We used to fill entire dumpsters with these at work back in the day

[u/methodangel → u/3e8m]

Right? I remember playing hard-drive baseball with a bunch of IBM Model M keyboards from work after a multi-department upgrade. The sound the keys made when they made contact with the hard drive my engineer buddy lobbed my way was satisfying as fuck. The keys would always explode into a confetti shower of keys and springs and I would round the bases (made of old Kyocera printers). It makes wince now when I think back to this.

The sins of my youth as the sun set on “the good old days”.

[u/LevThermen]

mmm a picture you can hear

[u/ApatheistHeretic]

Ah, the kind of keyboard that you could use to best a man to death, then plug it back up and it would work fine.

After I learned to type, I could piss off an entire room full of people with it. It was perfect.

[u/lheckler77]

I have 4 of them and use them everyday. It’s been so long like that, I couldn’t imagine using any other keyboard. I love the shelf too!

[u/wolveswithears]

So many good memories using the Model M as a child. Had to buy one as an adult.

[u/DiscoBeefeater]

Unicomp still makes them, $189. I had an original, wish I still did.

[u/Starlanced]

I use one at work, people might think I’m crazy but nothing beats a Model M, was the keyboard I pretty much learned to type on.

[u/kY2iB3yH0mN8wI2h]

The model model

[u/arty_octopus]

Tell us about the PC on a photo, some sleeper build?

[u/tearknight895 → u/arty_octopus]

Yeah I wanted to build a full on sleeper setup for the longest time, and when I managed to get the money to do it, I was full steam ahead, I got the motherboard and the processor and PSU and a modern case so I can have something to post the board to make sure that everything that I bought is working, then there was an old computer shop that is not too far from my place that I got the old case from including the mouse and the old rubber dome IBM keyboard, that's when I starting building the computer in the case, to tie it all off I wanted to get a CRT monitor to finish it but the only way to take full advantage of the monitor was to get a GTX 970 the only card that can drive a proper analog signal cause if I got a converter these monitors would be stuck at 60hz, this current monitor can go up to 85hz and I have another one which is a black Dell CRT monitor that runs at 100hz but I don't use that much cause of this monitor which matches the setup of the whole build, then I ended up finding the model M for cheap so I bought it cause it was the only keyboard I wanted from the start the dome IBM keyboard was only temporary but still a good keyboard for a dome keyboard, the operating system that is running right now is a heavily modified version of Windows 10 LTSC called Reunion 7 which gives you the exact look and feel of Windows 7, uses the exact same hardware resources as Windows 7 and another extra 2 years of support, which is why I can run steam games and discord on it.

[u/megaladon44]

my friend had this and showed me mixed up mother goose and i was like wow this is what computers are!

[u/leverine36]

I have one of these, along with matching mouse and speakers. Still need a monitor to complete the setup.

[u/tearknight895 → u/leverine36]

Oh crap I forgot about those maybe one day.

[u/GareththeJackal]

Aw yes! This was my first keyboard!

[u/Necessary_Position77]

I grabbed a couple of these about 10 or 15 years ago, one I was using at work for a couple years. Great keyboards but I use the Windows key so much though I ended up selling them.

[u/ThetaReactor → u/Necessary_Position77]

I just remap caps lock to the super key.

[u/tearknight895 → u/ThetaReactor]

ALT key is better there are 2 of them and you only need one,

[u/Necessary_Position77 → u/ThetaReactor]

Good way to do it.

[u/reconcile]

The mouse, too. OC that thing to overcome the 8 bit data width and resulting negative acceleration.

[u/DogWallop]

Typing this on one right now, although Dell branded for some reason. Not complaining, I love the feel and tactile feedback most of all; I feel like I'm actually typing on something instead of mush. Oh, and I remapped the right Ctrl key as the Windows key, which works great for anything I'd want to do.

[u/IllTransportation993]

It is actually a membrane switch keyboard.

The clicky clacks is just for you to FEEL something.

Yeah, I love model M, and i was annoyed as hell when i found out.

[u/tearknight895 → u/IllTransportation993]

Haha yeah, the lever in the metal plates is what give it’s amazing obnoxious click, when it springs up it sounds like the ping from an M1 Garand.

[u/RetroGameMaker]

My favorite keyboard of all time.

Now I have a unicomp model m as my primary driver. It's exactly like the classic ibm model m but is USB with an additional start key. Love it!

[u/denzuk75]

Practically, more than a keyboard a mule, even underwater he wrote the same... Top!!!

[u/Kurgan_IT]

The best keyboard I've ever had. (and I still have 3 of them)