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I don't consider myself a fast typist. But the IBM keyboards somehow make typing easier, and less frustrating than other keyboards. And I think my typinggg accurrrracy impppproooooves toooooo!

Yes, I believe the spring action does cause the sound.

The sound might vary with the new models--I have two IBM M series keyboards (but different models). They both have a slightly different character.

It would be interesting to find out how good the new enhanced quiet keyboards are. To a degree, as much as I like the IBM design, I have to admit two things: quiet might be a good thing in some circumstances, and also other designs might be quite good in their own right. My second favorite keyboard is simpler of the two keyboards Apple made in the late 1980s for the Mac line. I'd put these second to my IBM, but I could easily live with an Apple ADB as my one and only. In fact, I did so for fifteen years or so.

The keyboards I find impossible to live with are most of what's being made now. I half dream of a laptop computer, but almost very laptop I've seen has a keyboard so bad I couldn't live with it. It wouldn't have to be IBM or Apple ADB quality. Just good enough so I could stand to take it away from home and use it for fast posts here or e-mail messages. Yet that minimal quality appears to elusive, at best.
 
I quite like the keyboard from my NeXTstation, its keys give good feedback when pressed. The keyboard on my Macbook is not bad ether, I like the spacing between the keys. However the trend these days seems to be to try to pack a full keyboard in the smallest space possible, making them hard to use.

We have got a batch of new Dell PC's for one of our Computer labs at work and they are pretty awful. While the keys are kind of chunky like the M series, the spacing seems off and as a result it's hard to type accurately with them.
 
I do have to respect the MacBook keyboard--at least the one used a few years ago. A roommate had a 2007 MacBook, and while I didn't like the keyboard as well as either the 80s Apple ADB keyboard or the IBM, it was a huge improvement over most of what's out there now. If I had that MacBook, I could easily tolerate using that keyboard away from home. Maybe even I'd get used to it, and use it exclusively with that computer.

Weird spacing on modern keyboards is another problem I've noticed, particularly with netbooks. In a way, I think a netbook would be an ideal laptop for actual portable use--small, easily carried. But, for me, the utility would be at best seriously compromised by the lousy keyboard action, and the tight spacing.

Another issue that came up with at least one netbook is non-standard location of keys. I remember reading of one (a Dell, I think) that moved the quote key from the usual location. I dislike any change, but changing a key that is fairly heavily used?
 
I sure miss my old "M" keyboard. I could type quicker and more accurately than another keyboard I have since used, and it was damn near bulletproof. But what I REALLY loved (and miss) about it, I could toss it in the dishwasher when it got grungy, pull it out 45 minutes later, and keep typing away. Did that every 6 months for nearly a decade.
 
One of the IT people from my old job told me to to do that but she would take the case apart and take out the electronics and wash the everything else in the dishwasher. I never did it, I did however wash the keys in the dishwasher when I first bought the keyboards off of eBay.
 
The "M"

There were several versions, one of which, a much later model did not "click". I never understood that, but the some of the later PS/ValuePoints and early Aptivas had this keyboard. It was also much lighter. As far as the clickers go, they made one with removable "caps" on the keys and one with fixed keys. I preferred the removable cap version. -Tim
 
Personally, I think the IBM PS/2 series is what knocked IBM out as the leading manufacturer of personal computers.

The PS/2 was slower than most equivelently equipped brand, it used propietary parts, to access the bios you needed a "configuration disk", etc. Sure they were built like tanks and I even liked the way modular parts were used to put the thing together. But after the PS/2 came out IBM sales took a nose dive from which they never recovered.

The only places I really saw PS/2's were in offices. I never knew anyone to have one as a home computer.

A friend of ours had an IBM Aptiva and tried to upgrade it from Windows 95 to 98. It didn't work. IBM support said that even though the CPU was fast enough and it had enough memory, it wouldn't run 98 and there was nothing that could be done to make it do so.

But the keyboards were nice!

http://qui
 
IBM PS/2

That may be because the PS/2 was the business class machines and was designed to be what it was. It was also the 1st PC to fully utilize a 32-bit architecture both via OS (OS/2) and hardware (MCA bus). IBM was already out of the home market in terms of profit by the late 80's as more clones were approaching, it was the busniess end that held IBM's together for so long, and the PS/2 actually accelerated that as one of the best selling business machines for the company. Proprietary was the norm for the business world, all of the HP's and Compaq's of that era were just as bad if not worse and up through roughly 1992 all of the maker used a floppy-based configuration disk.

 

You also can't really compare the business line to the home version, apples to oranges, home machines were totally different. The home machines, starting with the PS/1 were intentionally designed to be low cost machines. I've never been a fan of their home line and the early Aptiva's were notorious for things like you mentioned with the 95-98 upgrade. It could be done, but it was difficult because IBM skimped on essential hardware, a non-standard processor, that Windows 98 needed to run. IBM used Cyrix processors heavily on their lower-end consumer models also and pre-166mhz couldn't run 95 even as as an older 486.

 

IBM knocked themselves out of the home market with over-priced cheap consumer models, if it weren't for the PS/2 series, IBM would have been out of the PC business by 1990.

 

-Tim
 
The MCA bus was far better then the then common ISA bus but the downside is that IBM wanted to make a quick buck by licensing it, but the cloners wouldn't play ball.

This did cause problems with drivers (such as the hard drive driver for Windows 95).

To get the best performance out of them, you had to use OS/2 (or Windows NT with a push).
 
At the airline I worked for at the time we had Raytheon and Incoterm terminals. You had one terminal for weather reporting, another for crew scheduling, and yet another for flight plan maintenance.

Around 1988 or so all the terminals disappeared and replaced with PS/2 Model 70's, which I believe was a 386 machine. They were running an IBM program, the name escapes me now, that divided the screen up into four different sections. You could "jump" between the different sections, of make one section full screen if you so desired.

They ran OK. So that was my experience with the PS/2.

You still had to call an IBM CE to fix the things. I saw how it was put together when I saw a CE replace a power supply. I was amazed that there weren't really any wires in the machine. Everything was modular and plugged into each other. It took the guy about 8 minutes to change out the PS.

And thanks for the view of the reasoning behind the PS/2. It all makes better sense to me. MCA.. Micro Channel Architechture?
 
MCA

Yep, Micro Channel Architecture, the 1st mainstream, full 32-bit bus on PC's.

 

I have IBM CE training, I worked there for 3 years, I can work on 3490/80 and 3420 tape machines. It's a neat thing. The Model 70 could either be a 386 or a 486, but the nameplate would reveal which. It was one of the more popular models.

 

-Tim
 
I had an IBM PS2 As a Home Computer

I bought it used many moons ago. My mother used it until 1999 or so to type her term papers, check email and do some largely text based web stuff. It worked fine for that. After she got a better computer, I gave it to a friend to index her recipe collection. Never ever failed to start and while slow, never got a blue screen with that machine and never had it lock up.

I use Ubuntu at home now. I didn't want to upgrade my 6 year old computer for Windows 7. I have Windows 7 at work, which I like well enough now that I am used to it. HATE the ribbon on MS Office products.

I agree about the original IBM keyboards; they absolutely were the best thing in the world to type on. Nothing modern compares.
 
At my old job, I did data entry/transcription and a used an Model M keyboard, because I could type faster on it and it wouldn't move around on the desk like the cheaper keyboards did.

I'm going to get another M keyboard off of eBay and paint the case black to match the new computer.
 
"Cool, please post some pics when you hare done!"

 

<span style="color: #000000;">I will be more than happy to!  I have a model M keyboard, but it has some some problems that I don't know if they are fixable or not. 1.  The "W" key works intermittently.  2.  The backspace key sticks sometimes and I end up deleting a whole line text before I realize that it has stuck.  Other than these two problems it works perfectly.  I'm getting used to this cheap ass HP keyboard little by little.  I do like being able to control volume with this keyboard.  I also have to get a PS/2 to USB adapter in order to use the Model M keyboard.  The adapters that are made for use on a mouse won't work.  There a special adapter just for keyboards, that I can get from clickykeyboards.com.</span>

<span style="color: #000000;">
</span>
 
I had a sticky enter key on my model M keyboard, probably caused by me accidently washing off the grease that coated the metal spokes. The grease can dry out as well, which could be what’s causing the issue with your keyboard.
 
When I'm on vacation next week, I will have to take the key caps off, and find out whats going on with the backspace and the w keys. 
 

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