The search is over.
IBM buckling-spring keyboard.
This week is definitely hardware-geek week for me.
Unexpected, like thunderstruck from the clear blue sky, this heavy beauty landed yesterday on my office table. Dirty like a herd of pigs, but flawlessly working. Every key worked and sang.
And when I say dirty, I mean repulsively dirty. I first started cleaning up without removing the keys, which was not going well. And then I accidently flipped one key out. Oh, very cool – the keys are made from two parts – the base plus the cap with printed letters. This greatly simplified cleaning.
After one row I, again accidently, flipped entire key off – both base and cap. It turned out that the keys are so perfectly made that they are easy to disassemble while being hard enough not to slide or move when attached one to each other.
And then I realized just how dirty it was. Which just gives even more kudos to IBM engineers. The circular base, attached to the keyboard board perfectly fits with the key base hence none of this dirt got into the keys and they were clean as new. When I disassembled all keys, it took me 20 mins to clean up the bottom board. Another 30 mins went for the keys.
After almost 3h of cleaning, it was just perfect.
Now, if I could find another one for the office…
I’ve got one or two of those lying around somewhere. I was thinking about bringing one home. Good job on the cleaning, it inspired me to do the same.
Check this one: http://www.artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/.
The keyboard doesn’t exist yet, but the idea is very promising.
It’s a dream come true for beginers, gamers and all non-english speaking people who have to switch keyboard layouts and “guess where is the d*mn key when I need it”.
I cleaned out my old IBM PC keyboard at the beginning of the month. I took the entire keyboard apart, turned on some Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and cleaned for about 3 hours with a damp cloth, q-tips and just a bit of soap. Also, I vacuumed the hell out of the keyboard.
These keyboards are just too precious to get rid of!