One for Tarhahahahay

Post by **Josh_PoloGTi** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 1:48 pm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 78380&rd=1

carmadaaron · Post by **carmadaaron** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 1:58 pm

buy a bit of history......

(good build quality btw )

Si_GTi · Post by **Si_GTi** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 5:07 pm

Shiny! My Dad has one, its really nice to use, but a bit loud for my tastes heh heh

Agree with carmadaaron tho, excellent build quality!

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 4:10 am

sweet... but i've already got one that should seem me through til im dead thanks!

proper investment for anyone who fancies never changing their keyboard again though - so long as you take the clickers out, that fad did nothing for the feel, or the longevity...

hayesey · Post by **hayesey** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:22 am

It says lower down in an answer to a question that it's dated 1996, that's hardly old really. & who the feck payed Â£170 for a keyboard in 1996?

it'#s just some clown trying to make an easy couple of Â£ out of something worthless. I threw loads of keyboards that were probably older than that in the bin last summer.

Although I do like the username of the current highest bidder:

inflatable_love_badger ( 23)

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:58 pm

Bear in mind that in 1996, recent as it seems, most people were still using windows 3.1/DOS, and computer equipment was still bloody expensive.. still seems a bit steep, but not beyond the bounds of possibility..

Gareth_GT_Hatch · Post by **Gareth_GT_Hatch** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 4:52 pm

It wasnt Â£170 for a keyboard though! I payed Â£7 for one in 1997. (first one I bought when I started messin about with PC's)

dxg · Post by **dxg** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:13 pm

I remember being taken into my dad's office one Saturday when I was about seven or eight. They'd just kitted their cad people out with four IBM XTs with a whole 10megabtye hard disc each (this was when a hard disc was something special - they were called "winchesters" in those days). Every machine was running Cadvance from Calcomp, they shared a single upright A0 plotter.

The cost per workstation? About Â£10k. I think - 1983/84 ish Â£170 for a keyboard wouldn't have been unreasonable...

They had those keyboards, and the feel was awesome. I might even put a bid in for that.

Deek.

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:33 pm

I can't quite work out why all the keyboard manufacturers have decided to abandon the old solid click that you used to get with the old keyboards.. I've got a logitech internet keyboard, and it has probably the best feel of a keyboard that I've used in the last 5 years or so, but it's nothing like the old ones like that.. you would have thought they'd be making the feel of the things better, not worse

Still, at least they're a bit quieter now

dxg · Post by **dxg** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 5:58 pm

it was a change in technology...

/geek mode on/

the old xt keyboards had individual microswitches under each key. this can the positive action and the real click. lots of parts though and therefore cost a fortune to manufacture.

then, as i'm sure you will know, the rubber membrane with conducting pad technology came along and everything changed...

/geek mode off/

Deek.

Post by **Josh_PoloGTi** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:25 pm

When I first started out in the IT Industry we used to supply Cherry Microswitch keyboards... They were fantastic bits of kit and not too expensive either.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:44 am

the one im using now is the membrane type of thing, but it's still got a nice weighty, positive action compared to more modern units. perhaps people have weak fingers these days, who knows. (or it's an anti-RSI measure and i'm silently killing my joints). and compared to the laptop... hoo boy!

a microswitch under each key? wow.... thats hardcore. would like to try something like that out - still not bidding though! my experience with clicky keys i guess is more like faux-cliques

even on the 386SX-16 farm that my 2ndary school had in the economics dept (fine machines them!), they were clickers, but horrible flimsy jobs that were almost guaranteed to have three dead keys

mind you a proper microswitch that isnt up to military grade is asking for trouble in that department anyhow... must have got through about six fairly solid microswitched joysticks on my atari simply through abuse. whereas the squidgy switched ones were trucking (floppily) right up to the point where the monitor burnt out and the computer went in the cupboard.

anyone remember the "clicky" conversion kits you could get? or, a bit more geekily, the "external keyboard" jobs for the atari and amiga, which also included a set of false clickers to go under the keytops, replacing the original membrane cover things. those cost a small fortune as well (a good Â£100 i think!) despite only being small, otherwise insignificant components!