Now I Have Everything

[n2ize]

No heavy duty IBM keyboard from the 1980's is complete without a few cigarette burns on the edges. Those late nights when some hacker has been sitting at the keyboard for 18 hours straight, now it's 3:30 am and he puts his cigarette down on the keyboard and nods off just long enough for the cigarette to leave a nice burn mark in the ivory coloured plastic that comprises the board.

Well, the one thing that was missing from my ancient keyboard were those burn marks. That is until yesterday when I acquired yet another nice old vintage 1980's/early 90's board. The board alone is quite a bit heavier than most laptops, and it was encrusted with grime, dust, and coffee stains. After a cleaning with alcohol to remove the grime, dust, coffee and sugar I discovered a couple nice cigarette burns, one is a nice deep burn melted and embedded into the plastic. A reminder of those "politically incorrect" bygone days when it was considered permissible to smoke in the computer lab. And ya gotta love those keys that actually CLICK when you press them. A remarkable piece of engineering that was built to last.

One word of warning... if you like to sit up late at night in your robe and slippers typing stuff into the computer you sure as heck don;t want to drop this keyboard on your little toes !!!

[KG4CGC]

Life is good.

[W3WN]

Remember when a replacement keyboard cost $100?

When I worked at CCAC, circa 1988, one of our lab PC's (and yes, this WAS an IBM PC, not an XT) was borrowed by Campus Security to print out bar codes to be affixed to student ID cards prior to laminating. Of course, they were severely warned, nevertheless, the first day somebody spilled a full cup of hot coffee (with cream and sugar) on the keyboard.

The head of Security was NOT a happy camper when he was billed $100 by IBM for a replacement. There were some loud shouting matches before he finally understood that since he borrowed it, and was told to be careful, and wasn't, his budget took the hit.

[WØTKX]

Using an old IBM clicky clicky right now. I watch for them.

[KG4CGC]

These days, a dirty keyboard get a trip to the shower then hung up to dry for a couple of day. Easy peasy and like new again unless you have to resolder breaking wires. Once that happens you will be re-soldering and making the cord shorter every couple of months until you finally say, Eff-It!

[kf0rt]

For the real keyboard fanatic:

http://www.lonestarkeyboards.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=42

Possibly a pinch better than the IBM. But only a pinch.