On Thu, 09 Jan 2025 17:57:53 +0000 dep via tde-users users@trinitydesktop.org wrote:
said Dr. Nikolaus Klepp via tde-users:
| > Digging through issues one by one here. Am using the desktop more | > after having gotten a TKL (SSK in IBM parlance) Model M from Unicomp. | > I have a couple of genuine IBM SSKs, but they have become to valuable | > to use. The Unicomp reissue is if anything better, and I love it. But | > I digress. | | Oh ... I want one ... just for decoration that is :)
It's here: https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/MINI_M
The white keys are definitely better in person than the gray ones. Unicomp was Lexmark employees who bought up all the equipment when Lexmark stopped making Model M keyboards for IBM (and the equipment used by IBM before it spun off keyboards and printers as Lexmark). They kept making Model Ms, though after the existing stock was gone sold them as Unicomp. I have a batch of them from those days (and earlier, actually -- more Model Ms than anyone has a right to, including the 122-key battle cruisers in both IBM and Unicomp livery). Anyway, over the years the equipment got worn out and the quality suffered, so a few uears ago Unicomp created the New Model M (https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/NEW_M), which had the same guts but a less ridiculous case, all new tooling, and as a result a brand new Model M, unavailable since IBM made 'em pre-1991.
I have the 103-key New Model M. They're good keyboards, nice and solid, with crisp, clicky keys thanks to the buckling spring mechanism.
The other nice thing about Unicomp is that they will service their keyboards (and, I believe, any old IBM-made Model Ms you may have laying around). I had to send mine in after an unfortunate encounter with a mug of hot chocolate. Shipping wasn't cheap, but I got a functional keyboard back.
I've been eyeing the Model F replicas for a while, but I can't justify buying a keyboard that would cost more than the laptop I just picked up off eBay.
E. Liddell