Mechanical Keyboards

9126 readers

67 users here now

Are you addicted to the clicking sounds of your beautiful and impressive mechanical keyboard?
If so, this community is for you!

Here you can discuss everything about mechanical keyboards (and only mechanical keyboards).

Banner by Jay Zhang on Unsplash

founded 4 years ago

Let me tell you about how I learned that Unicomp used to make rubber dome model M's... (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by wjrii to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

...It was about ten minutes after I saw that my "ridiculous low-ball" Ebay bid for a branded battlecruiser had won. That said, it is way snappier (and louder) than any rubber dome I've ever used. It's not a bad board at all, really, though the terminal scan code set it was flashed with means the converter is more or less mandatory, despite the board having a PS/2 connector.

top 9 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Mandarbmax 3 points 2 days ago

Ya, they aren't as special as the buckling springs ones, but dome model Ms still are kick ass keyboards and I'm glad to see this one is in a loving home doing what it does best!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Their logo looks like the Enterprise

[–] wjrii 4 points 3 days ago

Holy shit, you're right. Very TNG era.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

n rollover?

[–] wjrii 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

It's electrically identical to a regular Model M, so almost certainly not. In looking into it, they changed three things:

dense little rubber domes in each key's barrel instead of the buckling-spring assemblies
keycaps with stems that are mostly solid to actuate the domes. I put in a spare buckling spring keycap to see if it worked, and while nowhere near well enough to rely on, it snapped right in, and if you push hard enough it'll actuate.
removed a thin sheet of rubber that cushioned the membrane from the plastic flippers attached the buckling springs.

That's it. Same controllers, same membranes, even the same cases.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I always wanted a mech version but after I released it has no rollover I lost interest. Thanks for sharing though. You're right I didn't even know these were real.

[–] wjrii 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

If you want it badly enough, there’s the pricy “New Model F” capacitive buckling spring boards, and they have all three Model M layouts.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ugh why did you tell me about this? You're working for them aren't you, you esoteric keyboard shill 😜

[–] wjrii 3 points 3 days ago

lol, I have a lot of keyboards, many homemade, but I don’t think I’ve spent over a hundred bucks or so on any single one of them, and most are closer to half that. No Model F of any kind here, much less a new one.