[sdiy] Mac users - excellent keyboard similar to IBM

[Terry Bowman]

> On May 30, 2021, at 10:48 AM, Michael E Caloroso via Synth-diy <synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
> 
> When I switched to Mac, my only beef was the keyboard that ships with
> them.  I was never happy with the feel and they're more prone to
> typos.  Fine with auto-correct, but not good when developing software.
> They also were a risk with RSI which I have had years ago.  I really
> wanted a Mac keyboard with the feel of the old IBM keyboard.

My Apple ][+ has the classic ALPS key-switches. Being a touch typist it's still once of the best keyboards I've ever used. Over about four years I had to replace five of them and they weren't cheap.

When I bought my LCIII in 1993 I paid $50 extra for the legendary Apple Extended II keyboard. I enjoyed that luxury until Apple removed the ADB connector from new Macs and started shipping mushy keyboards that were utter crap. The first thing I did when I got my MDD G4 was to buy a cheap third-party keyboard that was only half crap. My Early 2009 iMac which came with that very pretty and utterly unusable laptop keyboard, the one they're still using today. I continued to use the cheap keyboard until something better came along...

> I learned that Unicomp - who acquired the technology and tools to make
> those IBM keyboards - still makes a similar keyboard, and they make
> one for Mac computers.  It's called the Spacesaver M.  I ordered one
> and it is very similar to the old IBM keyboard.  Only downside is it
> is currently only available in black (most peripherals are black only,
> big deal).  I make far less typos than the Mac keyboard, and it feels
> the same to my old IBM keyboard.  Not cheap at $105 but well worth the
> money.

There are a number of "clicky" keyboards available but I rely on Matias now. They offer a variety with different key-switches but for that classic ALPS feel I use the Tactile Pro:

http://www.matias.ca/tactilepro/


$149 retail, sells for $139. The downside is that there's no back-lit version in black.


Here's a comparison of the Matias reproduction ALPS switches vs. the second-best thing, Cherry:

https://matias.ca/switches/click/


I have two of those old ADB keyboards sitting here in the hoard...


Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

“...the book said something astonishing, a very big thought. The stars, it said, were suns but very far away. The Sun was a star but close up.”—Carl Sagan, "The Backbone Of Night", Cosmos, 1980


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