[apricot]

Ah, the Model M. Still have mine from 1990, used it for decades, and I would still be using it at home if it were not for the fact that it was so loud it woke up my newborn son sleeping in the other room.

So I got a quieter keyboard (Realforce 87U that I picked up in Japan, very different key feeling but in a good way) and put the Model M in storage.

My son is now 7 years old, loves Minecraft, and wants to learn programming. So we've been spending some quality father-son time on pcpartpicker.com lately, in search of the best computer he can afford. "No need to buy a keyboard," I told him, "I've got exactly what you need."

You never actually own a Model M. You merely look after it for the next generation.

[mverwijs]

OT, but fun: For programming, run a spigot server with the scriptcraft plugin. Instant JavaScript fun inside minecraft!

[apricot]

Thank you, I will investigate that. The number and variety of Minecraft add-ons is amazing.

[gcb0]

if you got a real force to replace a buckling spring you didn't do your homework :)

torpe keys are louder than cherry, mostly because cherry you can use heavier key caps and dampening rubber all around. there are rumors of topre with dampening on the up motion, but even finding regular topre is already difficult enough (also imported mines from Japan, like you)

also, the feeling from tactile cherries are closer the bucking spring

[apricot]

Just because I love buckling springs doesn't mean I don't also enjoy Topre. I'm far from monogamous when it comes to keyboards.

And I most certainly did my homework, which in my case meant walking around in Den-Den Town (Osaka's version of Akihabara) trying keyboards at various stores. In the end, my two favorites were a Fujitsu Libertouch and the Realforce I got.

When you say "Topre keys are louder than cherry", I guess you're excluding the clicky cherries. I have a Filco with blue cherries at work, and it's much louder than my Realforce.

[mindslight]

I made up-dampers for my Novatouch out of that really thin plastic-foam packing/wrapping material (0.022"). Craft foam (0.075") and heat shrunk craft foam were too thick.

Now I've just got to get an MSP430 programmer and see if I can fix this braindead no-scancode "FN" key.