It would blow your budget somewhat, but there is certainly ONE manufacturer to at least look at and smile.

As others have been saying, Keychron is currently the go-to for recommendations for first keyboards. They have a bewildering variety of layouts, most of them at several price points, and they have better European “ISO” support than most pre-built companies.

For switches, if you want it to feel a little more like your old ThinkPad, the biggest move in that direction would be to switch from Linears like your Cherry Red to “tactiles” like Browns. Those recommending “hot-swap” boards have a good point, but you’ll want to make sure the printed circuit board is well supported if/when you put in new switches. The most common damage people get with modern mechanical keyboards is a hotswap socket tearing away from the PCB.

Thank you for sharing.

I think. LOL.

my desk is too small with my work and personal computers

I also work both from the same desk. I keep the home keyboard and mouse on a deskmat that I just slide the very edge when work actually needs my undivided attention. The Model M’s don’t come out to play too terribly often, and most of my weird little “1800” layout variants that I make as a hobby take up a good deal less space. Still, sometimes you just need some pingy buckling spring goodness in your life.

True, that’s where you have to start thinking about re-working your furniture to fit your tech. I guess an OSHA directive came down that keyboards shouldn’t be that tall, and that’s part of what led to the buckling spring on the F, as well as other stuff, like Space Invader switches and a certain German company making little polyhedral switches with cross-mount keycaps. Wonder how that worked out?

As lovely as they are, the XT abuses the right to use stepped keycaps. I can’t deal with that, even if I fully appreciate a desire to avoid stabilizers. 🤣

I had to poke around their website a bit, but yes, it looks like they’re standard detachable USB C.

Good to know, and I believe it. The M is simply a value-engineered F, after all.

I last used Model F’s in Junior High (AT’s, IIRC, but maybe XT’s), where I would get annoyed at the layout while trying to play BurgerTime on an amber monitor after typing practice.

Looks nice, and I completely believe that they put a lot of care into them. I would love to try one of their beam-springs, though I admit the photos are not exactly glamor shots with those slightly rusty vintage cases and Dolch Vortex keycaps (a set of which I actually have and like)

EDIT: On second thought, I don’t know where they’re sourcing their beamspring keycaps. Looks a lot like my AliExpress VSA though.

Yeah, re-creating a capacitive circuit board for a vintage switch mechanism and putting it into a solid metal case is pricy, and the market is inherently rather small. Basically niche within niche within niche.

Those have been discussed in some depth in some of the keyboard communities, and the charitable opinion is that they are for a very niche audience that wants to pay for a specific level of configurability without buying new keycaps, and that is willing to sacrifice features that hobbyists like to pay for, including modern design elements, mounting methods, and somehow both standardization and further customizability. Of course, you’re also taking a positive step to support System76, which I can’t complain about.

Basically, though, you’re paying a lot of money for the dream keyboard of one System76 engineer, circa 2019. It’s not “bad” exactly, but it would be understating it to say that it is a quirky product, even among keyboard nerds. It’s also, within that space, a very different product than these 20- to 40-year old classic buckling spring boards.

Unicomp has buckling spring boards in TKL. A bit pricy, but cheaper than a vintage Model M “Space Saving Keyboard”. For 60%, the closest thing I know of is the even more expensive Model F Kishsaver layouts (adapted from an old and insanely pricy banking keyboard from ~1980). I have never tried one of their boards, but I know they exist.

So, I don’t want to send you the wrong way with the technical details, but whatever this keyboard does, a Soarer’s Converter worked fine and it did not require me to have any deep understanding of how the keyboard worked. I understand the Hasu Converter software for the same MCU and wiring can convert damn near anything.

This one was fairly late, like 1998, so it supported “normal” keycodes. I was able to wire up a completely standard “Soarer’s” converter and simply use dupont connectors on the internal header. The cord itself is just a random one lying around, with a cable tie for strain relief.

New ones are available from Unicomp, and I understand they’re quite nice. In addition to this one, I have a “GE Medical” Model M made by Unicomp around 2014. Both of mine have homemade “Soarer’s Converters,” internal for this one, and PS/2 to USB external for the other. I also use the external one for my 90s military keyboard. I do still have a PS/2 port on my motherboard, but it’s nice to be able to add a Windows/Super key.

I found my Model M’s on eBay and waited around until I got the right deal, about USD $45 shipped for each one. Later models are considered less desirable because they’re (slightly) lighter and some of the manufacturing tooling was getting worn out, but by and large they work perfectly and have fewer miles on them. I also love the keycaps on the medical board. That one’s not mine but is basically identical. A pre-made converter is about another $30-$40 or so on eBay. The most reliable seller is a dude making them in his house in the Philippines.

Should I avoid mentioning the modern Model F repros? LOL.

TBF, while I do have a ten year old Unicomp, and it’s perfectly lovely despite pre-dating their improved molds, I haven’t tried a modern Model F, or indeed used any Model F in at least twenty years.

Want to know the crazy part? This is the version after TWO rounds of value-engineering. The Model B and Model F are both a good bit more robust than these Model M’s, and these last forever. The older boards are more rare due to less compatibility and a smaller computer market in general when they were released.

Half the fun of using a nice keyboard is that it’s loud AF. I love my keyboard peeps, but I do not get the obsession with trying to make them sound all lovely and quiet. “Slightly quieter” is a compromise to be grudgingly tolerated if you have to work around others, nothing more.

VIVA LOS CLICKYS!

So, am I reading your linked keymap right? Chording in two axes, 4 layers (in addition to Shift, Ctrl, etc.), and several keys using tap-hold?

I am incredibly impressed. Have you considered becoming a multi-instrumentalist?

They’re proper replacements. Unicomp, which still makes full size and TKL Model M’s, sells replacement keytops.

I got this “Display Station” terminal board for cheap on eBay because it was a later model, a little bit dirty, RJ-45 instead of PS/2, no indicator LEDs, and missing 4 keytops. It’s still a buckling spring beast, though. Someday it might need a bolt mod, but for now it’s only lost a few of the plastic rivets and still works perfectly.

The joke of this board is that the “QAZ” layout is not uncommon in “40%” and smaller keyboard, but leaves the user with extra keycaps. Most folks who would try using this board would configure it so that “Esc,” “Tab,”, and left “Shift” do Q, A, and Z respectively. The whimsical keys on the right would be for macros, navigation, or whatever the individual prefers, though IIRC @cloffwrangler@lemmy.world tried it with them mapped to the letters, like the mad lad he is. :-)