For a while now, I've been thinking that a documentary on the buckling spring switching mechanism and related developments would be an interesting project - and not just about the technology (but that's important as well), but also about the people behind it. Think along the lines of Jason Scott's documentaries on BBSes and interactive fiction, but with a little more bias towards the technology.

I'm wondering how much interest there is in such a project.

Obviously this would be dependent on getting interviews with the right people, as well as being able to get the time and potentially funding to actually do the interviews. Jason Scott has successfully used Kickstarter to fund three future documentaries, but his name was already out there.

That said, while production values would be lower, consumer 1080p recording equipment is now actually fairly cheap, so it's possible to do this on the cheap, with travel being the main expense (and if we have a team scattered around the US and the world doing interviews, it may be even cheaper).

If I had my say, the result would be licensed CC-BY at the very least, and probably CC-BY-SA.

So, what say you?

I think being on one mechanism alone would be a little too niche in a subject which is already niche. Niche. Could it be expanded to mechanical in general?

I also think that mechanical keyboards in general can be a more interesting subject.

Anyway, sounds good to me! I actually work in media so I could maybe offer some technical advice if needed. I'm pretty sure none of the interviewee resides in Italy, though.

I think I could easily get 2 hours of content on buckling spring (as well as beam spring), and that's just out of the four people that I have listed in my (private at the moment) working document, and I'll be adding quite a few more to that document (including prominent members of the community). And, given that most of the content would be generated in two places - the Raleigh, NC area, and Lexington, KY, travel costs would be quite low.

Part of my goal here is to document as much about buckling spring as I can, from the people who are responsible for creating it, before that knowledge is lost.

That said, it could be expanded easily, given that I'm still in the, "this is a cool idea, what would it take?" stage.

It'd be much harder to integrate, say, Cherry, Alps, and Topre, but with community effort, it could be done. (Cherry, there may be a language barrier to deal with (I'm going for English, probably with subtitles for all other languages), Alps and Topre, there'll definitely be geographical and language barriers.)

That's a great idea !
If you contact IBM and present the concept to their Corporate Historian (!) they may even be willing to assist you ..
It's about time IBM gets the credit deserved for their role in making a decent Human Interface Device .

I have a BSEE-friend who worked for IBM for more than 20 years and he's told me a nice story about how
the Non-US layout keyboard was born..
(Those of you 'old enough' may remember that 'in the beginning' there was nothing but US-layout ?)

Besides all the buckling-spring 'M' boards, I also have a beam-spring IBM-KB, in case you need a model

I do have a 5251 board, although a 3277 would be ideal, and I'd want pristine condition for this (which my 5251 is not).

bhtooefr wrote:IPart of my goal here is to document as much about buckling spring as I can, from the people who are responsible for creating it, before that knowledge is lost.

Very cool. Interested, but am probably not of much help myself.

I'd pattern it after this. Helvetica subtitles of course.



Did you know that it is likely in the Japanese tourist brochures that your local museum is undoubtedly a National Treasure? Japanese tourists are suckers for that designation.

Peter wrote:That's a great idea !
If you contact IBM and present the concept to their Corporate Historian (!) they may even be willing to assist you ..
It's about time IBM gets the credit deserved for their role in making a decent Human Interface Device .

I have a BSEE-friend who worked for IBM for more than 20 years and he's told me a nice story about how
the Non-US layout keyboard was born..
(Those of you 'old enough' may remember that 'in the beginning' there was nothing but US-layout ?)

Besides all the buckling-spring 'M' boards, I also have a beam-spring IBM-KB, in case you need a model

Do tell... I have my own theories about this, I would like to see how close I was

@bhtooefr - Well, I'm certainly interested.

I very interested but I wouldn't be useful in any way.

i'ld watch that.

A IBM b.s. keyboards documentary should be really interesting, including a visit to actual Unicomp. I'm sure they will not refuse... after all it's advertising.

A Buckling Spring documentary sounds like a great idea, and now is probably the time to do it — leaving it too much longer and we may lose those involved in its creation. The Unicomp visit is also a great idea. I’d definitely kick in some cash to help fund it.

Sounds awesome! I'll watch

I would love that. Personally, Id be a bit more interested in the development of cherry switches, such as details on the M7/M8 switches, or even just one on cherry keyboards in general.

ㅐ개더투울 아님,미루어?

ripster wrote:ㅐ개더투울 아님,미루어?

Too lazy to google what that says, but decent vid. Still hate getting deutschrolled though.

I asked for translation earlier of highlights.

Got demongolated for not saying Bïttë. 마냐고으래대덤!!!!!!

Night verstehen auch! No kimchee!

I scrolled over that post several times without realising your asking to translate.
However this is more the usual "we are the best because our Product is superior which is because... " marketing vids - not a single word about the g80-3800.

But here you go, maybe someone else is interested in this to:

*cherry mx modules: unmatched in quality, longevity and precision. Since 1983*.

00.06- keyboards are an important part of modern communication. In regard of quality, longevity and precision cherry is brand leader for 30 years, also because of a proprietary development - the MX module.
00.20 This small component makes the difference and is symbolic for cherrys sucess. It is made since 1983 and its a further development of the "Schnappschalter" ( quick break switch ? *Action reset set* ? ) which was developed for electric typewriters. The Goal of the Inventor Günter Murmann had always been the high quality and longevity of keyboards.
00:40 Produced with the most advanced equipment at the location of Germany, up to 26 Million Modules are produced - each month. Already 5 years after the introduction to the market, MX Key Modules had a market share of 80% and cherry became the unrivaled Market leader.
01.00 Each single Module lasts up to 50 Millions actuations and is therefore up to this day without competition. One reason for this longevity is another development - the gold crosspoint contact. This principle is the reason for the excellent reliability of the MX technology.
01.20 3 Billion Modules have already been made, 80% of the production is exported to Asia. The MX Module is an export hit -made in Germany. The technology is especially appreciated by Gamers whose keyboards have to be especially robust and reliable.
01.40- Here again Cherry's sense of innovation becomes obvious. With the incorporation of a diode in each module it is possible to actuate all the keys at once - without blackouts. This is called "full n-key rollover". The MX Module is a top seller, reliable, robust, fast and long-living. Invented and steadily advanced by cherry - the Specialist for Computer input devices.


As a sidenote about that authoritative thingy...
The audio comment is rather official for german ears too, which is quite typical for german commercials or product information from companies doing business in the mechanical or technical sector. Don't know what they intend with that formal voice, maybe give the impression of precision.

Vielen Dank!

Or veal dank. meine hoch Skool deutsche scheiß.

I guess you wanted to say "Vielen Dank, mein Hochschuldeutsch ist scheiße", which is correct btw

lol...
and: you're welcome. Thanks for posting the vid btw.

Np. Always glad to meet that rare German with a sense of humor.

Ü

Ö!

Do you have any experience with documentaries? I'm studying technical journalism and started a project on Social Media a year ago and can tell you, that it's a hell of a lot of work, especially if you can't do it fulltime.

I do, however, have a background in photography and already had most of the equipment (we used DSLRs to film). If you don't have any of the required skills nor the equipment, I would actually start with a smaller project.
Even most of the short documentaries you see online are made by a whole team of professionals.

This might be a little far fetched and I don't want to discourage you, but it's like most things that look easy - they are actually really hard to master...

Anyways: I love the idea and think it has great potential.

I'll admit that I don't have experience with this, or the equipment, although I'd use it as an excuse to get the equipment.

hahaha!

I buy expensive photo stuff for same reason. Then take pics of lego people.

I assume you've seen this? Father of CTRL/ALT/DEL?

And working on getting equipment, now. Just ordered a Vixia HF R300 for about $170ish. Refurb, but still. It's got most of the audio capabilities that I need (stereo mic input, which (with an Azden MIC-3) means I can feed two mics into it and actually get two channels to work with, a headphone jack for monitoring the audio levels, and a VU meter that comes up automatically when the mic input is selected), and video quality looks great from what I've seen looking for sample footage.

My goal is to get the equipment, do some practice runs with subjects that are unimportant or unrelated to the documentary to refine my technique, and then contact the people that I want to interview.

I think it's a great idea. Admittedly niche, but so was "Helvetica".

Aside from keyboard interest, I support anything that even subtly refutes the "need" to bring in tens of millions of "best and the brightest" like Faizal Shahzad because Americans are suddenly too stupid to do engineering.

Here's an interesting time capsule from the Los Angeles Airports from 1970. It was before my time, so I didn't realize that the Apollo program ran in parallel with the development of the B747, DC-10, and L-1011 widebodies as well as the "teen fighters". Today's viewers may be shocked at the discussion of paychecks, rather than asset inflation, as being a beneficial function of "The Economy" (now we are commanded to cheer for ever LOWER wages).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iOhODcyOaY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD8iCyf9O7g
I suspect this is the best soundtrack ever for a local government film, especially Part 1 from 6:50. Your documentary might benefit from great period music, though I suspect that I would be disappointed with developers' actual taste at the time. And I suspect the software guys were more on the edge than our friends at IBM.

Released 1977-02-08: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlbunmCbTBA
Filed 1977-08-30: http://www.google.com/patents/US4118611

Anyway, good luck and sorry for the demographic / political rant.