I've got an itch... I want an Apple Extended KB

[jacobolus]

honestly, the SSK blows them all away so hard it's not even funny.

SSK feels like crap compared to a nice orange Alps board.

M0116 is a better layout, too (a lot better if you have some programmable firmware to make full use of the bottom row), and saves more space. Still bigger than necessary though.

[Muirium]

We disagree with extreme vengeance! On layout as well as fundamental keyfeel.

Besides, I thought you liked to dismiss all non-split Ergo keyboards as equally useless?

[jacobolus]

That’s true, QWERTY/IBM layout is in general an atrocious historical artifact which should be taken out back and put out of its misery.

Apple “Standard Keyboard” layout is about as good as any mass-produced one-piece IBM-style keyboard has ever been though, except maybe some Japanese keyboards. A not too outrageously oversized spacebar, and lots of thumb-accessible bottom row keys to repurpose for some useful end.

You’re right though, something split and tentable, with column stagger, lots of thumb keys, no numpad, less wasted space around the sides, and ideally a trackpoint included next to each index finger resting position would be better.

[ShivaYash]

honestly, the SSK blows them all away so hard it's not even funny.

SSK feels like crap compared to a nice orange Alps board.

M0116 is a better layout, too (a lot better if you have some programmable firmware to make full use of the bottom row), and saves more space. Still bigger than necessary though.

Utter rubbish... The SSK is the best.

[jacobolus]

Utter rubbish... The SSK is the best.

Best IBM-made one-piece membrane buckling spring keyboard made without a numpad. I’ll grant you that one. (Ignoring the potential exception of some DIY thing I’ve never heard of. Note this careful circumscription excludes all Model F and beam spring boards, the M15, Model Ms with trackpoints, Brother and Alps buckling spring boards, etc.)

Or maybe most desirable curved-barrel-frame Model M keyboard? I could grant you that one too, especially if we’re talking about the more expensive version with darker plastic in the case.

Favorite keyboard of certain semi-informed forum members?

Nowhere close to the “best” compact keyboard, best IBM keyboard, best buckling spring keyboard, best layout, best keyswitch, etc., on pretty much any attribute: aesthetics, efficiency, comfort, size, sound, feel, office-friendliness, office-unfriendliness, compatibility, programmability, innovation, influence, rarity, interestingness, ...

Edit: someone brought one of these Brother buckling spring SSK keyboards to the recent SF meetup. I actually liked it a lot. I think I prefer the switch feel to the IBM-made version. The layout is also much better, much smarter use of the thumbs:

[andrewjoy]

Edit: someone brought one of these Brother buckling spring SSK keyboards to the recent SF meetup. I actually liked it a lot. I think I prefer the switch feel to the IBM-made version. The layout is also much better, much smarter use of the thumbs:

People turn there nose up at some of the none M and F buckling springs, i actually find that the M2 is quite nice a loverly pingy sound ( somewhere in between F and M ) a nice layout , loverly thick 1 part PBT caps and a small footprint, sure the build quality is wank but you can deal with that i guess.

[jacobolus]

I don’t like the feel of M2 switches. YMMV.

[Redmaus]

Always wanted to try brother buckling springs. Really neat how you can take out the barrels.

[alh84001]

I never thought AEK would look this sexy in black: http://imgur.com/a/cMqXS

(disclaimer: this is from a reddit sale to which I'm not connected in any way)

[Crossfire]

Yup, TMKs ADB converter is really nice. With a cheapy pro-micro controller you just need to solder 3 wires and a resistor and you're up and running for less than a tenner. The hardest part is getting the pro-micro into bootloader mode so you can flash the damn thing .

http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/how- ... ml#p232820

I've a soft spot for Apples older Alps keyboards, they're nicely insane for the most part. I've held off getting an AEK for a while as they're too "boring" compared to the more interesting M0116/AAK/M0110s. Infinitely more practical though, I'll give them that .

To put pro micro into bootloader you need to short the reset and gnd pins for a moment and then quickly upload the .hex from arduino builder. You need a few tries but it's quite convenient.

[alh84001]

If you short those two pins two times in quick succession, than you have 8 seconds to issue the flashing command, which should be more than enough time.