deskthority

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Planned obsolescence?
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... solescence

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Leaving aside that it would have been a lot cheaper and easier to automate, the secure clasping together of the F's slide-together plates doesn't really scale up to larger keyboards. You get a lot of ping on the larger boards like the 122-keys (some people have actually bolt modded 122-key Fs to improve the sound and possibly the feel as well). I've also noticed that a lot of people claim that the smaller Model Fs feel better than the larger ones (a common claim is that the XT is nicer to type on than the AT). I'd suspect that this could be an explanation for this.

Whilst "planned obsolescence" may be a bit too harsh, computer companies of the time were definitely waking up to the reality that consumers wanted cheaper computers over long lasting computers, especially given the rapid rate of progress in technology that led to computers becoming more obsolete quicker than they used to in the decades before.

cactux wrote:

mintberryminuscrunch wrote:Planned obsolescence?
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... solescence

It does not make sense since all the other components are made to last a live time

wasn't 100% serious, but once the plastic breaks the ping makes them hard to use

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I've seen rubber dome keyboards that used screws instead of rivets, but the plastic rivets are a very clever idea as they start off as an appendage of the plastic upper, then they are melted over the backplate to hold it in place. Obviously it isn't hugely secure, but it makes sense from a manufacturing viewpoint.

I'm pretty sure IBM didn't think people would be crazy enough to use Vintage Keyboards 20 years later when the plastic starts getting brittle.

And Unicomp simply doesn't care.

daedalus wrote:I've also noticed that a lot of people claim that the smaller Model Fs feel better than the larger ones (a common claim is that the XT is nicer to type on than the AT). I'd suspect that this could be an explanation for this.

Actually, the XT might feel firmer because the backplates exert more pressure on the barrels. This is obvious when you disassemble it; the backplate is more curved than the frontplate, making it hard to press both plates together again. This probably got changed when the AT was made, I could see how it could cause issues in manufacturing.

Also, the XT pings louder due to the shell's metal backplate, and I believe the sound may subconsciously influence key-feel.

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Ebay dealer Brian O'Neil uses epoxy.

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Heh, reminds me of the guy who claimed he sawed his full size keyboard to tenkeyless size, and when the saw came out on the other end, the heat had perfectly healed the case and his efforts were without effect. Not that I believed such a thing.

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Hey, I used that metal rebar trick to fix my Topre Spacebar stabilizer when it broke off.

JBert wrote:

daedalus wrote:I've also noticed that a lot of people claim that the smaller Model Fs feel better than the larger ones (a common claim is that the XT is nicer to type on than the AT). I'd suspect that this could be an explanation for this.

Actually, the XT might feel firmer because the backplates exert more pressure on the barrels. This is obvious when you disassemble it; the backplate is more curved than the frontplate, making it hard to press both plates together again. This probably got changed when the AT was made, I could see how it could cause issues in manufacturing.

Also, the XT pings louder due to the shell's metal backplate, and I believe the sound may subconsciously influence key-feel.

There are some differences in construction between the 83-key Fs (and the 75 and 87 key 31xx terminal keyboards) and the later Model Fs. The older ones had no stabilizers other than the spacebar, and had a little stabilizing stud under the barrel instead of a notch on the bottom right hand side of the barrel itself... Supposedly the hammers are a bit different as well.