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Which modern keyboard feels most like retro clicky keyboards?

Matias also has a Quiet Pro keyboard that's supposed to be the same tactile feel with much less noise.

http://matias.ca/quietpro/

They have a split keyboard but it's two separate pieces and no 10-Key. It's not wireless so there's a wire between the two halves of the keyboard. It's just plain odd.

http://matias.ca/ergopro/pc/
FK403_P1040803_1000.jpg


One nice thing about a lot of there keyboards is that they contain a USB 2.0 hub. The Tactile Pro that I bought has three USB slots.

Heather
 
The video clip of the Zenith keyboard brought back an aural memory for me. My code for the Durango F-85, circa 1978 (3 MHz 8085):

Code: 
        if      kclick  ; assemble for a clicker

;       produce a clicking noise.

        lda     lamps
        ani     liteb
        jnz     kbin6   ; if buzzer on already
        mvi     b,liteb
        call    lights  ; turn it on
        mvi     b,150   ; vary this for volume of click
kbin4:  dcr     b
        jnz     kbin4   ; kill some time
        mvi     b,(not liteb) and 0ffh
        call    lightc  ; turn it off

        endif

"lamps" being the status of the write-only latch controlling the buzzer and the keyboard LEDs. "lights" being the routine that managed the same (since this was in an interrupt-driven routine, you needed a common routine for this) and "liteb" being the bit that was related to the buzzer control. The keyboard was a custom Keytronic unit.

It's funny--I had completely forgotten about that code until I heard the "chirp" from the Zenith, then it all came back to me.
 
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I don't need a click to know if the key registered or not - I'm reading the screen while writing. I don't look down at the keyboard. So what I'm looking for is more about how little force I can get away with, and the most comfortable feel, and how far down I have to press. I have yet to find a faster or more comfortable and accurate keyboard than the Tandberg keyboard.

-Tor
 
Tor said:
I don't need a click to know if the key registered or not - I'm reading the screen while writing. I don't look down at the keyboard.
Click to expand...

Some of my longest typing sessions are transcribing material that cannot easily be scanned and OCR'd. For those sessions, I'm not looking at the screen, but at the material being transcribed.
 
Caluser2000 said:
Didn't some Zenith keyboards had a speaker in the keyboard itself? Remember reading about them doing some research on my 286.
Click to expand...

The Wang Microsystems PC 250/16 keyboard (actually made by Honeywell) also has an internal speaker that "clicks" when typing. I find it a bit annoying but fortunately it can be toggled on/off by pressing both shifts + alt + control.
 
If you pick up a Cherry-equipped board, you can further reduce the chance of such issues by fitting small O rings under each key cap. Works great for people who just can't stop slamming them down, like me. I don't bother with them for general use, but I've done it before. The O rings can be purchased in different densities from certain boutique keyboard suppliers, or in plain old rubber at any hardware store for darn near pennies.

You just slip them over the bottom of the key cap (pops right off) and snap it back in there. It's incredibly easy.

If you're a disciplined typist, the tactile and audio cues provided by the switch itself (such as Blue, but others are available, if a bit scarce) will prevent you from bottoming out, as you'll get used to only actuating them so far.

Other switch types are available in new keyboards, such as buckling spring, Topre and Alps, from a few manufacturers, but there isn't much choice out there.

Since I exclusively use keyboards with back-lighting. I like a dim environment, and going from monitor to keyboard is aided significantly. It's great in bright environments, as well. That being the case, my choices are not available in the more obscure designs.

Logitech just released a new type of mechanical switch on an illuminated keyboard, though. You can actually find them at Best Buy in the gaming section. Verify the model number on their site and check one out. It's interesting. These guys have turned back the clock, and are re-living their halcyon days as top-tier manufacturers. I'm glad to see it happen. The new mouse I picked up is one of the best I've ever used, and I've paid a lot more than this for mice.
 
A number of linear switches with a heavier weight are available nowadays, if you ever want to move to something else. Very short actuation, generous over-travel, and plenty of room for an O ring for those times you bottom out. This is essentially a Cherry Black or similar. There's no tactile bump or snap, and no click.

When you're talking mechanical keyboards, you may as well be talking triggers. Short take-up, clean break, quick return, and adjustable over-travel. That would be a Cherry Blue. I suppose I've got a Cherry Blue on my 1911. LMAO

Honestly, the gaming keyboard world is a good place to be shopping if you want something that comes out of the box right or can be dialed in like you want it. They aren't just silly names; they are almost universally good keyboards at all price points.
 
Let's also clear up some terminology, as it's typically used in keyboard communities:

Linear: All (or nearly all) resistance is provided by a spring, no tactile event occurs.
Tactile: A notable reduction in force at some point in the travel occurs, usually coinciding with key actuation.
Clicky: The keyswitch makes noise, usually coinciding with key actuation - this is NOT the sound made when a key is bottomed out or topped out.

Clicky linear switches are possible and did happen in the past but don't happen nowadays to my knowledge, so they're out.

If you want a linear switch, Cherry MX black is the original MX switch from 1983 (although vintage ones are widely reputed to be smoother than current production). If you want lower force, MX red is a modern variant of MX black with a lower force spring, and is popular with gamers, or there's now Matias linear switches (which should feel similar to vintage Alps linears, although it's a cost-reduced clone).

If you want a clicky switch, there's always Unicomp's continuations of the Model M, there's Cherry MX blue (lower force - uses the same springs as MX red and brown) and green (higher force - uses the same springs as MX black, intended as a spacebar switch for MX blue boards, but nowadays it's being used in whole keyboards), and there's Matias Click (which feels similar to Alps white switches, although in my opinion a bit "meatier" tactile event and a bit lower force).

If you want tactility without the clickiness, there's several options, although with a caveat that bottoming out and topping out noise is still a consideration. Cherry MX brown (ergo tactile, in Cherry's designation, IIRC - it was designed for an ergonomic board in 1995) is the default here, although in my opinion the tactility is barely noticeable, and the switch does nothing for bottoming out and topping out noise (O-rings can eliminate bottoming out noise). There's also Cherry MX clear, which has a more aggressive tactile bump, and a stiff spring similar to (but not identical) MX black/green, but the same problems exist. Topre switches are a capacitive-sensing rubber dome variant that is liked for its smoothness, but you will pay for it, and there's other rubber domes I'd rather use. Matias makes a "Quiet Click" (the name's a misnomer - it's tactile and quiet) switch which is their attempt at cloning Alps cream switches (as used in keyboards like the Apple Extended Keyboard II), and I didn't like the feel of the Quiet Pro that I tried (even compared to Topre), but it could've been that specific keyboard - but, Alps cream and Matias "Quiet Click" both deal with bottoming out and topping out noise with rubber dampers, so they're among the quietest (the only premium keyboards that can give them a run for their money in quietness are Topre Type-S keyboards).

Also, there are some modifications that can be done to silence buckling spring - IBM sold a model with greased springs, which dampens the click with minimal effect to tactility, and some people have tried modifications involving dental floss, too.

Now, what feels the most like retro clicky keyboards, to answer the original question in the OP? Unicomp's keyboards (they don't feel exactly like retro Model Ms, but they're very, very close - a bit lower force IMO, but I like that), as well as the Matias Tactile Pro line (which feels pretty close to Alps whites, with some elements of even older Alps switches in the feel).
 
So how would you classify an old GRI keyboard I once used--I believe it came from some RCA Spectrola gear? It used reed switches with two ceramic ring magnets--one was stationary, the other connected to the key. They were oriented such that they repulsed one another. I could only describe the feel as "weird". Probably incredibly expensive to make--it used a diode matrix encoder with some early (DTL I think) Fairchild ICs.

No springs at all.
 
OK, point - linearity doesn't have to be "just a spring". ;)

Although, that's probably not actually "linear", because I'm guessing force ramps up the closer you are to bottoming out.
 
In my experience, the so-called "soft click" or "tactile but not clicky" keyboards like the Dell AT101(W) and Apple Extended Keyboard vary considerably from one example to another, depending on how well-used the keyboard is and how heavy-handed its previous owner(s) were. One in pristine, lightly used condition can feel very tactile, while on heavily used examples, the tactility is almost completely shot, making them feel like linear key switches. (Yes, I know that even IBM buckling spring keyboards can lose some of their clicky feel and sound with heavy use, but not to such an extreme degree.)
 
It was weird--and EBCDIC. Each key had a sealed, calibrated (in ounces) reed switch. So control keys were harder to depress than ordinary letters (you could find the same sort of thing on Beehive Superbees). Unfortunately, no keys repeated. It would have taken some finagling to make it into a normal ASCII keyboard.

Thinking about this, there were some keyboards (I recall the Keytronic had a worksheet for OEMs) on which only a few keys repeated--mostly backspace, space, period and hyphen. When did we get to the point where every key repeats?
 
Chuck(G) said:
Thinking about this, there were some keyboards (I recall the Keytronic had a worksheet for OEMs) on which only a few keys repeated--mostly backspace, space, period and hyphen.
Click to expand...

That's how most electronic typewriters work -- only the characters normally used to make lines across the page (period, hyphen, and underscore) repeat.

I think auto-repeat was discouraged on early computer terminals because with the slow connection speeds of the day, if you lay on the keyboard and cause a whole bunch of repeated characters to fill up the buffer, you'll be waiting quite a while before you can regain control.
 
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