Looks like it's based on the IBM Model M. Used ones go for a couple hundred on ebay. The key feel, click and travel are very satisfying if noisy to type on.
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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I hope those aren't pubs up there on the right
I have two of its older siblings. Both having an older design, one US layout with the bigass enter key and no winkeys, one HU ISO layout with winkeys.
Wow, I'd totally forgotten about PB. I seem to recall they were on the low end of the PC clone market but I could be misremembering. I can't seem to find my Computer Shopper catalog right now to check. I dig that huge Enter key but it's a shame this came with the utterly useless Windows keys and what I guess is a "menu" key. I've never used either but then I've used Linux exclusively since the aughts and OS/2 before that. My M$ "Natural" keyboard wastes space on these keys too. This specimen is going to look great when it's cleaned up. Hope you can find a pen or a pencil to put in that little trench just for show.
mechanical keyboard communities on lemmy may help here. There are loads of really old, forgotten keyboards that are early or pre rubber dome where the quality is vastly superior.
I'm typing on the black Dell version of this right now.
Me too! I’d get a new mechanical keyboard but they start asking if I want red, brown, blue or beige switches and I’m like “I dunno what that is!”. Also they cost a tonne and my Dell came free with a tower PC.
The colors refer to the types of Cherry MX switches and the common clones have mostly stuck to the format. Reds are really light and linear (no bump when you press down), Brown is light with a small tactile bump, blue is light and clicky. No beige, but clear is heavy with a big tactile bump, and green is heavy and clicky. You can get keyboards with non-Cherry branded switches really cheap these days. I've seen some on amazon for $20 (not that these would be great quality)
I'm pretty certain the family computer used this keyboard, in my youth; you're definitely right that it's great.
Still has a windows key. Microsoft must have made some crazy OEM deal with keyboard manufacturers.