I'm not talking about hoverboards right now, either - though that was probably the only good part of Back to the Future III except for the turbo-logs in the train, which I thought was pretty ridiculous. What I'm talking about is another bit of older computing stuff, the IBM Model M keyboards. There's a reason for this - though maybe just the strangest reason. So, it all started with NPR, who played this radio piece about "The One True Keyboard," which was, of course, the Model M. Big old lunker, some five-and-a-half pounds of keyboard complete with 4mm plastic casing and a steel plate, but most importantly, some very loud buckling-spring keyswitches.

The technololgy is actually pretty simple: finger presses the key, coil spring inside bends until it buckles (hence the name) and activates the contact. All this is contained within a big plastic tube. So, what you get is a pretty invulnerable keyboard. They were made from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s by IBM and Lexmark, then a group of ex-IBM enthusiasts started producing them under the name Unicomp. People seriously love these things. So, I checked some videos on Youtube, and it seemed like a helluva lot of fun, but they also said that the tactile response was amazing. IBM claimed that it feels like a Selectric. So, of course, I went to Ebay, found one for ten bucks, and bought it. Yeah, frivolous spending. Nothing new for me.

So, yesterday I was coming back into town, and there's this real dive shop on the edge of Dekalb called Bargain Hunter, which is sort of like a pawn shop but with less guns and more religious fundamentalism. But I remembered, from the first time I went in there, and found out that it's as bad on the inside as it looks outside, that there were a bunch of great bloody huge bins of keyboards in the place. So, I summon my courage, go back in, and start digging through these huge bins of beige plastic. Bottom of the third bin, I find a Model M2, the M's smaller brother. Four bucks. Of course I buy it. The thing was from a mechanics - looked like it had had a whole quart of oil on it. But I took it home, cleaned it up, and now I'm typing this out on it.

So now I'm going to have two Model Ms. I suppose that's nice, in case one of them dies. In 2050 or something.

So, lessons learned. Does it feel like a Selectric? No, not really. The Selectrics had a very short, smooth keystroke. The M2 feels a bit longer, with increasing pressure until you get to the break point, where it goes smooth. Not that that's bad - in fact, it's better than any keyboard I've ever used before. And the sound is fun, too. Because the springs slow the momentum of your fingers graudally, it's not nearly as fatiguing to type for long periods.

Also, they've got dates of manufacture printed on the bottoms so you can celebrate their birthdays. My M2 will be 16 in February.

It's gonna be a big party.

^{All the typewriters will be in attendance.}