Where can I get a USB version of the NeXT keyboard?

July 7, 2005 8:17 PM

The best keyboard I have ever used was the one that shipped with NeXTStations. It was loud and obnoxous, but had great feedback and I felt it added about 10 WPM to my typing. Does anyone know any details of how they were constructed / are they available in USB or PS/2 / does anyone make a close knockoff version?
posted by y0mbo to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Ah NeXT... OS X's Pappy...

Loved those computers. I used the NeXT workstations, which I was fond of as well.

As I recall, the cases (and perhaps keyboards?) were made of graphite (which caused fit & finish problems. The material really doesn't sound right, but that is all I can think of right now.

I would buy this one on eBay and rewire it (or pay someone to) if you want it bad enough:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=80075&item=5765273799&rd=1&ssPageName=WD1V
posted by gnash at 8:38 PM on July 7, 2005

The cases of NeXT cubes were made with magnesium alloy. The keyboards (I have several, old and new (ADB) models) were made of regular plastic.

Personally, I don't care for the old keyboards---mine require a lot more force than a normal keyboard, the closest I've felt on a computer to a manual typewriter! I think that some of that may be due to age, however. The newer NeXT keyboards feel similar to most modern keyboards today.

Many people who yearn for the old, clacky keyboards, the ones heavy enough to strike a man dead, enjoy the IBM-style buckling-spring models, the kind that shipped with the original PC. These definitely fit the "loud and obnoxious" category and lots of folks like their feedback.

Me, I'll stick to my Kinesis. :-)
posted by tss at 9:04 PM on July 7, 2005

The original NeXT keyboards were not quite as stiff or loud as the IBM/Lexmark keyboards are. I remember being not very happy with their numberic keypad and arrow key layout.

FWIW, my favorite keyboard is the transparent Apple keyboard that came just before the current Bluetooth and non-bluetooth kbd. The new one looks fine too.
posted by b1tr0t at 9:17 PM on July 7, 2005

I'm currently an IBM Preferred PS/2 keyboard user. I find the tactile feedback to be quite pleasant as well as the size of both the enter and backspace keys. I have two of the ivory, and two of the ultra-sexy stealth black.

I will never surrender these keyboards... until they come up with some sort of DNI.

I've never had the opportunity to use a NeXT machine... I really wish that I had.

It's really funny how some of us are obsessed with how our keyboards feel.... I never really thought that I would be a keyboard snob.

Oh....and Dell makes horrid claptrap. How I hate their keyboards.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 9:30 PM on July 7, 2005

Just to let you know, it would be next to impossible to use one of the original NeXT keyboards with a modern computer (unless you rewire it like gnash suggested). They did have ADB keyboards/mice later on, but they were fairly sucky and I'm assuming you don't mean those (though if you do, you could use the Griffin iMate to use them on a USB-equipped computer).

I have a old Cherry point-of-sale keyboard that I really enjoy, but it's difficult to recommend a keyboard since people have such wildly varying preferences.
posted by j.edwards at 10:16 PM on July 7, 2005

Check out the Matias Tactile Pro, which is super-clackity (in a good way).
posted by jjg at 10:27 PM on July 7, 2005

you'll want something with mechanical keyswitches. i use an Avant Prime myself, which is basically an IBM Model M (or Northgate OmniKey) keyboard, complete with the exact same Alps keyswitches. if a brand new Avant is too pricey, you can grab one of the many Model Ms or OmniKeys on ebay. these things are extremely solid (the base is made of metal, just like the Avants) and you'll have a hard time finding one that isn't in working condition. you'll probably want to give it a good scrubbing, which you can do easily by plucking off the key caps and washing them down. you can also send a busted/super-dirty one in for repair to this guy (warning: background midi, centered text, animated gifs) who i think might also be selling some of his own at the moment.

i'll have to cast a vote against the Matias Tactile Pro. i ordered one for myself for use with my mac not too long ago, and was less than impressed. the base was flimsy and warped easily with a little torque or pressure applied, the spacebar had an ad for their website printed on it – not pictured on their website, shame on them! – though it scraped off easily enough. the usb ports were poorly shaped and i had a hard time plugging in a few of my devices. those complaints are all minor. the major problem was that the keyboard tended to choke when you held down more than two keys down at the same time. the circuit board underneath those spiffy mechanical keys is apparently from some cheap asian vendor; it's easily overloaded. magical characters that i didn't type would appear when typing words that ended in "ould" (hitting O, U then L with my typing style would overload the keyboard and cause Qs to appear) and a huge chunk of the shortcuts i relied on in photoshop just didn't work. it's sitting in my closet right now, kind of a shame. oh well.
posted by tumult at 10:50 PM on July 7, 2005

If you do go the model M route the belkin PS/2 to USB adapter passes enough juice to power them.
posted by Mitheral at 6:29 AM on July 8, 2005

I think this is getting to be a FAQ on AskMe. For years, I've used a DataDesk 101E (which has ADB, and which I ran through a Griffin converter). Tres clackey. I'd grown quite attached to something about its key action, shape, and spacing, so that I would throw 2x as many typos if I tried using any other keyboard.

Somewhat on a lark, I recently decided to get a Matias tactile pro. This is the first keyboard I've used where my typo rate has not gone up. It's actually louder than my Datadesk. It's got a good action, IMO. It attempts--but fails--to mimic the appearance of Apple's current generation of keyboards--the bezel is bigger and not as smooth.

I have not had tumult's problems with it, although I will note:
1: the little fold-up feet are kind of flimsy. I don't use them, so no skin off my nose.
2: the right-hand modkeys don't work in combination. A problem for typing cmd-shift-J to mark mail as junk in Mail.app. I haven't installed the driver for this keyboard (yet) which may have something to do with it.

I've given my old Datadesk a good scrubbing, and will do some side-by-side testing. For the time being, I'm reasonably satisfied with the Matias, but for $80 (?), it has some obvious shortcomings when compared to Apple's current $30 keyboard.
posted by adamrice at 7:28 AM on July 8, 2005