[TriLUG] keyboards

Sun Mar 1 17:09:40 EST 2015

+1

In the late '80s and early '90s, I worked at the IBM National Support Center 
where we supported IBM PCs. We all had some very funny stories and one of mine 
is about a keyboard.

A dealer (we originally only supported dealers) called and I got the call. He 
said his customer had a bad keyboard and could it be repaired because the 
customer did not want to spend the money to purchase a new keyboard. The old IBM 
keyboards were quite expensive. I told the dealer that the keyboards were not 
repairable and asked what the specific problem was. He said that the keyboard 
actually worked fine, which was one of the reasons that the customer did not 
actually want to pay for a new keyboard. He went on to say that the customer's 
cat had used the keyboard for a litter box.

I told the dealer that the customer had 3 choices. 1 - Live with it, 2 - Buy a 
new keyboard, or 3 - run the old one through the dishwasher and air dry it for a 
few days. I also suggested he might use a hair dryer on low heat for awhile to 
speed the process.

I asked the dealer to call me back to let me know the result, but I never heard 
about it again. Too bad.

The only reason I suggested that at the time was that I had been a Customer 
Engineer for a few years and had cleaned some keyboards using this method. The 
old IBM keyboards were quite durable and very well made. The cheap keyboards 
available these days are horrible. I have s few of the Unicomp keyboards and 
really like them a lot. But as others have said, I have found that the key 
switches sometimes fail. This discussion has pointed me to some new keyboard 
sources and I am willing to pay well for really good keyboards.

Thanks!

On 03/01/2015 04:53 PM, Sean Korb via TriLUG wrote:
> +1.  NO DETERGENT!!! Air dry only.  For a good long time (days at least)
>
> On Sun, Mar 1, 2015 at 4:50 PM, Ken Mink via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
> wrote:
>
>> I've done the same. NO DETERGENT!!! And no heat drying. Gentle wash cycle,
>> then take it out and air dry for a good while. The last one I did was my
>> wifes Mac chicklet keyboard.
>>
>>
>> On 3/1/15 16:06, David Burton via TriLUG wrote:
>>
>>> Do you use detergent?
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sun, Mar 1, 2015 at 1:19 PM, Sean Korb via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>   I've used the dishwasher on keyboards I've given up on.  I let them dry
>>>> for
>>>> weeks since I usually have a surplus of keyboards.  It's worked on both a
>>>> Logitech and an HP keyboard so far... I'm typing with one right now :)
>>>>
>>>> sean
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 8:57 PM, Steve Litt via TriLUG <
>>>> trilug at trilug.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   On Sat, 28 Feb 2015 16:10:11 -0500
>>>>> Ric Moore via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>   On 02/28/2015 08:26 AM, Peter Neilson via TriLUG wrote:
>>>>>   Does anyone have a recommendation for a keyboard with better keys?
>>>>>> The keyboard of the Televideo 1603 was a dream. Alas, those days of
>>>>>> CP/M and keyboard chivalry are long gone. :( Ric
>>>>>>
>>>>> Yes!
>>>>>
>>>>> My Kaypro 2x came with this light touch keyboard with even spring
>>>>> action all the way down, and when you hit bottom, you could go no
>>>>> further and knew it. This sounds problematic, but in fact it was a fast
>>>>> type and I've never had anything like it.
>>>>>
>>>>> I had several of the IBM Clickety Clacks over the years and liked them,
>>>>> but while I was writing Samba Unleashed I stopped using them because
>>>>> they required too much finger pressure for 3K word/day month long
>>>>> stretches.
>>>>>
>>>>> I now have a circa 2002 Compaq keyboard that's absolutely wonderful.
>>>>> Tactical feedback without the 50 decibel sound of the IBM
>>>>> clickety-clacks, and without the extreme finger pressure requirement.
>>>>>
>>>>> The only problem is, I eat at my keyboard (excuuuuuuuse me!), so it's
>>>>> filthy now. What do you guys do to clean up a keyboard? I was thinking
>>>>> of taking a photo of it, putting all the keys in the washing machine,
>>>>> cleaning the exterior and somehow the interior too without losing the
>>>>> springs and rubber domes, and then putting it back together again. Does
>>>>> that sound reasonable?
>>>>>
>>>>> I long for the days when you could get really good keyboards for three
>>>>> bucks apiece at garage sales and computer swap meets.
>>>>>
>>>>> SteveT
>>>>>
>>>>> Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
>>>>> Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> This message was sent to: Sean Korb <spkorb at gmail.com>
>>>>> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to trilug-leave at trilug.org from
>>>>>
>>>> that
>>>>
>>>>> address.
>>>>> TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
>>>>> Unsubscribe or edit options on the web  :
>>>>> http://www.trilug.org/mailman/options/trilug/spkorb%40gmail.com
>>>>> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Sean Korb spkorb at spkorb.org http://www.spkorb.org
>>>> '65,'68 Mustangs,'68 Cougar,'78 R100/7,'60 Metro,'59 A35,'71 Pantera
>>>> #1382
>>>> "The more you drive, the less intelligent you get" --Miller
>>>> "Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers." -P. Picasso
>>>> --
>>>> This message was sent to: Dave Burton <ncdave4life at gmail.com>
>>>> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to trilug-leave at trilug.org from
>>>> that
>>>> address.
>>>> TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
>>>> Unsubscribe or edit options on the web  :
>>>> http://www.trilug.org/mailman/options/trilug/ncdave4life%40gmail.com
>>>> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome
>>>>
>>>>
>> --
>> This message was sent to: Sean Korb <spkorb at gmail.com>
>> To unsubscribe, send a blank message to trilug-leave at trilug.org from that
>> address.
>> TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
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>> options/trilug/spkorb%40gmail.com
>> Welcome to TriLUG: http://trilug.org/welcome
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
>
>
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