>>Anybody know of equivalent to the now-out-o-production Fujitsu FK4726 series of keyboard? (the one I'd been using finally died -- after providing over a dozen years of reliable operation)
>>http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/edevices/components/input/keyboards/tmpl_parts_fkb4726-601.html
>>
>>Most of the keyboards I find nowadays are "notebook type" which I hate -- the "flat" shape of he keyboard is very uncomfortable, and the keys aren't "full stroke" or "full travel" type. Of what I find so far on the market, most feel "mushy" (sort'a feels like I'm typing on marshmallows) and lack proper tactile feedback (I usually can't tell how far is enough, so the only way that I can get any sort of reliability is to "bottom out", which is not only hard on keyboard, but hard on my hands as well). Most keyboards I find today don't have the "solid" feel of the older keyboard that had a metal plate. The other annoyance with many keyboards I can find nowadays is that the labelling on the keytops is simply on the surface, so they wear down to blanks after some usage (the Fujitsu keyboard I was using had the labeling molded into the tkey -- so even though I'd wore down the top surface to the point where the keytops were noticibly "cupped" and shiny, the lettering was still clear).
>>
>>Does anybody know if there are any keyboards with a "feel" similar to that of the IBM Model M keyboard? The buckling-spring mechanism gave really nice tactile feedback on when contact was being made w/o having to "bottom out".
>
>Unicomp claims to have bought the license to IBM's buckling-spring technology:
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>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicomp
>http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/keyboards.html
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>I had an original IBM PC 5150 with the buckling-spring keyboard, and I agree that the key feel is the best. However, for me ergo layout is more important. The keyboard Craig recommends is decent, but I consider it a "mild" ergo keyboard. MS's no-compromise ergo keyboard is the Natural Elite: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=022 . I have two of them. They have a wide split in the middle to keep your wrists completely straight, and by default the bottom of the keyboard (spacebar etc.) is elevated above the top row (F keys) so your hands drape naturally downwards, rather than being bent backwards at the wrist. These keyboards don't, however, have the hotkeys of the Ergo 4000.
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>If you're a good touch-typist it takes about 2 hours to get used to these keyboards - most of that time spent in teaching yourself to relax your wrists and shoulders rather than scrunch them together like you need to for conventional keyboards. The only thing I don't like about the keyboard is that MS decided to put the "6" key to the left rather than the right; this means that your left index finger has to handle 4,5, and 6, while the right one does just 7. If you've been touch-typing on a conventional keyboard it takes some time to get used to that - your right index finger pounding the gap when you want a "6" :)
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>Durability of my keyboards has been excellent. My daily driver is 9 years old; my other one is 15 years old, and was the daily driver until #2 came along.
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>For lurkers, some tips to increase the life of a favourite keyboard:
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>- cover it when not in use to reduce dust infiltration (the bag or sleeve the keyboard came in is good for this)
>- don't eat or drink at your desk
>- (women especially) avoid hand cream/moisturizers. That is especially true for the wheel on wheel mice, and the roller ball for mechanical mice and trackballs
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>- a couple of times a year, lay out some newspaper on your desk, hold your keyboard upside down over it and beat vigorously all over the back of it. You will be amazed and appalled at the crud that comes out of it, especially if you don't follow steps 1 - 3 above

Now here is a man who takes keyboard cleanliness seriously!

I tried the Microsoft Natural keyboard for a while. Just could not get used to it for some reason. I was grumbling about it one day to Tom Piper, whose name just came up yesterday (gone but not forgotten), and he said "I love them, send it to me." And I did.

Maybe I just didn't give it long enough. The trial was more than two hours, too, but some of us are brighter than others ;-)