Mid-design on project

Oct 10, 2026 Last reply: 1 hour ago 5 Replies

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Daniel 16 hours ago

Anyone experienced with Matias key switches for mechanical keyboards? I'm slightly fascinated with the tech but it's striking how little industry support there is for them. Almost no one selling knockoffs out of aliexpress and Matias only sells a few colors.

I'm a big fan of the tandy model 100/102/200 laptops (I use them constantly) and they employ the old Alps key switches that Matias is based on - but not compatible.

I ordered a test kit from matias. They feel okay. Almost a fidget toy at this point. The white model is clicky but not wake-your-grandma-from-the-dead loud like Cherry can be.

I guess curiousity leads me to the question, is there a particular reason why these little buggers aren't more popular? Strong opinions and trolling of one brand or another is welcome. I want to hear it all, if yall are so inclined.

I'm midproject on a design for a custom keyboard and getting to the point of choosing switches. Getting close to passing my schematic stage. I'm also learning on my own so this is my first project.

Having a blast.

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Old McDonald 16 hours ago

We have a couple Kyocera flip phones in the house, and the keypad button 'beeps" were annoying. I found a settings option to change "beep" to something that sounded like 2 or 3 guitar strings being plucked. Many different chords. Musical, wonderful.

I went to

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and listened to recordings of keyboard clicks. Various levels of uninspired crumminess.

My old IBM clicky keyboard feels fine to me. The sound isn't important.

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Daniel 15 hours ago

I bought my brother a stack of those old ibm keyboards when a surplus shop in town had a bin of keyboards and i picked them clean. Supposedly they're valuable but I don't care enough to research it.

My current keyboard is a membrane type from logitech. It's connected to the worst modern keyboard around, attached to my pi500 desktop machine. It's horrendous.

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Don Y 14 hours ago

We used to get requests for them pretty regularly; we sold keyboards for $1 as their recycle value was limited to the value of the cable connecting the keyboard to the computer (the rest being trash).

We'd phone the interested party. Give them a week to show up (they rarely did) and then cut the cord off (to be recycled) and bin the keyboard.

[I guess they weren't really THAT interested in spending a dollar for a keyboard!]

By far, the *best* keyboard was that of the Trendata 1000! I had one tucked away until a friend of my father's decided to service it for me. (sigh) Ignorance can be costly...

My "worst" is a TV730 -- though it's size does have some value.

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Old McDonald 4 hours ago

Older examples have a heavy coiled cord which plugs in to the keyboard. And they have removable key caps. Later ones, made by Lexmark, have a permanently attached lightweight cords.

I just checked completed IBM Model M keyboard sales on ebay. Typically $100+. There are subtle differences, like the color of the IBM badge, that matter to some people.

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Don Y 1 hour ago

Yes.

Makes you wonder why they didn't find the "$99 savings" worth a trip back!

It was "clicky keyboards" that convinced us not to "watch out for" particular items. Setting things aside for people who invariably don't return for them is a waste of our time (and space).

Yes, it's a "Selectric I/O" with an attached controller. A *huge* PCB with very lots of SSI/MSI -- predating the MPU by many years.

I still have the factory service manual for it.

And, to be honest, probably wouldn't set aside the space to *store* it (I've got a Model 33 that I need to get rid of, too)

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