{"id":479,"date":"2008-07-09T11:48:59","date_gmt":"2008-07-09T16:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/479"},"modified":"2008-07-09T16:11:22","modified_gmt":"2008-07-09T21:11:22","slug":"inside-the-worlds-greatest-keyboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/479\/inside-the-worlds-greatest-keyboard","title":{"rendered":"Inside the World’s Greatest Keyboard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inside the World\\'s Greatest Keyboard - PC World<\/a><\/p>\n

Today, PC World published the latest in my line of workbench tech autopsies. This time I dissected the venerable IBM Model M Keyboard<\/a>, which some call the greatest keyboard of all time (obviously, I agree with them). While I took all the pictures as usual, the caption bubbles on a couple of the slides are courtesy of PC World’s art department. Here’s an excerpt from the introduction:<\/p>\n

IBM’s Model 5150 PC, released in 1981, was a classic, perhaps the computer most responsible for launching the PC revolution. Sadly, however, its keyboard did not live up to that standard. This 83-key model was IBM’s first, and critics hated it, complaining about its awkward layout and nonstandard design. Stung by the criticism, IBM assembled a ten-person task force to craft a new keyboard, according to David Bradley, a member of that task force and of the 5150’s design team. Their resulting 101-key design, 1984’s Model M, became the undisputed bellwether for the computer industry, with a layout that dominates desktops to this day. As we peek under the hood of this legend, you’ll soon see why many consider the Model M to be the greatest keyboard of all time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s no secret that the title “world’s greatest” ultimately comes down to a matter of opinion. Like the 10 Worst PC Keyboards of All Time<\/a>, many people are bound to disagree. That’s OK. Feel free to share your picks for the greatest (or simply your favorite) keyboard of all time in the comments below.<\/p>\n

(By the way, if you liked this piece, you might also enjoy checking out my previous teardowns of the Apple IIc<\/a> and the TRS-80 Model 100<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, PC World published the latest in my line of workbench tech autopsies. This time I dissected the venerable IBM Model M Keyboard, which some call the greatest keyboard of all time (obviously, I agree with them). While I took all the pictures as usual, the caption bubbles on a couple of the slides are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16,21,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-info-and-history","category-computer-design","category-news-current-events","category-computers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}