Now I know the first time I wrote about my Model M keyboard I said it wasn’t worth it to leave a $10 dev board attached to the keyboard, opting instead to use an adapter, but I’ve changed my mind. My change of heart came about for two reasons: I couldn’t get the $5 adapter to work. Being able to remap keys on the fly is definitely worth $5. That second point is in reference to my recent blog post.
For the past five months, I’ve had an old IBM Model M sitting on my desk. Specifically, a 1390572, a 122-key monstrosity. Ever since spending the summer typing on one of these old keyboards I have wanted to get this keyboard working, because it is very loud and very fun to type on. I found a converter for about $40 online, but that doesn’t seem worth it. The keyboard has this weird DIN-5 connector, where the pins sweep 240 degrees; I’ve never seen any connector quite like it.