I found this keyboard for like $3 and it’s perfect

Does it weigh a ton and have mighty ClIcKs that wake up the dead? If so, good find!

Weight and dopamine releasing clicks are the best.

L-shaped Enter key master race.

Nah, fuck that shape. Look what they did to my boy Right Shift. I'm glad L-shaped Enter keys died out in the mid 90s.
- Yeah that's dirty and messed up, but l-shaped enter key is ughhshahhhhhhdhhshhhhdhhfh mmmmmmm yesss
- I usually disable right shift because I accidentally keep pressing it while hitting enter making it shift enter
More of a J shape tho
We always called them a BAE (Big Ass Enter)
Ewwww

How do you connect it to your computer? I have a big old keyboard but it's from before there were PS2 ports so I don't know what to do with it.

I’m dirt poor so all of my tech is ancient.
- Damn, I see a firewire port on there too!
There's a couple options from before the ps2 standard, but I'd guess it's a 5-pin DIN connector on an AT keyboard (e.g. IBM model M). You'll need to know more about the keyboard to make a determination, but you might get lucky with a passive adapter to PS2 and chain to USB. Before the ps2 standard, there was more variety between manufacturers in both signaling and connectors.
Many/most of them can just use a DIN to PS/2 and then if needed a PS/2 to USB adapter. Unless you have one of the more exotic old connectors (SDL, ADB, etc), that is usually all it takes.
- I have a few ADB-> USB adapters in a drawer somewhere if anyone needs one
It's probably a DIN plug. They made DIN to PS2 adapters
- Pretty sure there's also DIN to USB
My newest computer (custom mini-ITX with an AMD 5700X3D, 64 GB RAM, Radeon 9070XT, 4 TB NVME, etc.) is still compatible with the keyboard from my first computer (a Tandy 1000 RLX HD with an Intel 80286, 1 MB RAM, VGA graphics, 20 MB HDD). Manufactured three decades apart, but they both have PS/2 ports!
I still have that Tandy keyboard; I should dust it off and plug it in.
If it's a model M there's a guy on eBay that sells a model M USB cable.
- I believe Packard Bell boards of that era are BTC-made rubber dome.
I don't speak from personal experience, but it's my understanding you can do this with an active (as opposed to passive) ps2 to USB adapter. Should be compatible with pretty much any ps2 keyboard.
Absolute worst case, open it up, rip out its guts and replace with an Arduino set up for HID mode.
Well, you could get this to go to PS/2: https://www.cableleader.com/6-din5-female-to-mini-din6-male-at-to-ps-2-keyboard-adapter-cable.html
Then this to get from PS/2 to USB if you need to: https://www.cableleader.com/usb-type-a-male-to-ps2-6-pin-female-converter-for-logitech.html
Parallel port ftw

Ah, the beige years.

The early naughts were a little more aesthetic.
- Not an apple fan but this is the only aesthetic tech should have. Transparent plastic everything. I yearned for the clamshell PowerBook g3 as a kid. Still do.
- The adverts were just as cool.

A Packard Bell mechanical? Well done. Impressive even

I grew up with that keyboard lol

Edit:actually not quite. Mine was older. Didn't have a windows key etc

Nice, but definitely needs a cleaning

Everything does honestly. I have unmedicated adhd I think. Been meaning to take some wipes to it.

I dunno man. It’s no Northgate Omnikey.

I have an Omnikey, but I never use it because the keys have stiction issues. I use my Dell AT-101 now after my Model F died.
- That's sadly common with SKCM Alps switches. You can clean them out, but it suuuucks to do a full keyboard of them.

I’d say that’s a weird spot for the \ | key, but looking around, I think that’s one of the last keys on a 104 key keyboard to get standardized.

I had one of these when I was a kid, it's good to see an old friend again!

I had to get a new keyboard, and I just wanted a basic black or beige one. The internet really wanted to sell me one that lights up and has a bunch of extra keys. I don't need or want that. Just a basic tool with all the keys, thank you.

I got mine free, from a bunch of stuff our company IT was throwing out because it was too old. That was over a decade ago, and it’s still the best keyboard I’ve ever had.

If I didn’t have this exact keyboard as a kid, we had one nearly identical to it. So much IMing and gaming time on that keyboard. Nice find!

Ohhhh I know these. Btc dome with slider switches, I've kind of wanted one of these for a while now. They use cherry MX compatible keycaps

everytime someone posts a non iso layout, i kill a hostage

What makes it perfect for you?

It goes clicky click in a nice way. It feels solid, my other keyboards are shitty dollar tree ones which have RGB for some reason.
- That’s an excellent reason. Thanks for sharing.
I mean.....are you looking at it?

I have that exact one. It’s a membrane board, but not bad sounding. I love the Big Ass Enter key. I tried and failed to convert it to mechanical. Impossible to find a mechanical keyboard with a BAE, sadly.

Look into vintage ALPS boards like the Focus FK-2001.
What? I quite literally have a bunch of BAE sporting mechanical keyboards. I am not a fan, and I feel that they fell out of favor for a reason, but to each their own. If you're trying to find one, they are usually found with less common vintage switches like Alps switches, SMK switches, Hi-Tek (space invaders switches), and some models of the IBM Model F.
- I’ll check them out, but I usually only buy hot-swappable

Isn't it super heavy as it contains a metal core? Or else it's another one from the same era.

I don't know but I guess Packard Bell is way too modern to have heavy stuff inside.

Is it weird if I remember exactly how this feels?

manly whistle

That's a damn fine lookin' keyboard right there!

Dude! Congratulations! Mechanical?

As for the big ass enter key, when I bought my laptop, I specifically ordered it with ISO layout for my keyboard.

That keyboard gives off hot dad vibes for sure!

love me some Hot Dad

I'm generally not a fan of the oversized Enter key, but this is beautiful and I'd use the hell out of it

Oh man. I've been looking for that for decades now. Too bad the backlash is in a dumb spot.

I have the same one its great.

Omgggggg I want fucking all the keys: gimme Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, a whole number keypad. Pleeeeease. Especially now that laptops are big enough. Come on.

I always love seeing old keyboards with the pen groove along the top.

It's what I miss the most

Wow, I'd totally forgotten about PB. I seem to recall they were on the low end of the PC clone market but I could be misremembering. I can't seem to find my Computer Shopper catalog right now to check. I dig that huge Enter key but it's a shame this came with the utterly useless Windows keys and what I guess is a "menu" key. I've never used either but then I've used Linux exclusively since the aughts and OS/2 before that. My M$ "Natural" keyboard wastes space on these keys too. This specimen is going to look great when it's cleaned up. Hope you can find a pen or a pencil to put in that little trench just for show.

mechanical keyboard communities on lemmy may help here. There are loads of really old, forgotten keyboards that are early or pre rubber dome where the quality is vastly superior.

Looks like it's based on the IBM Model M. Used ones go for a couple hundred on ebay. The key feel, click and travel are very satisfying if noisy to type on.

I have two of its older siblings. Both having an older design, one US layout with the bigass enter key and no winkeys, one HU ISO layout with winkeys.

I hope those aren't pubs up there on the right

I'm typing on the black Dell version of this right now.

Me too! I’d get a new mechanical keyboard but they start asking if I want red, brown, blue or beige switches and I’m like “I dunno what that is!”. Also they cost a tonne and my Dell came free with a tower PC.
- The colors refer to the types of Cherry MX switches and the common clones have mostly stuck to the format. Reds are really light and linear (no bump when you press down), Brown is light with a small tactile bump, blue is light and clicky. No beige, but clear is heavy with a big tactile bump, and green is heavy and clicky. You can get keyboards with non-Cherry branded switches really cheap these days. I've seen some on amazon for $20 (not that these would be great quality)

I'm pretty certain the family computer used this keyboard, in my youth; you're definitely right that it's great.

Still has a windows key. Microsoft must have made some crazy OEM deal with keyboard manufacturers.