On Saturday 6th, I attended a meetup in Bristol, England to fly the IBM and family keyboard banner! I brought a robust selection of 6 keyboards from my collection with me, and played a continuous slideshow on my ThinkPad of other items of IBM’s keyboard/keyboard adjacent legacy. This was the first meetup I attended in 2 years, so I was very eager for the opportunity, even if I knew travel was going to be a pain (and yes, it was…) Thank you so much to Alvi and RisD0m for organising the event, to Jae/Proto[Typist] Keyboards for sponsoring it, and to everyone who attended for being awesome!
Write-up and many more photos (including of attendees’ keyboards): June 2026 Bristol, England Mechanical Keyboard Meetup
Keyboards brought:
- 1980 IBM 528X-83 type Model B Typewriter Keyboard, beam springs
- 1984 IBM 122-key Model F Converged Keyboard (3180 Model 2), capacitive buckling springs
- 1984 IBM Wheelwriter 5 Keyboard Assembly (third oldest Model M example on record), membrane buckling springs
- 1989 IBM 754x/756x/GEARBOX 800 Industrial Computer Keyboard (Model M), membrane buckling springs
- 1999 IBM Space Saver Keyboard with TrackPoint II and 1995 Keypad (Model M4-1), buckling sleeves
- 2000 IBM USB RANPOS Keyboard (Model M9), buckling sleeves
