Also used my Amiga 500 mostly for gaming, it was a beast for that purpose 
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I had an IBM model M from my father workplace.
Learned programming on it for many years; this thing was a beast, indestructible and a joy to type on.
Iām surprised to see a young colleague of me that own two of these beauties as of today.
This one was not the gateway drug, more an object that kept me thinking about mechs when typing on shitty rubber domes. And made me purchase my first modern mech in 2007, a Filco and later a Realforce.
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Poker 2 with MX Reds. Changed the switches to Zealios 78g and went down the rabbit hole
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QFR with MX Blacks for me. Still use it to this day once in a while, super solid board and ahead of its time in terms of design choices.
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Heh, bought a GMMK fullsize (and then a day later a leopold fullsize which arrived first) a couple months ago, and here I am, a āI hate all non full size keebsā person looking at 65, 75, and TKLās to pair with a wireless numpadā¦ while researching the BEST lube station and lube for tactiles, wondering what the hell happened in these last two months. Should I buy the entry level novelkeys in purple for double what it was new on eBay? Who am I and what have I become?
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My very first mechanical keyboard (back in 2015) was a QuickFire Rapid-i with MX Browns. A month or two in, I joined my first group buy, PuLSE SA, and added two more boards to the collection - a Realforce 87U (I had heard Topre was āendgameā) and a Pok3r with MX Clears.
By the end of 2016, however, I had sold off the two TKLs and more or less exited the hobby. I ended up rocking the Pok3r setup until mid-2020 when a friend asked me for a keyboard rec, and I dove back in headfirst. Happy to be here once again!
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I grew up in the 80s and 90s so my first keyboard was an Apple Extended even though I had been typing on mechanical keyboards in school long before that. I knew nothing of Alps switches but I remember being mesmerized by the sound and feeling of typing.
As an adult I went on to use rubber domes, not really understanding why I hated them so much. Fast forward to 2013 and I saw a Razer Black Widow in a computer store with Cherry blues and bought it thinking would replicate the sound and feel of my old Alps keyboardāwrong. Blues are just God awful IMO. The sound is like fingernails on a blackboard.
I think my first custom was a V1 Clueboard from Massdrop (Drop), and from there I discovered this community and was hooked. Coincidentally Iām typing on that original keyboard right now!
I wish I had held on my old Apple Extended tho. Despite my appreciation for high-end custom keyboards, thereās nothing that comes close to vintage Alps.
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Surprisingly enough, mine were keycaps. I saw a set and I was like would those fit on my membrane (didnāt know it was a membrane) researched it a bit and found out it was for mechanical keyboards. Shortly after, I bought a k556 but didnāt get into customs until after finding all the enthusiast switches and their fancy names and colors.
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My familyās first computer in the 80s had a Model M keyboard. Of course, some upgrades later everything went to rubber domes and I didnāt really notice or care about the change at the time.
However, starting sometime in college, I got this notion that it might be neat to find a Model M to use. I never acted upon it, even though I would think about it now and again. Knowing how loud those keyboards are was a deterrent, and I still felt that rubber dome keyboards were good enough.
Around 2014, I had been doing a lot of work remotely on my MBP, and I was getting annoyed at not being able to use my regular keyboard at home. So I started searching online, and with this lingering thought about mechanical keyboards in the back of my head, I thought that this would be a good chance to try something mechanical. But since I needed it to be portable, I didnāt want a full-size keyboard if possible.
I found WASD and some gaming keyboards in my research (the latter I couldnāt run away from fast enough because of all the RGB), but nothing that I would call portable. I then stumbled upon Elite Keyboards, and saw a picture of an HHKB for the first time. Oooh, yes, this is what I want. Wait, what the heck is a Topre switch? For the money involved, getting a keyboard with switches I hadnāt heard before felt like going out on a limb, but I liked everything else about the keyboard so much that I went for a HHKB Pro 2 in charcoal with a red escape key, and Iām very glad I did.
I loved this thing, and it quickly became the keyboard I used all the time. Having the arrow keys under the Fn layer was awkward for a bit, but I got used to it soon enough. At that point, I was satisfied with my keyboard, and didnāt really dive into the hobby at all. In fact, except for a few posts on Geekhack, I kind of missed it entirely.
Fast forward to 2020. My wife had been having some elbow issues for a bit, and she asked me about getting a keyboard that might be easier on her elbows (at this point she was using a WASD herself). Well, I started looking into ergonomic keyboards and started seeing thing like Dactyl, Ergodox, r/mk, etc. I thought to myself, hmm, maybe I should look into building one of these kits for myself to give it a try.
And down into the rabbit hole I went. I eventually built a Viterbi (split ortho 7x5x2) with MX Browns and bought for my wife a Moonlander. Now Iāve got jars of switches, bags and trays of key caps, and an aspiration to design my own split ergo keeb. Iāve even got my wife thinking about swapping out the switches on her Moonlander for some Boba U4s, which Iām going to also be using for a Lily58 build.
tl;dr Got a HHKB Pro 2 in 2014, but only discovered the hobby looking for an ergonomic keyboard for my wife during the pandemic.
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I stumbled across Chokkanās This Is My 60 playlist on YT. I had no idea this tech or community even existed. Happy to be here.
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I gotta knowā¦did you still get the Model M after all?
I never got a Model M, but seeing more and more posts on here modding and restoring vintage keyboards, Iām more tempted than ever. 
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My āgateway drugā was a Logitech K120.
I had to replace my trusty rubber-dome, which had succumbed to old age. I went to get the latest keyboard on-offer everywhere, the K120, and I absolutely hated it.
The keyfeel was just terrible. Like, I had no expectations, but it was just unusable to me. Not as good as my 15-year-old rubber dome, built to be a decent office keyboard.
I tried the latest Logitechs, the Thinkpad-inspired rubber-domes, but they werenāt what they used to be. Only the CHAD of a Dell Multimedia keyboard [Sk-8135] was usable.
I had read about these āmechanical keyboards,ā did some quick research, decided that a Filco Majestouch was reliable and standard enough, because of some older reviews [this was 2016].
As I did later, I committed the error of not reading the very latest on-line commentary. Even though there were indications that the market was rapidly changing. Because if I had just gone to the forums, I would have learned that Leopold and Varmilo were emerging as superior keyboards [the Das Keyboard was still being touted as #1 by many lazy websites].
So, long story short, the shortcomings of the Majestouch propelled me to the Varmilo [for a relative] and Leopold [for myself], until I realized you should go custom for a better experience.
[If I had just gone straight for 30 G Topre or Niz, I probably could have avoided all this.]
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For me it started when I visited my cousin room and heās using razer mech keyboard.
My first mech is Imperion Mech 10 iirc it was for ~$30, the switches are mounted on the top case and it is Kaihl Blue so it is really loud 
still it was a nice feeling moving from rubber domes. Still use it occasionally.
From there I moved onto another pre-built, 65% Akko with MX Browns with PBT keycaps. It feels nicer and obviously less loud, but hating the spring crunch on some of the switches. Still have it too till now and sometimes use it.
After that I discovered GH and it made we join my first GB, Primus. Still waiting for it.
While waiting, I discovered Topre and couldnāt resist to try it , well I resisted for so long till I found someone selling BNIB Realforce R2 PFU for a good price near my place and I gave in. This is my current daily driver and have to say the typing experience is really great!
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you need one
I liked typewriters, and wondered why computer keyboards felt like complete shit in comparison. Off I went, to find the mystical typewriter type feeling keyboard, and stumbled across a guide of different mechanical switches. I started researching what kind of switches would I want to have on my board. I was playing Osu! for hours daily at that point, then one day while watching a livestream VOD from my favourite top playerā¦ I have seen this board before. Itās a QFTK. I thought, safest play I could do is to see a couple retailer sites for different boards, or maybe even the same one with tactile switches instead of the MX Red QFTK he was using. There it was. On a 50% sale. QFTK with MX Browns. I knew I had to get it, nothing else was even remotely close to being that cheap and readily available in my home country. After using the board for around 9-12 months, the keycaps started to really annoy me due to the slippery nature of worn QFTK caps. I remembered something from the research days. Thatās right, PBT keycaps exist! Off I went, to get a set of Vortex PBT caps. What a massive upgrade that was. After that I started experimenting more with different switches and boards to figure out my preferences. Topre I had always liked, as well as vintage boards. My cousin actually has my old Novatouch (my 3rd or 4th board) at his place still. Gave it to him a year or so ago. Probably getting it back next time he visits. Iāve had plenty of other boards since. Currently waiting on parts for my custom to finally give linears a fair try. Out of all the boards Iāve had, my favourite stock ones were a white Shine 4 with MX Reds, and my Realforce. I got rid of the Shine 4 due to stock Cherry being super giga sandpaper scratchy 
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