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We Mourn Our Craft

https://nolanlawson.com/2026/02/07/we-mourn-our-craft/
65•ColinWright•59m ago•33 comments

Speed up responses with fast mode

https://code.claude.com/docs/en/fast-mode
19•surprisetalk•1h ago•16 comments

Hoot: Scheme on WebAssembly

https://www.spritely.institute/hoot/
121•AlexeyBrin•7h ago•24 comments

U.S. Jobs Disappear at Fastest January Pace Since Great Recession

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/02/05/us-jobs-disappear-at-fastest-january-pace-sin...
97•alephnerd•2h ago•47 comments

OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III

https://openciv3.org/
824•klaussilveira•21h ago•248 comments

Stories from 25 Years of Software Development

https://susam.net/twenty-five-years-of-computing.html
55•vinhnx•4h ago•7 comments

Al Lowe on model trains, funny deaths and working with Disney

https://spillhistorie.no/2026/02/06/interview-with-sierra-veteran-al-lowe/
53•thelok•3h ago•6 comments

The AI boom is causing shortages everywhere else

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/07/ai-spending-economy-shortages/
103•1vuio0pswjnm7•8h ago•118 comments

The Waymo World Model

https://waymo.com/blog/2026/02/the-waymo-world-model-a-new-frontier-for-autonomous-driving-simula...
1057•xnx•1d ago•608 comments

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback

https://rlhfbook.com/
76•onurkanbkrc•6h ago•5 comments

Start all of your commands with a comma (2009)

https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2009/commands-with-comma/
478•theblazehen•2d ago•175 comments

Vocal Guide – belt sing without killing yourself

https://jesperordrup.github.io/vocal-guide/
202•jesperordrup•11h ago•69 comments

France's homegrown open source online office suite

https://github.com/suitenumerique
546•nar001•5h ago•252 comments

Coding agents have replaced every framework I used

https://blog.alaindichiappari.dev/p/software-engineering-is-back
214•alainrk•6h ago•332 comments

Selection Rather Than Prediction

https://voratiq.com/blog/selection-rather-than-prediction/
8•languid-photic•3d ago•1 comments

A Fresh Look at IBM 3270 Information Display System

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/a-fresh-look-at-ibm-3270-information-display-system
34•rbanffy•4d ago•7 comments

72M Points of Interest

https://tech.marksblogg.com/overture-places-pois.html
27•marklit•5d ago•2 comments

Unseen Footage of Atari Battlezone Arcade Cabinet Production

https://arcadeblogger.com/2026/02/02/unseen-footage-of-atari-battlezone-cabinet-production/
113•videotopia•4d ago•30 comments

Where did all the starships go?

https://www.datawrapper.de/blog/science-fiction-decline
73•speckx•4d ago•74 comments

Software factories and the agentic moment

https://factory.strongdm.ai/
68•mellosouls•4h ago•73 comments

Show HN: Look Ma, No Linux: Shell, App Installer, Vi, Cc on ESP32-S3 / BreezyBox

https://github.com/valdanylchuk/breezydemo
273•isitcontent•21h ago•37 comments

Learning from context is harder than we thought

https://hy.tencent.com/research/100025?langVersion=en
199•limoce•4d ago•111 comments

Monty: A minimal, secure Python interpreter written in Rust for use by AI

https://github.com/pydantic/monty
285•dmpetrov•22h ago•153 comments

Show HN: Kappal – CLI to Run Docker Compose YML on Kubernetes for Local Dev

https://github.com/sandys/kappal
21•sandGorgon•2d ago•11 comments

Making geo joins faster with H3 indexes

https://floedb.ai/blog/how-we-made-geo-joins-400-faster-with-h3-indexes
155•matheusalmeida•2d ago•48 comments

Ga68, a GNU Algol 68 Compiler

https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/PEXRTN-ga68-intro/
43•matt_d•4d ago•18 comments

Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

https://hackers-1995.vercel.app/
555•todsacerdoti•1d ago•268 comments

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/
424•ostacke•1d ago•110 comments

An Update on Heroku

https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/
472•lstoll•1d ago•312 comments

Show HN: If you lose your memory, how to regain access to your computer?

https://eljojo.github.io/rememory/
348•eljojo•1d ago•215 comments
Open in hackernews

IBM Keyboard Patents

https://sharktastica.co.uk/topics/patents
84•tart-lemonade•6mo ago

Comments

pkdpic•6mo ago
I wish I had had this 5 years ago. The early laptops are worth scrolling down for. Really amazing resource.

Anybody aware of similar resources for other early computer patents for Apple, Commodore, Tandy etc? Or another IBM resource specifically covering more than just keyboards ie the 5150, PC Jr etc?

TacticalCoder•6mo ago
There's a company who's remaking the IBM Model F (even better feeling than a Model M).

https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/

Not cheap but I think he got the patent, tooling, and all.

Duanemclemore•6mo ago
Eliot Noyes Sighting!

One of the GOATS. Thanks for posting - there's so much awesome stuff here beyond his designs, but as an architect I gotta rep my man.

fuzzfactor•6mo ago
Take a look at 194,856 by Noyes.

Expired in 1977 and instantly recognizable as the unique architectural profile almost exactly copied by Exxon Office Systems for the Exxon Intelligent Typewriter which was out by 1979. Later known as Qyx machines they had a magnetically levitated interchangeable daisy-wheel instead of an IBM typeball for the different fonts & symbols. Available with up to two 5 1/4" floppy drives, this was before IBM PC's arrived.

terrisdotcom•6mo ago
Praise Kier!
tiltowait•6mo ago
> German Utility Patent 1,279,693

This one's pretty amazing to see, given how close it is in appearance to the Ergodox and other "glove keyboards" (rather, the other way around—they all resemble IBM's patent!).

> British Utility Patent 1,363,777 (GB1363777A)

While the buckling spring switches used in the Model M (or, for those with more rarified tastes, Model F) are rightly lauded, the beamspring is less well-known. The individual modules are absolutely massive as far as keyswitches go, but they feel wonderful to type on. They were designed to evoke the Selectric so as to be familiar to new users, and some models, such as the 3278, even included a solenoid that would click with each keypress. They also featured doubleshot keycaps and were absolute bricks that make the Model M seem a featherweight by comparison.

Asooka•6mo ago
Well, there are only so many ways to design a split mirrored keyboard that fits the shape of the human hand. The other "natural" keyboards that are a standard PC keyboard cut down the middle seem entirely pointless to me - you are already making people adapt to the split form factor, why not give them something a tad more ergonomic? Or are there other patents at play that prevented it before ErgoDox etc.?
bjoli•6mo ago
The solenoids in IBMs keyboard did not click. It was more of a bang. I have had 2 (one F and one of those beamspring ones. Can't remember exactly which B it was).

The F was loud, the model B was just spectacular. Amazing to type one after I fixed it, but with the solenoid plugged in it was unbearable.

nikanj•6mo ago
I'm surprised buckling spring keyboards are not widely available, despite being years out of patent
Asooka•6mo ago
They require higher manufacturing costs and aren't compatible with the standard Cherry keyswitch that every Chinese mechanical keyboard manufacturer uses. I know a while ago someone tried to produce a buckling spring keyswitch in a Cherry form factor, but I don't think anything came out of it. There is also very low demand. In any case, you can always buy a new one from Unicomp for a reasonable price.
tracker1•6mo ago
Love my Unicomp keyboards... but have had some minor issues... I've been mostly using brown-switch daskeyboard backlit models lately. My current desktop can't get into the bios via my unicomp 104-key, which is pretty annoying to say the least. I miss the bigger space bar and ctrl/win/alt positioning on the left side. There's really something to years of muscle memory that even years later a different keyboard can throw you off.

I also liked the buckling spring feel a bit more than MX browns. And definitely prefer Cherry MX Brown to any other brown-like knockoff switch I've tried.

I can hardly handle typing on an actual laptop keyboard... half the time, depending on my needs I'll stuff a full size keyboard in my bag. I'll also opt for either a BT mouse, or a magic pad.

2earth•6mo ago
Exceptional archive, thanks for your work!
merelysounds•6mo ago
Note that these are not just concepts but shipped projects. E.g. the description often says “An ornamental design depicting (name of the actual device)”.
II2II•6mo ago
Mostly. It was noted that the split/ergonomic keyboard was never shipped by IBM. (Though it mentioned that the patent is cited by Kinesis, presumably because the 1968 patent had expired and was being used as prior art?)
barelysapient•6mo ago
Ive been collecting Model M and Model F keyboards from IBM off from Ebay over the last few years. I've got quite a collection now. Only the IBM manufactured keyboards, no Lexmark or third-party.

I remember typing on a Model M as a kid. My fingers pushing the empty spaces between CTRL and ALT, where on newer keyboards, an OS meta now lives.

I remember writing Basic. Then Turbo Pascal. Full of curiosity and wonder.

The IBM authentic keyboards have a badge on the back with the year and month of manufacture. Most of these keyboards are older than my co-workers. Many still function correctly.

They're a joy to use.