grap
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The wiki at https://deskthority.net/wiki is pretty good as a beginner resource. The forum is kind of ok for restoration information but is mostly autistic screeching these days - anything that has any of the following can be desirable:
- Alps SKCM/SKCL/SKCC/SKFL
- IBM membrane/capacitive buckling spring
- Hi-Tek Series 725 ("Space Invaders")
- SMK 2nd Generation ("Monterey")
- Various Cherry MXes if you're that way inclined
- NEC Blue/Cream/Black Ovals (warning: buy clean, these are impossible to open)
Things to avoid:
Mitsumi KPQ/KKQ
Key-Tronic of any description (even if you turn out to like these cursed switches, the foam rots away)
Micro Switch (no good for a beginner, real hell on earth to get working over USB - my Micro Switch SW board has languished in the project pile for over a year)
There's a bunch of other stuff out there that's cool, but that's the vast majority of stuff you'll see that can be had for a reasonable price. If you see a keyboard on eBay 9x out of 10 you can google the model number and someone will be talking about it. After a few years of doing this I've become pretty good at spotting interesting undocumented stuff solely off keycap sculpt, legend font, shit like that. Keyboards just give off vibes. You also get a feel for what's just a beige office dome (hint: usually the bottom case has a huge recess in it, or lots and lots of screws). Ebay sellers are notorious for reporting any keyboard they get as being amazing, so worth checking any model numbers you can.
Thank you so much, this is very helpful!