So I've found another convert. A convert to what, you ask? Why, the magnificent IBM Model M keyboard, of course!
The watch supervisor's desk has two workstations at it, that used to be linked with a USB KVM. Well, that went tango uniform, unsurprisingly, so we replaced it with another PS/2 KVM. Of course, that meant we had to swap the keyboard. My opposite number on the day shift grabbed this utterly bletcherous Compaq thingamahootey that felt like typing on stale marshmallows. Yeuccch! I couldn't stand typing on that for a whole watch, much less the rest of deployment, so I went up to our seldom-visited supply locker and ferreted around, and much to my surprise, I turned up a 13 year old IBM Model M. Unsurprisingly, it was in good working condition, and after a once-over with a dust rag, I brought it back down to radio and hooked it up.
The other section's supervisor thought it was too old to be useful. Not surprising, I suppose, for someone born in 1990 - though I bet if I'd looked hard enough I could have found one from before then! (Gah, I feel old!) Of course, after one watch of using it, he changed his tune. "Wow, that one doesn't give me nubble fingers!"
Must be quite the experience, using a real keyboard for the first time. Maybe I'm just spoiled by starting out with 'em...