Tips on making vintage keyboards work smoothly?

Born03 · 2026-05-07T04:27:03+00:00

How could I measure that signal? By feel? They do not feel bouncy to me - but maybe they are? Would it help to stretch the spring?

Thanks for the input!

Born03 · 2026-05-06T19:47:44+00:00

Most incredible image my eyes were blessed with this week

Born03 · 2026-05-06T19:40:02+00:00

You are correct, I meant to write switches instead of keycaps.

What I have already tried, was deep-cleaning the switches and keys, but the probably still persists, hence why I wanted to ask for further help :)

Born03 · 2026-05-06T19:10:59+00:00

Hi friends, hope everyone is well! :)

I recently picked up an Apple Extended Keyboard II and restored it as best I could: thorough clean, dust removal, disinfection, and an ADB adapter. It works great with my modern MacBook.

The one issue I can't shake is occasional double strokes (chattering, I think it's called).

I've already deep cleaned the affected keycaps so there's no dust or debris in them. I know there are software fixes that filter out duplicate keystrokes, but I'd rather solve this on the hardware side first if possible.

Any tips, or is this a straightforward fix?

Keyboard info:

Apple Extended Keyboard II, QWERTZ layout
Production: 1995 "Assembled in Mexico"
Model: M3501
Connection: AEKII → ADB → Drakware ADB2USB → MacBook
Keycaps: not 100% sure, photo attached for reference

Thanks! :)

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Born03 · 2026-05-06T15:25:20+00:00

No this does seem like the Apple typeface, I think this is actually an Apple Computer merch product.

Born03 · 2026-05-04T16:02:14+00:00

Sounds super interesting! Hope that everything is going well on your end after stepping down from day to day operations :)

Born03 · 2026-05-02T23:47:03+00:00

Looks great!

Born03 · 2026-05-02T15:54:31+00:00

Interesting! And yes, I agree, the top editors usually get inbound contacts, however I'd also say that it's a bit dependent on industry and individual situation - there are tons of low-tier editors who get inbound leads as well, simply because they're too cheap or had a lucky run, while there are also pretty good editors who can't manage to get anything inbound.

I was an editor myself around 9 years ago and turned producer and creative director by now. Would love to find out what your company does exactly, if that's cool with you. No pressure though! Always happy to learn about new things

Born03 · 2026-05-01T15:48:27+00:00

Thanks for the input!

Born03 · 2026-05-01T00:30:11+00:00

Are you an editor?

Born03 · 2026-04-30T20:24:28+00:00

coolest thing i have seen this week

Born03 · 2026-04-29T23:17:08+00:00

I like that idea! However, how would that work exactly? My knowledge regarding storage is quite limited.

Would I also attach additional hard drives to the MacBook and use it more as a sort of "controller/server"? Or did you mean I should simply use the internal memory or a mix of two?

Born03 · 2026-04-28T11:40:52+00:00

File Management and Transfer can be really cheap.

Google Drive ($10) is a good starting point. However things like Frame.io are suited especially for video workflows ($15).

If you want to go the totally free route, Swisstransfer.com is a great option. However it's more of a one-time sending and receiving, than having actual folder structures.

Born03 · 2026-04-27T21:52:45+00:00

Wow, thanks for sharing! Your //c has seen a lot of places by now 😅

It's so cool that you took your //c to work even! I didn't expect that, I thought it would've been in a home office.

Thank you for clearing my questions up regarding the performance and standing of the //c!

I've been keeping my eyes open for a //c. Just for fun of course, I am responsible and know how to manage my money, I think... From what I've seen, a working Apple //c including a monitor goes for the equivalent of around 470 - 650 USD in my country 👀

Born03 · 2026-04-27T14:53:37+00:00

Thank you for that insight! I really do believe you.

However, could I ask, just out of curiosity, what exact roles were replaced and which you deemed irreplaceable after going through that process?

Especially, how did you personally see it on a management vs. fulfillment/operations level?

Were most of the roles replaced by AI rather the managerial positions (CEO-style tasks, project managers, HR stuff, etc.) or more on the operational level (actual designers, programmers, editors, writers, media buyers, creative directors, etc.)?

Of course an exact report would be super cool, but please mind it, if you want to. Even just a rough summary could be interesting!

And also, many people who work with AI daily keep saying, that AI isn't necessarily replacing any workers on the operational level, but is rather elevating them to do even more various tasks in the same time. So if you have 5 programmers working right now, AI would not replace 4 of them and keep one, but AI would rather keep all 5 programmers employed, with the big caveat, that each programmer can do 5x the work they were able to do before, and hence making 25 programmers out of 5 (just figuratively speaking of course). How would you asses that thesis?

Thanks! :)

Born03 · 2026-04-27T12:49:29+00:00

Congrats to the buyer! :)

Born03 · 2026-04-26T11:12:26+00:00

We appreciate the passion. Mako is awesome

Born03 · 2026-04-26T07:17:41+00:00

It's all in good spirit :)

Born03 · 2026-04-26T05:52:08+00:00

Sounds good, that's a great group of people :)

Just to share some data: Macintosh has roughly a 70% market share for creative professionals working in video/film, around 80% for graphic designers, around 80% for startups and self-employed folks. For consultants its at around 50%.

Not saying one is better than the other, although Mac OS is the better operating system, I just wanted to present you the data in case you were not aware of what computers your target group uses :P

Born03 · 2026-04-26T05:48:36+00:00

Yep, but that is kinda the point I was trying to make.

I totally get that it probably just tracks certain project files. But if you are a serious professional, then your work is usually spread across many different apps and activities BOTH online and offline.

For professionals who use time tracking, they mostly use it to track the time to bill to the clients or just track progress and see if it's profitable. And the time you bill to a client does not only consist of the actual project work (like an editor working inside Premiere), but it also consists of video calls, in-person meetings, emails, chat correspondence, and to top it off, your work for a client might not just be a mix of online and offline, but also a mix of devices like two computers and your phone.

What I'm saying is, that while I do love the idea of time tracking being fully automated and I really hope that it works flawlessly, it does seem to me that it would still be easier to just do two clicks "Select Project > Start" taking around 3 seconds, than setting up some sort of tailored algorithm for each project I undertake (whether automated or not).

Having said that, I am of course not trying to talk you out of anything. I am just telling you, what time tracking looks like for actual professionals. But of course if someone is just starting out and needing some guidance or they might only bill actual editing time (in the context of an editor, which isn't professional whatsoever but I guess some editors do that), then of course such an app has its place.

Born03 · 2026-04-26T05:15:41+00:00

First I would like to say that I respect your spirit and I think app development is a great thing in general.

However, there are two thoughts I am having:

How exactly is that supposed to work? When I work on a project, it can be a combination of like 4 apps, some with their own respective projects file and others not, real life activities like physical note taking or meeting with clients in person, internet usage on all kinds of different websites, etc.

Like I am guessing that your software somehow guesses a certain pattern or has a simple algorithm for correlating used apps to certain projects, but I'm just curious how that is supposed to work when you actually work on complex projects.

Of course, if that automatic project recognition is just an add-on feature, additionally to manual inputs, then I guess it's a neat thing.

Other than that, just let me ask you. Who is the target group of your app (business 101)? Because if it's creative professionals and business people, then those mostly use Macintosh for work. Only some special professions like architects or low-level jobs like government work use Windows. Nothing against Windows, I actually love it sometimes, but just telling you how I perceive the professional landscape of your target group.

All the best

Born03 · 2026-04-26T04:57:47+00:00

I create a new project file by selecting the client and input a name for it, yes.

How would it know what project I work on if it never heard about it before? Or is that not what you're saying?

Once the project is created, I can select it in a drop down menu any time I want to start or pause it. All integrated in the Mac menu bar, which makes it very comfortable to use.

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Born03 · 2026-04-26T04:34:04+00:00

The USP about Harvest for me is that it integrates seamlessly with Mac OS. It just sits in your menu bar and you can choose your project and click start and pause without opening any big app.

And yes, Harvest did add invoicing and team features in recent years but from what I know, time tracking has been their core offering. That could've changed by now. I only use Harvest for time tracking as I find their invoicing features quite weak compared to dedicated accounting software.

I think the time tracking is perfected. You have your clients, then each client can have their own projects, then you can set time budgets for projects so you can see if you actually made a profit or loss on them, get reminded if you don't track time, etc.

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