My new retro keyboards from Perixx

As I've previously written, I like to get hardware that works and then just stick with it. Often, this also means going with budget friendly options, because I don't think I could ever afford replacements for high end mice, keyboards, headsets and so on. The good news is that while I've experienced untold amounts of bad hardware due to this approach, sometimes you also get reasonably lucky and there's good stuff out there as well.

I currently have:

• two Fifine K669 microphones
• two Savio CAK-01 USB webcams
• two Genesis Argon 120 (or 200) backup headsets
• and a White Shark Ocelot GH-2042 as my main headset
• a mix of USB gaming mice that I wrote about here and more recently also some honeycomb pattern lightweight mice I found on AliExpress

Maybe I went a bit overboard with the mice, though admittedly they also have the shortest lifespan of any of the budget components: sometimes the buttons aren't 100% responsive, sometimes the scroll wheel becomes inaccurate or clicking it doesn't register or registers twice. Either way, the general theme is that when a component goes bad I should be able to pull one from my backup stash (just a drawer I have in my cupboard) and continue working with the same hardware I've gotten used to, without interruption. That sure beats having to live with a headset that doesn't output equally loud audio to both ears due to me yanking it too hard on accident, or having to deal with unreliable mouse clicks.

Up until recently, my situation with the keyboards I use was all over the place, though:

• Ozone Strike X30 - this might have been my first mechanical keyboard ever back in university, still around and keeps working
• Spc Gear GK650K - a really nice feeling mechanical keyboard that I also still have, fitted it with o-rings to dampen sound, same as above
• Redragon Shiva K512 - a Redragon membrane keyboard with a really nice wrist rest, sadly it wore out pretty quickly, no longer have it
• Preyon PLSB104B - a really cheap mechanical keyboard that felt nice (got it for around 35 EUR I think), sadly got unlucky with QC and some keys went dead, which in practice makes it unusable, so I no longer have it
• some Logitech K120 backups - while not the nicest typing experience, rock solid in my experience, perfectly cromulent for using when I need a keyboard for my homelab server (reinstalling, when I mess up the SSH server, or when there is some annoying boot failure)

While it might seem like a lot (and there's also one Genesis Thor with black mechanical switches, but I don't remember the exact model: sadly their QC was so bad that even the warranty replacement I got also ended up with dead keys within a month), this has probably been over a decade and would maybe cover one good keyboard (good Logitech, Keychron and Cherry keyboards are around 240-300 EUR over here), not even likely its replacement.

Also, when I move to a new keyboard for whatever reason, often times the old ones are still there for me to occasionally go back to, or in case the new one breaks - similarly to how by now I have a few AM4 CPUs laying around, while I've more or less maxxed out how far I want to go with my current Ryzen 7 5800X (an X3D chip would be nice, but frankly I don't need it).

So all in all, while my approach probably isn't for everyone, it makes a lot of sense to me, especially since only two of those keyboards had properly bad QC and one also just wore out (the quality ones also would and then I'd need to dig into replacing keycaps and such). However, since things were all over the place, I wanted to simplify it and find some models that are good enough for me long term.

I think I've finally managed to do just that.

My new keyboards, hopefully for the next decade

The other day I was window shopping on my local e-commerce store and found some classic looking keyboards by a company called Perixx.

Visually, they reminded me at least a little bit of the old IBM keyboards, which caught my attention. You see, some day I'd love something like an IBM Model M keyboard, because those are really well respected, the modern iteration of which would be those made by Unicomp. There's even a Linus Tech Tips video on them from a while back. Unfortunately, those Unicomp keyboards cost around 165 EUR and the shipping (which, when I last checked, was also around 100 EUR for the bulky keyboard) makes getting one a complete non-starter.

So what are the keyboards I found instead, that I could actually buy? Here they are:

Those are two different models that I found for pretty good surprising prices, given what they are:

• Periboard 106 - 35 EUR for a good membrane keyboard (though the non US layouts are even cheaper)
• Periboard 108M - 45 EUR for a mechanical keyboard (comes in both red and brown switches)

While that is maybe more than I'd normally want to pay for a membrane keyboard, the mechanical keyboard price more than makes up for it. It's not like it was a package deal or whatever, but I figured that I might as well get both, because I occasionally like to switch between a mechanical and membrane keyboard for the sake of it. Good membrane keyboards are still pretty pleasant! Seeing as most of the keyboards marketed as "retro" or "vintage" have that stupid typewriter look and round keys that I frankly cannot imagine using for any length of time, I snagged both of these instead.

Here they are unpacked:

And here's a quick YouTube video I made of what they sound like: Perixx keyboard sound test: Periboard-106 and Periboard-108

Right now, I'm actually using the membrane one, and I have to say, that it's about as good as those get. I don't doubt that eventually it will wear out, but by then I will also have backups - because while the deal is on and this model is available, I ended up ordering some backups. You see, I got some positive reviews of the brand from my friends and overall don't imagine that these particular models will be in rotation for super long.

My honest review is that from all of the keyboards I have, they are some of the better ones and an absolute must buy for the price, if you like their designs:

• there is very little deck flex (the least from any that I've used)
• there is very little key wobble
• the spacebar is balanced properly and sounds actually decent and not distracting (the Preyon one scratched on every press, it was horrible)
• the keys feel good, in the months I've been using even the membrane keyboard it hasn't really gotten sloppy to use either
• you don't get braided cables, but the included one is long and thick enough for that not to be a problem (sadly NOT detachable)
• it also has this groove in the keyboard body to route it through, there are little keyboard stands as you'd expect, no problems there
• no backlights or illumination might be an issue to some, but personally I don't find that to be an issue
• I might have maybe also liked to see a palm rest, but frankly it's fine without

The biggest critique I've actually seen is people complaining about the color scheme of the numpad 0 and DEL keys, so apologies if you cannot unsee it now either.

Both are made in China, and then get their stickers or whatever put on in Germany (presumably after some additional QC), which is how I imagine a lot of the budget friendly companies operate nowadays. The good news is that for now these keyboards seem to be available on some local stores, on Amazon, as well as their own EU store, but there is absolutely no guarantee that once the batch that they ordered from whatever factory makes them is sold out, that they'll order another.

That is my only objection in comparison to some of the more iconic Logitech or Cherry models, because having any sort of an upgrade path or getting new old stock is wishful thinking with these.

Can I find out who really makes them?

But what if I can find who makes these keyboards and source them from the factory directly, often times cheaper than first party ones? That's what I did with the mice I have and it worked out really nicely - I got them for about 2-3 EUR a piece, so having enough backups to last me nearly a decade cost me less overall than a single reputable mouse (I'm sure there are qualitative differences, but I'm not an e-sports player and I found models with good tracking and latency).

So first up, I went to AliExpress.

Sadly, it had the problem I already mentioned, where a lot of the retro and vintage listings are quite unsuitable, alongside an odd focus on smaller size keyboards, like look at how the arrow keys are smushed into the body and how the right shift and CTRL / menu buttons are just gone, alongside the numpad 0 being small size, what a harrowing sight:

I did shop around a bunch, and while they do have occasional nice deals, it seems like this particular model of keyboard, either of them, wasn't popular. Afterwards, I went to Alibaba, thinking my luck might be better there. To that site's credit, I did find some superficially similar models, albeit not in the layout that I'd like.

Behold, the Digimore New Classic Retro keyboard, which can be had for short of 16 EUR!

A great deal... if you are okay with a minimum order quantity of 1000 pieces:

Unfortunately, while I quite enjoy having backup hardware, I don't think I'd have enough space in my apartment for 999 spares.

There were also some mechanical old timey looking keyboards, like the K517 Wired Mechanical Retro Gaming Keyboard (the slurry of tags and putting "gaming" in the title being essential for selling a keyboard, of course), albeit the 2000-3000 piece discounts also suggested that they wouldn't be too interested in sending me just two:

Don't get me wrong, I could probably just ask for "samples" and pay for those individually, it's just that it'd be a little tiny bit misleading - because it's not like I'd ever make a volume purchase from them, unless I'd also be interested in selling mechanical keyboards like that. I mean, I might like to do that, but I'm not sure I want to invest like 20k EUR of capital to upstart that, not having sales know-how myself.

Unfortunately while some similar keyboards did jump out, I didn't find these exact ones. It's good in the sense that at least there's options, it's bad because neither of the Perixx models are established enough to have a stable supply of whitelabel parts for me to draw from in the following decade.

I did want to look more into the particular models.

Periboard-106

The membrane keyboard first, because its curve and form factor are pretty distinctive, and I enjoy those a whole lot.

Here's the back plate:

To me, nothing seemed too revealing here, but Claude did find a similar keyboard design from Chicony Electronics, though the story there was a little bit odd:

You see, apparently they had a KU-3923 model way back with a PS/2 connector that also looked a bit different from the modern variety, but either way they're an ODM (original design manufacturer), so that more or less means that they'd provide their products for other companies to brand themselves. That part was okay, but also meant that I wouldn't necessarily be getting those keyboards directly anytime soon.

They also had a whole catalogue of keyboards in an admittedly horribly slow website, where some looked a bit similar:

In particular, here's their KU-3923, albeit in different colors:

Sadly, the page was barren of any useful information, as is sometimes the case in these weird B2B sites. Also I find it just a little bit odd that a Taiwanese company would have the design, whereas the Perixx backplate says that it's manufactured in China, so maybe there's more than one of these designs floating around out there.

Some more searching around revealed different versions, including with the correct color scheme and the PS/2 connectors floating around, though it was somewhat inconclusive and was mostly in foreign forums, so I didn't really spend more time digging into the details:

I did find some similar eBay listings that did have the same capslock design and also the same USB placement (the exit point of that channel in the chassis), however it seems like there was also a company called TigerSystems involved in manufacturing or at least selling them at some point:

Those weren't new old stock though and were all pre-owned despite the nice price, so probably unsuitable for my needs - why buy a worn keyboard, when ideally I'd be able to find a new one? I looked into it a bit more yet, and it seems that the design is similar to an IBM KB-3923 and seems like WYSE also made compatibles, which might actually be produced for them by Chicony, so it seems like the Perixx keyboard actually has a bit of history behind it:

Apparently the design itself never got that much love or community around it, but first mentions of something similar are in the same decade when I was born, which was definitely interesting to read. Either way, it was an odd but also cool rabbit hole, makes me think that I'm in good hands here, as long as the QC remains okay - and that finding some compatibles in the future also might NOT be completely hopeless. Or maybe I should just e-mail Perixx and ask about the future availability of that model.

Periboard-108

Now, afterwards, the mechanical keyboard. This one is good but admittedly more conventional (Gateron switches, from what I can tell).

Here's the back plate:

This was decidedly a more weird and unfortunately much shorter search. Neither I, nor Claude could find any other existing keyboard models like it:

I even tried the Alibaba reverse image search, but that also turned up nothing, whereas googling the product pictures verbatim seemed to bring up just the Perixx site and nothing decisive.

The closest to it that I could find was the Ducky Origin Vintage, but obviously that is both more expensive and also a different design - as you can see, it has additional media keys (which I wouldn't necessarily mind). There was also the Durgod keyboards, particularly the 300 and 600 series, though again that's a slightly different design, even though it could be a pretty good replacement! The little marking on the spacebar is even the same, but the line of LEDs is all different, they are also for a bit more of an expensive market segment, coming with Cherry MX keys.

It was still nice to see at least some keyboards that are at least somewhat similar to the old designs, with modern mechanical switches and also full sized, with numpads. These Perixx keyboards, those were not - I wonder where the company even managed to source those 2 models of theirs from.

So where does that leave me?

In the end, I got some keyboards that work pretty well and that I'm happy with, but unfortunately no clear path to get new ones when I might need to. The best I can do is just hope that Perixx does another run of those and that they don't become super expensive in the future. Maybe that's why getting some spares was actually a good idea!

In case you're interested, you can look at the Perixx Periboard 106 here (I think they also have a US site):

And you can also find their Perixx Periboard 108M here (also seems to have limited layout options, hmm):

As for myself, I wonder if 4 keyboards (2 mechanical, 2 membrane, one of which I'm using right now; though technically I still have those two older mechanical ones and the K120, too) will be enough to keep me covered until I find some new ones that I similarly like and that are actually worth the money without feeling like robbery, currently things are looking pretty hopeful as long as none of those are duds:

While OSHA wouldn't appreciate the way I'm storing my stash (the overhanging edge is angled upwards despite how it looks in the picture, but hey it ended up freeing up some space in my cupboard), overall I feel like I got a pretty good deal! May everyone find some hardware that they like and can afford, and that will serve them long term - be it something expensive but dependable, or something more affordable but with the ability for you to get sufficient redundancy, as I do.