How nice to be typing this on a new (actually, refurbished) Northgate keyboard. Northgate is to computer users what Stradivarius is to fiddle players. There are many differences between Northgate keyboards and all others but I think the most salient is that Northgate keyboards are wonderful and other keyboards stink. A Northgate has a wonderful tactile "click" sensation that provides familiarity to any fingers that put in a few decades on an old IBM Selectric or some other, similar electric typewriter. They're built sturdy — their makers did not intend them to be replaced every few years — and most models have function keys on the left where God intended them to be.
The Northgate company made great keyboards. That established them in the marketplace and they used the rep and profits to expand into computers and other components. They were one of the first companies that would sell you a whole desktop system so cheap — and provide such fine 24/7 telephone support — that you'd buy from them instead of some local (to you) retailer. I bought and used a Northgate computer for years and it was quite wonderful. Sadly, they were outmarketed by the likes of Dell and Gateway…and in 1977, the Northgate company went bye-bye. [CORRECTION: See next posting.]
But their keyboards did not. I kept the one that came with my Northgate computer and I also had the one I'd owned before that. Since then, I've acquired others — there's a thriving market for them on eBay — and had them all cleaned and refurbished a couple of times. If you're a Northgate user and you need a good place to fix yours, drop me a note. I found a great guy for this on the Internet.
Yes, I've tried other keyboards but I've been spoiled. There's a company called Avant Stellar that makes a pretty good authorized clone of the Northgate Omni Key 102 and those are good…but when I go back to a real Northgate, I can feel a shade of difference. The Avant Stellars also don't seem to last quite as long but they're still the only other keyboards I really like. I wish I could figure out some way to have one on my laptop.
Don't write and tell me how much you like some other brand. That's what your fingers like. Mine like Northgates and as long as I have my little inventory of them and can keep have them renovated, that's what I'm using. The difference is that when I work on any other kind of keyboard, I feel like I'm writing. And when I work on a Northgate, I feel like I'm WRITING.