Do you hate that your siblings, stressed-out co-workers, or curtain-twitching neighbours can’t tell when you’re TYPING ON THE INTERNET!!1?
If so, I’ve found the perfect app for you.
It’s called Bucklespring and it’s either super annoying or nostalgically amazing.
Those of you of who are, let’s say ‘of a certain vintage’ may be familiar with the thunderous clack, clack, clack that typing on a buckling spring keyboard, like the (revered) IBM Model-M produces.
Buckling spring keyboards are so named because each key contains a spring that buckles when pressed. The monochromatic animated GIF to the right demos the mechanism in action.
The sound those old-school mechanical keyboards make is iconic.
So guess what the nostalgia/headache-inducing open-source app Bucklespring does?
Buckling spring keyboard sound
Bucklespring runs in the background and when you press any key it plays a click-clack-clunk sound, as though you are actually typing on an physical IBM Model-M keyboard.
You don’t get the physical gratification that comes from the release of a buckling spring key, but you do get the aural annoyance/brilliance.
“The sound of each key has carefully been sampled, and is played back while simulating the proper distance and direction for a realistic 3D sound palette of pure nostalgic bliss,” states the Github page for the app.
While there’s no easy way to stop the clacking of keys after you’ve started (though a killall command will do the job if needed), but you can temporarily mute the app at any time by pressing the ScrollLock key twice.
Which is great if you happen to have one…
Install Bucklespring App in Ubuntu
You can install the Bucklespring snap in in Ubuntu (or other supported Linux distributions) from the Snap Store, either using the Ubuntu Software app (or App Center in 23.10 and above) or from the command line.
Pop open a new terminal window and run:
sudo snap install bucklespring
Once the app is installed launch the ‘Bucklespring’ app from the application picker.
And the rest… Well, you’ll hear it!
Snap apps may have a lot of fine, technically reasoned uses but delivering minor amusements like this to my desktop in second is surely among the most compelling!
Thanks Popey