deskthority

krabizzwainch wrote: 19 Mar 2025, 16:41 Sure they are all still super old and hard to find, but 3 old hard to find keyboard brands is better than 1!

It's unlikely that the MDT-60 or Lear Siegler keyboards would work on your terminal, but the Z-22 one almost certainly will.

Morrow didn't build any terminals as far as I know. The earlier ones were from Lear Siegler. The Zeniths came later. I had an MD-3 with an MDT-60 terminal, which was also a rebranded Zenith. It had a lovely Alps keyboard, which also worked on the Morrow MD3P (portable). Apparently the portable had ...

This may not be the answer you're looking for, but I believe Morrow supplied Zenith terminals with their later systems. That one looks like a Z-22. Here's an example on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/355283651937

I knew George personally. He was a great storyteller and an honest and honorable ...

Interesting. There aren't many of those out there. Many years ago, before I knew about this site, there was a black TietoEnator keyboard on ebay for $275 or something like that. I wanted the black case, but the seller didn't know much about it, and the price was way too high for me.I've seen and ...

Nice, thanks for sharing. The Northgate goes well with the vintage IBM computer and monitor. Before you tear into the keyboard try typing on it a bit. Alps switches like to be exercised. They can become flaky in storage, and often clear up after a day or three of use.


Pulled out the Omnikey to ...

Nice keyboard! Thanks for sharing. We now have documented examples of Codegen keyboards with SMK, Futaba, and Alps switches. The FCC ID won't tell us which it is, but the internal model number apparently does. The suffix letter seems to be S for SMK, F for Futaba, and A for Alps. Of course we ...

Interesting description. I've played with the Alps mount version of SMK, which are probably very similar. Sounds like your keyboard is by Codegen. If you do a search here for CG101F (no hyphen) you'll find a youtube video (of the same model with Futaba switches). If the site was working right you'd ...

SMK MX mount.

https://deskthority.net/wiki/File:SMK_G2_MX_clicky_--_top.jpg




https://i.imgur.com/0JrmaUf.jpeg

Any ideas about this one? At first glance I thought about a Mitsumi KDM - but the switch in the pic is clicky. And the cross is the same height as the ring.

Unfortunatly the ...

Top or bottom case or both? I used the top half from a 6312 on my KB-101A. Top was identical, bottom was different. Note it has to be the version of the 6311/6312 that matches the KB-101A as the 6311/6312 came in several different styles.

Thanks again. The PC board is the same as the gold label 102 models. I have one of the generic ones myself, also with a Focus label inside. But mine, along with the others I've seen, has no branding at all, just a blank recess where a badge would normally go. No sign of glue or removal marks. One ...

Thank you. The reason I'm asking is because there are some mystery Gen1 102 keyboards that seem to have been built in 1990, after Northgate came out with the Gen2 models. Those seem to have had no Northgate labels or branding, and were probably sold under another brand name. The serial numbers on ...

Wow, nice! Looks like a rebadged Gen1 Northgate 102. It sure isn't like any Focus FK-2001 (which used that style badge) that I've ever seen. Any labels on the bottom side that would tell us more?

Ahhh Everex. Good company. They were relatively local to me, and had a factory outlet where they sold used and refurbed stuff. They were big enough to have Everex branded Toshiba laptops and luggables, and their NMB keyboards were quite nice. Glad to see one again.

Side topic, but there were at least a couple wide aspect CRTs back in the day.

The Morrow Portable Micro Decision computer had a wide aspect CRT. That was from the early '80s. The one pictured in the attached ad has a green CRT, but mine was amber.

In the late '80s Brother made a word processor ...

...and weird that it depends on whether logged in or not. My computer and OS are almost as old as my keyboards, if that makes a difference.

keycap wrote: 27 Oct 2024, 23:53
Weird that everyone else gets a blank page, but I get some 500 error.

"Turbo PC". Generic term, probably just meant the motherboard had a 6 MHz or 8MHz mode, instead of the base 4,77. Might not be branded at all. Many XT clones were built from generic parts, either by the dealer or owner.

Keyboard could be a KB-102A or KB-102AS, or 6012 (all Alps), or a 6312 or 6512 ...

Several of us are having site problems:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=29359

Still not working for me when logged in. No error, just a blank page when I try to go to the wiki.

edit: ...and blank page after sending a post, but not after editing a post..

keycap wrote: 26 Oct 2024, 20:31 Still not working

Removing the "s" doesn't work for me, but logging out does. Something with tracking or cookies?



I can confirm wiki is not accessible for me, too. I only get an empty page but no error. […]


Same here, but removing the "s" from "https" in the URL opens the wiki for me.

By the way,, at about ...

Bob's multi-piece strips are too wide to fit there, but one from a Focus (FK-2001, etc.) or Datacomp (DFK-191, etc.) would probably work.

I've been getting a blank page when I send a post, but they are getting through. Whether malice or just stupidity I can't say. But nothing has changed at my end.

edit: Wiki isn't working for me either. This is new, it worked a couple days ago.

The old info from the Asian collector sites was already mostly gone when I found this site. But people here have mentioned it many times. If that info still exists we'll need someone who can search and translate it. It would be really difficult (and inaccurate) to try to piece it back together from ...

Sorry, I misunderstood you on the overlays. I know that an Ultra doesn't have the write-on inserts, honest! I don't know about Bob's strips, but the originals were made of the same plastic as the LED overlays. Focus used similar ones, as did Datacomp. An erasable marker will just wipe off. I think ...

Excellent, thanks for moving this forward! I haven't had a chance to break out my Northgates to see if the F-key utility works on both Gen2 and Gen3 Ultra models. The Ultra-T was Gen3 only, so it will be the Gen2 Ultra that needs checking.

Bob Tibbetts at Northgate Keyboard Repair sold new F-key ...

White Alps are not all the same! (blue Alps are probably not all the same...but closer than white Alps...) Early white Alps are the same as late blue Alps, unless removing the blue dye from the plastic changed them somehow. White Alps changed over time as the internal parts were updated. Housings ...

Someone or something is messing witth the site, or with you specifically. Yesterday I saw you had replied on the early white Alps thread, but I went back and your reply was gone (and still is)..

The early white SKCM switches with unbranded upper housings should not be confused with switches from 1992-1993 with unbranded upper *and* lower housings (and 1x mold numbering) often found in Datacomp, Datadesk, and Strongman keyboards. I've found at least half a dozen keyboards with these mystery ...

I haven't found any with tall switchplates, but I have examples of white SKCM with unbranded upper housings just like blues.

This one is a Northgate 102 from June 1989. Down the page a bit are photos of one from three weeks earlier with blue SKCM. Those dates are from the paper labels added by ...

Northgate/Focus missing link on ebay. This is a Northgate-badged FK-555 with its paper label (from Northgate) still intact. This one positively ties Vendor # 111 to Focus. The PN (Part Number) is probably an error, listing the first three digits of the "inspection number". That is explainable ...

Looks like they have a "tactile" version also:

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 42440.html