Which key switch next?

[Muirium]

That's the magic of the AT: it's essentially a keyboard layout experiment kit. There's a ton you can do with one. And it feels similar enough to an XT that I consider it a much more desirable piece of kit.

The XT can theoretically play the same games. You can open it up and move the springs around just as well as you can on an AT. But! The XT's barrels are in bad places. You really can't do much with it using Model M or other available caps.

For instance: all those keys in the bottom row at 2 units wide. Ugh! You can't move the barrels, and any cap you put on them will be too small and look like a smile with missing teeth.

Then there's that vertical Return key. No way to make that go away and replace it with ANSI. Not that I know about, at least.

Remap your XT in software as much as you like. It's a damn solid, spectacularly sharp feeling board, and every bit as loud! But the physical layout is essentially beyond repair. You can alter the identity of keys, but actually putting on different caps and moving things around is where the trouble lies.

[snarfarlarkus]

That's the magic of the AT: it's essentially a keyboard layout experiment kit. There's a ton you can do with one. And it feels similar enough to an XT that I consider it a much more desirable piece of kit.

The XT can theoretically play the same games. You can open it up and move the springs around just as well as you can on an AT. But! The XT's barrels are in bad places. You really can't do much with it using Model M or other available caps.

For instance: all those keys in the bottom row at 2 units wide. Ugh! You can't move the barrels, and any cap you put on them will be too small and look like a smile with missing teeth.

Then there's that vertical Return key. No way to make that go away and replace it with ANSI. Not that I know about, at least.

Remap your XT in software as much as you like. It's a damn solid, spectacularly sharp feeling board, and every bit as loud! But the physical layout is essentially beyond repair. You can alter the identity of keys, but actually putting on different caps and moving things around is where the trouble lies.

I don't want to open it up anyway as I don't know what to do and do not want to break any fragile components inside the keyboard itself.

How are you living without an escape key on your AT? And are you using the oddly shaped modifer keys on your AT?

And am I able to remap a key to register another key that is already registered? Like I want to register the key next to the return key on the XT so its like an ISO layout

[seebart]

You won't break anything on an IBM AT unless you use brute force. Its not fragile in any way.

[chzel]

`~ is my Esc as in a 60%.
And yes, really hard to break anything except flippers!

[Muirium]

Mmm… not quite true. The spacebar is a tricky bastard thanks to how it's mounted from inside on both the the XT and AT. And you don't want to go twisting springs while you close things back up, either. Also the AT case can require a remarkable amount of violence, like mine! Definitely read up on opening them before delving in.

http://deskthority.net/workshop-f7/open ... t9791.html

My AT does have an Escape key. I put it there (in the HHKB position) myself!



And yes, I'm keeping the stepped mods. But I could replace them with Model M mods if I wanted to. Unlike the XT, where that looks real bad because of the size mismatch.

[seebart]

Yes spacebar is tricky on the AT, but hardly breakable. Unless one has a nervous breakdown while trying to remount spacebar!

[Muirium]

I've snapped a flipper doing this stuff. There's a lot of moving parts in these guys, and they need to be correctly aligned while you squeeze it all back together again. It's not brain surgery but I can still make mistakes!

[chzel]

Same here, first time I tried to close it, the spacebar flipper was out of it's spot and I snapped one of it's feet. Superglued it back up and relegated it to a corner key.

[seebart]

Yeah I broke two flippers on my 3104 upon plate reassembly. Even the broken flippers (one foot) still work.

[Muirium]

Superglue… why didn't I think of that? Better dig out my broken flipper collection! I've got three or four maybe (some came that way). Always need more Model F flippers. My HHKBifying and Big Ass splitting (ahem) always adds more keys to these boards, which need more flippers of course.

[chzel]

Thankfully the flippers seem to be brittle enough to break cleanly with no deformation, and such a glue-up is the ideal scenario for superglue.
On the other hand, XT barrels seem impervious to superglue and epoxy. My XT had a crushed barrel when I got it, it's working, but I did try to repair it!

[snarfarlarkus]

Is there a way I can change the vertical return key to a horizontol return key on an XT?

[chzel]

This is probably the closest you are going to get to a horizontal return...

[andrewjoy]

If you need a few flippers I can sort you out

[seebart]

If you need a few flippers I can sort you out

I might take you up on that offer, shipping should be tolerable.

[snarfarlarkus]

This is probably the closest you are going to get to a horizontal return...

Damn. Can you assign two different keys to register the same command? And can you disable the key fully? Like the key will just not register anything if you press it? Cheers

[andrewjoy]

you should be able to yeh,

I just use the XT as it , if it was good enough for a 5150 its good enough for me

[alh84001]

(this is the closest to the F/XT thread I could find, so pardon the necro)

I finally received my "new" XT (nod to Redmaus). My god does it ping! The ping is not uniform, and I guess that's normal because it depends on the position on the backplate. I think I'll need to do the floss mod.

When I get home, I'll compare it with my M, to better feel the difference side by side. The keys do seem lighter (except the space which is heavy, even to me), and the board is a blunt weapon. I can't imagine how it feels to hold the F122. F62 should also be fun since it's around the same weight only smaller.

[Chyros]

I can't imagine how it feels to hold the F122.

I was reorganising my keyboards yesterday evening and I had to move the F122. It's so much heavier than anything else I have it's just remarkable. Every time I pick it up I'm surprised by just how heavy it is Oo .

[JBert]

I think I'll need to do the floss mod.

Noooooo...

The keys do seem lighter (except the space which is heavy, even to me)

You can fix that, though it's at your own risk.