ALPS SKCC Board ID

[2ZQ]

Hello! Lurk a lot. Have a lot of boards but not a lot of time. Had a quick photoshoot with these two twins that came in last week. Bigass Q club checking in. Have another as well but zero time. Sorry about the fuck quality with my lighting in the pictures. Any help would be appreciated in sourcing what this board is! Happy Holidays.

http://imgur.com/gallery/1vo0o

[Mattr567]

Wow, that's a really cool board! Very interesting mix of different variants of SKCC.

Looks like some kind of Japanese terminal keyboard.

[Parak]

No idea where it's from (other than Japan), but mmmm, I wants its

[ohaimark]

#DTA7

That's remarkable.

[2ZQ]

Wow, that's a really cool board! Very interesting mix of different variants of SKCC.

Looks like some kind of Japanese terminal keyboard.

Definitely a terminal and from Japan (live here). What is interesting to me is the alps mix, quality caps, and the lighting for the keys, but the case is complete shit in comparison. I do have another more basic alps terminal, but it is fully metal and could probably stop a bullet.

No idea where it's from (other than Japan), but mmmm, I wants its

Did I mention that I have two of this model?

[seebart]

#DTA7

That's remarkable.

Yes that is impressive, nice pictures too thanks for sharing. This is a keyboard that I would only expect to see in Japan.

I was going to say that logo is Texas Instruments but I'm not so sure now...

[Wodan]

The ICs are Texas Instrument for sure but ICs like that from TI can be found in tons of keyboards from all kinds of brands. TI is just a very popular supplier and has been for a VERY long time. That does not mean this keyboard was build for/by TI.

The leftmost one on the IC photos (SN74159) is a generic 74-series TTL ICs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_7 ... d_circuits

Code: Select all

74159 	1 	4-line to 16-line decoder/demultiplexer, open collector outputs

The leading "SN" also indicates this is a Texas Instruments chip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7400_seri ... ing_scheme

(e.g. SN for Texas Instruments, DM for National Semiconductor)

[seebart]

The ICs are Texas Instrument for sure but ICs like that from TI can be found in tons of keyboards from all kinds of brands. TI is just a very popular supplier and has been for a VERY long time. That does not mean this keyboard was build for/by TI.

True, I think these old Alps keyboards were built by Alps Electric themselfs but I do not know that for sure! That sticker on the PCB looks very production-esque.

MNDk5ei.jpg (881.77 KiB) Viewed 3983 times

[2ZQ]

The ICs are Texas Instrument for sure but ICs like that from TI can be found in tons of keyboards from all kinds of brands. TI is just a very popular supplier and has been for a VERY long time. That does not mean this keyboard was build for/by TI.

The leftmost one on the IC photos (SN74159) is a generic 74-series TTL ICs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_7 ... d_circuits

Code: Select all

74159 	1 	4-line to 16-line decoder/demultiplexer, open collector outputs

The leading "SN" also indicates this is a Texas Instruments chip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7400_seri ... ing_scheme

(e.g. SN for Texas Instruments, DM for National Semiconductor)

Thank you! Figured they might be helpful in possibly ID this board. The wife is uninterested as always to help me out translating the difficult stuff and aearching so I had to bring it to you guys.

The ICs are Texas Instrument for sure but ICs like that from TI can be found in tons of keyboards from all kinds of brands. TI is just a very popular supplier and has been for a VERY long time. That does not mean this keyboard was build for/by TI.

True, I think these old Alps keyboards were built by Alps Electric themselfs but I do not know that for sure! That sticker on the PCB looks very production-esque.

MNDk5ei.jpg

I think you are correct? I have an ALPS manufactured board with similar stickering unused (will post tomorrow), which is also another bigass Q club member. Hoping to contribute.


Please if I can take any more pictures or give any more information please let me know!

[Chyros]

The styling looks very TI to me, but other than what's been said so far I have nothing definitive.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I somehow knew it would have those super rare eye-stalk switches.

True, I think these old Alps keyboards were built by Alps Electric themselfs but I do not know that for sure! That sticker on the PCB looks very production-esque.

MNDk5ei.jpg

You will notice that the PCB code only contains the centre two letters from the switch series name¹:

12KC183B

By comparison, these labels contain characters 2 through 4:

KCCAC027

If we didn't already know that this was SKCC series, we could have obtained this from that label. I'm still hoping that Alps integrated dome keyboards show up with these labels on, as we can finally start getting the series names for those switches.

If jacobolus ever checks the corresponding label in his Canon typewriter, we should have the series name for Alps plate spring too. (Canon typewriters for some reason always have these stickers; they are however fairly scarce otherwise.)

"KCCAC027" does not end with a final letter, so that suggests early 80s. At a guess, those ICs are dated 1982, but so far my guide to [wiki]dating[/wiki] only covers Hitachi (as their codes are non-obvious).

¹ I realise that Sandy's 1994 Alps catalogue does call SKCM series "CM series", but I also have a datasheet that clearly states (in Japanese) "SKCL/SKLM series", and Technology Transplant seemed to have evidence of "SKFL" series. "Alps CM" is actually a legitimate term, but only for the tactile switches; the linear switches would have to be Alps CL. I prefer using the original/oldest known designation, but I don't plan to revert from SKCM to CM until we have a clearer idea, as I want to keep all the family names consistently listed.

[terrycherry]

Grey share! it looks like a tall variant of SKCC green. I can see white and yellow one, could I have a chance to see the focus high quality photos?
Never seen one keyboard having lots of SKCC LED variant!