Identifying a Model M

[leoblack9]

Hi y'all I came from under a rock, and i was just strolling along the local flea market site and found this.

Seller says it came with a 486 computer




No logo in front; different prints on the back.

Is it a buckling spring model M?

[webwit]

Nope, probably Alps or some other old Asian switch. Take off a keycap and make a photo of the switch.

[leoblack9]

Aw, thats a bummer. Well let's wait and see. I'm meeting up with the seller tomorrow to buy it.

[andrewjoy]

I am going to take a wild guess and say dampened alps, dont know why just got a feeling.

Let us know how it turns out

[leoblack9]

Got it, took a picture. Will let you guys decide




It feels linear; which is sadly I don't really like.

[Charlie_Brown_MX]

On the plus-side, it has double-shot Cherry caps, so you shouldn’t have any problems selling them on.

[kbdfr]

On the plus-side, it has double-shot Cherry caps, so you shouldn’t have any problems selling them on.

It even has a non-stepped CapsLock keycap. Good catch.

[RC-1140]

as nobody else has said it, and you apparently don't know: these look like platemounted Cherry MX Blacks. But they look like clones. Real Cherry MX switches would have the Cherry Logo on top of the casing, and an opening, in which a jumper wire, or a diode is placed. Because of this I doubt that the keycaps are Cherry ones. But this is one of the really better clones. Double Shot keycaps, and the font looks damn close to the Cherry font. This kind of Caps lock key (without a step in it) is often being looked for though.

[andrewjoy]

They may be clones but the quality of the lettering is quite good.

One wonders why you would go to the expense of getting double shot caps if you are going to use rip off Cherry switches.

Guess we will never know, still good find

[JBert]

as nobody else has said it, and you apparently don't know: these look like platemounted Cherry MX Blacks. But they look like clones. Real Cherry MX switches would have the Cherry Logo on top of the casing, and an opening, in which a jumper wire, or a diode is placed.

They could be mounted upside down, but then again, it doesn't look like there's "Cherry" printed on those.

[leoblack9]

So do you guys have any idea how much I could get for these double shot keycaps?

[JBert]

That's something you'd normally ask in the How much is my ____ worth? thread in the marketplace...

Quite frankly, I don't have any idea. You might check what the unstepped caps lock key looks like on the underside to see if it fits a modern keyboard, but that "bigass" enter key likely won't fit anywhere.

[andrewjoy]

if it was real ANSI i would take it off you but the model F AT style enter and esc is a bit of a pain

[leoblack9]

That's something you'd normally ask in the How much is my ____ worth? thread in the marketplace...

Quite frankly, I don't have any idea. You might check what the unstepped caps lock key looks like on the underside to see if it fits a modern keyboard, but that "bigass" enter key likely won't fit anywhere.

I already posted a question in that thread, thanks.

And I'm quite curious why there weren't that many mechanical keyboards that have those huge enter keys, as most rubber domes I've had all had huge enter keys.

if it was real ANSI i would take it off you but the model F AT style enter and esc is a bit of a pain

So sad. I wish it was a real Model F/M/any IBM kb.

[itlnstln]

And I'm quite curious why there weren't that many mechanical keyboards that have those huge enter keys, as most rubber domes I've had all had huge enter keys.

It might have been country of origin. These days, anyway, many of the mechanicals with the large Enter keys come out of Taiwan (IIRC). It might have been the same thing back then. Many of the older, mechanical keyboards with large Enter keys were all ALPS-based.

[andrewjoy]

You mean why did they have real enter keys rather than sissy ANSI ones ?

I am getting used to ANSI now ( i have to if i want cool key caps ect) but that does not distract form the fact that ISO just makes more sense.