IDENTIFY THE KEYBOARD thread

[guidemetothelight]

No mention of switches, but native USB is typically a Bad Sign.

Iam browsing buyee jp and I found quite a lot of interesting boards, but since they are all japanese, none of them were documented in the wiki. My guess is rubber dome. But since its japan, topre always is the elusive and hoped for alternative.

The clip-on? wrist-rest is definitely a thing.

Its pretty cool tbh

[Muirium]

Looks at pic:



Looks at HHKB. Looks at pic, looks at HHKB…

Nah. Several things say no Topre to me. First of all: those <1u caps on the Windows keys etc. That ain't right. Also, the whole profile of the caps is off: the long modifiers especially don't look Topre-esque at all to me.

My money's on shitty 90s rubberdome.

[guidemetothelight]

My money's on shitty 90s rubberdome.

Yeah , sounds about right...

What isnt shitty rubber dome is this

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Any way of knowing if it comes with greens or with Alps common mount ?
(other then pulling a cap)

[dcopellino]

It's easy, Just look into the source of all our (at least, mine) inferiority complexes.

[guidemetothelight]

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Anybody has a clue ? Ends in 1 hour....
God , why have I discovered buyee.jp

[inozenz]

img.jpg
Anybody has a clue ? Ends in 1 hour....
God , why have I discovered buyee.jp

do you see these plastic thingys in the back in green? thats foil, for rubber domes most likely.

[guidemetothelight]

do you see these plastic thingys in the back in green? thats foil, for rubber domes most likely.

good spot , didnt think about that.
I mean i have seen tyewpriter and laptop modules use the same ribbon cables for connecting the module to the main pc board, but youre right, its most likely a rubber dome.
Man, hunting on buyee is a whole new world.

[guidemetothelight]

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looks cool, cant find any info

[Muirium]

Agreed on the looks and layout. I wouldn't bet it's mechanical, but it's got character for sure.

[guidemetothelight]

Agreed on the looks and layout. I wouldn't bet it's mechanical, but it's got character for sure.

Maybe those pics help anyone. Connector seems weird , I did not spot one like that in the wild yet. Also made in germany could be enticing, iam thinking maybe made by cherry ?

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[inozenz]

Agreed on the looks and layout. I wouldn't bet it's mechanical, but it's got character for sure.

Maybe those pics help anyone. Connector seems weird , I did not spot one like that in the wild yet. Also made in germany could be enticing, iam thinking maybe made by cherry ?
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its rubber dome, most likely preh made not even remotely close to any cherry product
there wasnt just cherry in germany, robotron was also a huge deal back then

[guidemetothelight]

its rubber dome, most likely preh made not even remotely close to any cherry product
there wasnt just cherry in germany, robotron was also a huge deal back then

Thanks for the Info ! Didnt realize that preh was german

[TNT]

Thanks for the Info ! Didnt realize that preh was german

Yes! The company has quite the interesting history, and especially their early boards are very interesting, but 2011 they sold off their keyboard department.

[guidemetothelight]

Update on the mistery board. Seems like rubber dome to me

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[inozenz]

Update on the mistery board. Seems like rubber dome to me

told ya
i wonder if you can use these keycaps for futaba inversecrossmount

[guidemetothelight]

i wonder if you can use these keycaps for futaba inversecrossmount

Well, if somebody wants to find out , (its not gonna be me) here is the link to the offer

Gerade bei #Kleinanzeigen gefunden. Wie findest du das?

Spoiler:

https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/ ... nt=app_ios

[guidemetothelight]

I feel kinda bad for being the sole person "spamming" this thread but welp, bored @work again so here we go

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Does anyone know with what switches this epson laptop came ?
It looks like it uses some kind of discrete switch, this pic is from the buyee offer I found ( god, that website will be the death of me)

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[Muirium]

Cute laptop. Kana DOS is hi-rez. Looks like rubber dome, though, to me. Just a hunch, mind.

To my not as well trained as you’d think eye: there’s no visible switch housings above the plate, just what look like sliders, and the sandwich is so shallow I doubt there’s mechanisms involved.

[guidemetothelight]

there’s no visible switch housings above the plate, just what look like sliders, and the sandwich is so shallow I doubt there’s mechanisms involved.

Thats the reason I like to post in here... explenations like yours help me to identify and learn to look for clues as to what exactly iam looking at through the web

[tobe_b]

I found a Unikey KB-6153 when looking through old stuff. German layout, switches are clicky and soldered to a PCB, connector is DIN (here I replaced the cable with a Soarer converter to test the board, it’s fully functional):

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I mainly wanted to know if this is anything interesting/valuable, I know nothing about Unikey. I do not like the switches (they do not even feel as “solid” as for example MX blue and I prefer buckling spring myself) and they have some friction when not pressed down straight. I could not manage to get the keycaps off, but was also afraid to break something. I cannot see myself typing with this thing, but tastes vary. Before using this for experiments, taking it apart destructively, or whatever, I thought I’d ask here about it. Definitely do not want to destroy something worthwhile that somebody else might be interested in.

Here’s the label on the back:

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No year, but my old emails show I might have bought it off eBay in 2007 for cheap from a private seller. No idea why I bought it and never used it

Edit: Seems to be a rebrand of this: wiki/NTC_KB-6151 which is why I couldn't find it at first. Will try to remove the keycaps later to see what kind of switches are in there. Still not sure if it's anything special?

[guidemetothelight]

Will try to remove the keycaps later to see what kind of switches are in there. Still not sure if it's anything special?

I mean, if those are blues , thats a 150€ Board at least (probably)

[tobe_b]

Those definitely seem to be Alps SKCM White. All the markings described in the wiki fit. As a side effect I learned something about Alps switches today. Sadly, this is the best level of detail my crappy phone camera can provide:

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No blues, but I’ll keep this keyboard intact for sure. Might sell/trade it later, the feel of the keys is not my style, but I might also try to use it for a while to see if my opinion changes. (If someone is located in Germany and very keen on this keyboard, feel free to message me, though. In the long term I likely prefer to pass it to someone who appreciates it.)

[dovenyi]

Any info on this one? Just bought this "Siemens Tastatur 4000" (according to the label) from 1984, but I know nothing about it. What was its purpose? What system belonged it to?



Maybe a German-speaking fellow enthusiast can point me to more resources.

Here is a pre-cleaning photodump: https://imgur.com/gallery/jB7IuOg

[inozenz]

Any info on this one? Just bought this "Siemens Tastatur 4000" (according to the label) from 1984, but I know nothing about it. What was its purpose? What system belonged it to?



Maybe a German-speaking fellow enthusiast can point me to more resources.

Here is a pre-cleaning photodump: https://imgur.com/gallery/jB7IuOg

it looks like this was from something like a typewriter

[dovenyi]

Yep, I guess an early text editor system or something along the typesetting, printing industry lines. Or a terminal? ("Nachricht empfangen")

EDIT: It's indeed an electronic typewriter -- https://nat.museum-digital.de/object/1169953

[AndyJ]

It's gorgeous. I hope you manage to connect it to a PC, somehow.

[inozenz]

this is cool

[TNT]

This thing is fucking sexy! How do those switches feel?

[dovenyi]

There are so many things to love about this board, but the switches are definitely not among its strengths. They are way too scratchy, but I was surprised how low-profile they are, in particular by the "standards" of the early '80s. The toggle switches on top look and feel nice though. Here is a post I wrote with some more impressions:
https://kbd.news/Siemens-T4000-T4200-2043.html

[OleVoip]

There are so many things to love about this board, but the switches are definitely not among its strengths. They are way too scratchy, but I was surprised how low-profile they are, in particular by the "standards" of the early '80s. The toggle switches on top look and feel nice though. Here is a post I wrote with some more impressions:
https://kbd.news/Siemens-T4000-T4200-2043.html

• These switches weren't scratchy 40 years ago. As opposed to other makes, they become scratchy from not being used enough. They are self-lubing, so they become nice again once you use them more often.

• That 1975 RAFI patent mentioned in your kbd post is about an earlier switch with a compatible keycap mount; however, contrary to your statement, it does not put any claim on that mount. The mount may be older and may have been invented not by RAFI at all. But for all we know, RAFI were the first to use it with a low-profile switch; that's why we call it the RAFI mount.

• Whilst there was no requirement for keyboards to be low-profile in the standards of 1980, there was one in the German safety-at-the-workplace regulations of that era owing to the Workers Union's ergonomics movement that started in the mid-1970s, when RAFI already built keyboards as low as that. As an employer, you may ignore standards but you mayn't ignore safety regulations. Hence, low-profile boards already were 'standard' in Germany when a proper DIN standard eventually was released in late 1984.