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IDENTIFY COMPAQ keyboard

Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 17:16
by ultra_reader
Hello guys, my name is toty! I'm new.

I've been told at r/MechanicalKeyboards to ask over here about this keyboard.

I'm also new to meks (only 2 so far) so when I first saw it laying around my IT department I thought it was a vintage mek but at reddit someone said it's not a mechanical one.

Could anyone give my a hand with this?

https://imgur.com/a/8YFy8hx

Thx!!!!

Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 17:20
by Myoth
Welcome !

As for the board, it's wiki/NMB_dome_with_slider, which is not a mechanical keyboard. Unfortunately.

Also, next time you have a keyboard you're trying to know more about, be sure to post it in the right thread, which would be this one : viewtopic.php?t=10405 .

Enjoy your stay ! :D

Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 17:24
by Anakey
Hi They were correct in that it is not mechanical but is a dome with slider. looks like it used laser engraved keycaps then infilled though it has seen so much use that some of the keys have worn through the engraving. I would say that there is not much point in keeping the board due to the 20+ years of use it must have had to wear that much through the keycaps

Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 17:35
by ultra_reader
Myoth wrote: Welcome !

As for the board, it's wiki/NMB_dome_with_slider, which is not a mechanical keyboard. Unfortunately.

Also, next time you have a keyboard you're trying to know more about, be sure to post it in the right thread, which would be this one : viewtopic.php?t=10405 .

Enjoy your stay ! :D
Thx Myoth!

Coming from almost 20 years of using membrane keyboards everytime I see something different I'm bound to think it's mechanical.
I thought those were alps switches hahaha!!!

About the new thread I'm sorry I thought the other one was only meant to that specific question.
You can close this one If you like having cleared my doubts.

Thank you!

Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 17:37
by ultra_reader
Anakey wrote: Hi They were correct in that it is not mechanical but is a dome with slider. looks like it used laser engraved keycaps then infilled though it has seen so much use that some of the keys have worn through the engraving. I would say that there is not much point in keeping the board due to the 20+ years of use it must have had to wear that much through the keycaps

Thx Anakey!

Is it worth to keep it? Perhaps doing some cleaning and finding new keycaps I could give it a second life... it's not like is full membrane haha!!!

Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 17:42
by Myoth
ultra_reader wrote:
Myoth wrote: Welcome !

As for the board, it's wiki/NMB_dome_with_slider, which is not a mechanical keyboard. Unfortunately.

Also, next time you have a keyboard you're trying to know more about, be sure to post it in the right thread, which would be this one : viewtopic.php?t=10405 .

Enjoy your stay ! :D
Thx Myoth!

Coming from almost 20 years of using membrane keyboards everytime I see something different I'm bound to think it's mechanical.
I thought those were alps switches hahaha!!!

About the new thread I'm sorry I thought the other one was only meant to that specific question.
You can close this one If you like having cleared my doubts.

Thank you!
Alps huh ? haha I fell for the exact same trick when I began, my friend has now that board I fell for :lol:

The wiki is probably your best source of information, here it is, wiki

Next time, you have a similar question, this article might help you a lot :) : wiki/Switch_recognition

Posted: 06 Jan 2019, 17:44
by Anakey
ultra_reader wrote:
Anakey wrote: Hi They were correct in that it is not mechanical but is a dome with slider. looks like it used laser engraved keycaps then infilled though it has seen so much use that some of the keys have worn through the engraving. I would say that there is not much point in keeping the board due to the 20+ years of use it must have had to wear that much through the keycaps

Thx Anakey!

Is it worth to keep it? Perhaps doing some cleaning and finding new keycaps I could give it a second life... it's not like is full membrane haha!!!
The problem would be finding replacement keycaps as they do not use a dtandard mount it would be hard to find replacement ones that will be compatible

Re: IDENTIFY COMPAQ keyboard

Posted: 08 Jan 2019, 02:39
by abrahamstechnology
Dremel it out, stick a custom PCB in there?

(I've been actually planning to do this with a Gateway rubber dome keyboard but haven't gotten to it yet)

Re: IDENTIFY COMPAQ keyboard

Posted: 09 Jan 2019, 18:19
by ultra_reader
abrahamstechnology wrote:
08 Jan 2019, 02:39
Dremel it out, stick a custom PCB in there?

(I've been actually planning to do this with a Gateway rubber dome keyboard but haven't gotten to it yet)
Hello abrahamstechnology! Ohh unfortunately I'm not that pro yet! I barely desoldered my pocker 3 to fix bad stabs (it went out really well though) but going through the whole process of dremel it out, finding a suitable pcb, keycaps... not for now.

Maybe some time in the future!

Anyway Thanks for your advice!

Re: IDENTIFY COMPAQ keyboard

Posted: 09 Jan 2019, 21:33
by Howard81
Those are actually fairly decent keyboards - they have a decent weight to them thanks to a giant metal plate in the casing and don't feel too bad if they're fairly low mileage.