deskthority

I am interested in revamping the NMB Keyboards section. Right now it really only discusses one generation of NMB keyboards. In my travels, and collecting, I have discovered that there are essentially 5 generations of NMB keyboards with respect to case design.

Generation 1:
Thick plastic top case (Keytronic XT or IBM AT style)
Black back plate (metal or plastic) Generation 2:
Thinner top case (Keytronic XT or IBM AT Style)
Biege rear cover with Keyboard and Mouse cable openings. Generation 3:
Model M style, upper case.
Rear cover has cable routing channel Generation 4:
Flat G80-3000 style case
This generation includes the well known RT-8255 keyboards Generation 5:
Reduced footprint compared to Gen 4. My plan is to rework the landing page for NMB Keyboards to have this summary information. Then have a separate page for each generation that details variants, switches used, and known model/part numbers.

Does these seem like a reasonable approach?

Note: Switch, pcb and even keycap design overlap the timeline of these case generations independently. As such case design seems like good starting point for differentiation and identification. Ultimately a Gantt chart style graphic could be used to document the overlap between components over time.

Sounds good to me, go for it!

Thanks to create the new page and update for the NMB Hi-tek switches. And I support the switch name called Hi-tek 725 series. Sounds reasonable for that!
That what I want to do that you sorting 5 gen for the 725 series keyboard, I glad to see it.
Thanks for Engicoder and Daniel Beardsmore updated the wiki!

I saw a couple of wiki edits you made on this ealier, should be very good! A very nice collection if they're all yours . The Gen 5 ones appear to be somewhat rare, I don't see them very often at all.

There are also some other designs not included in this list, like the 122-key battleship boards, various terminal keyboards, and keyboards made for particular computers (Amiga, Symbolics, etc.). Not sure where those fit in the scheme.

jacobolus wrote: There are also some other designs not included in this list, like the 122-key battleship boards, various terminal keyboards, and keyboards made for particular computers (Amiga, Symbolics, etc.). Not sure where those fit in the scheme.

True, I own a Commodore PC-5/PC-10 that is a NMB Hi-TEK Part.No 112581 REV A:
photos-f62/cherry-g80-0530-commodore-pc ... =commodore

I think they should be considered NMB/Hitek OEM keyboards as is done for the keyboards. So the normal wiki method of a page for the keyboard along with a link to the NMB OEM keyboards makes the most sense. As far as the 122, I need to add that to the Gen 4 when I get a chance.

Sort them to the other 725 series keyboard for the specific layout or keyboard design is an advice.

Engicoder wrote: I think they should be considered NMB/Hitek OEM keyboards as is done for the keyboards. So the normal wiki method of a page for the keyboard along with a link to the NMB OEM keyboards makes the most sense. As far as the 122, I need to add that to the Gen 4 when I get a chance.

Yeah agreed, thanks for your work sofar! I'll add mine if that's OK.