deskthority

I noticed that tlt changed the ANK 27-102 page to 'slider over dome' from 'stem over dome'. I was almost sure that this board was a stem over dome arrangement like the ANK 25-101, although I do know that Olivetti have models with slider and dome. They also had NMB dome boards too, but not the slider variant.

I took apart my ANK 2462 today to find that there were two red slider switches on the board. One on space, and one randomly on letter 'T' or something (I've moved it to 'Esc' now). Have disassembled a white and red to see if there are any differences and it seems that the little peg on the red switch is longer and there might be some difference in the springs but it's hard to tell. They are definitely different colour (white has the gold/bronze coloured spring).

Will take a better pic for the wiki later.

I tend to think of "stem" as meaning a protrusion, and "slider" being the moving part of a switch between the return spring and keycap. In the case of Cherry, I am not sure if "stem" means the whole slider (which is what people take it to mean) or just the protrusion that holds the keycap. For example, I consider the peg inside a Cherry MX keycap as a stem also.

Changing from "stem" to "slider" for Olivetti switches is a strange one. "stem" seems an odd term since the slider is flat-topped with holes in it. I'd say "slider" personally, but I don't understand the reasoning for "stem" originally, since people seem to randomly choose slider/stem/plunger without a clear pattern.

For these old Olivetti dome boards, the stem of the keycap presses down directly on the dome. I wouldn't call part of the keycap a slider. Can you point me to an image that you're describing when you say "flat-topped with holes in it"? It sounds like you're describing the NMB dome with slider switch but I want to be sure.

Your honour, the image is a few inches up that way ^^^^^^

Lol I realised the confusion I probably made after re-reading my original post. First paragraph is about Olivetti ANK 25-101 and ANK 27-102. Second paragraph is unrelated and about the dome with *slider* variant.

This is an image of the ANK 25-101 with a cap removed:


There's no slider as such. Just the stem of the cap that presses down on the green dome. This is what I think the ANK 27-102 looks like too. Hopefully that clears it up.

Since "stem" means "slider" in some contexts, the change tlt made wasn't helpful. I try to use "stem" with MX switches and "slider" everywhere else (simply to avoid creating even more confusion), but this distinction is not maintained with purity. I simply call integrated mount keyboards "rubber dome" on the premise that everyone assumes integrated mount unless you say otherwise.

I changed it back and added some pictures. It looks similar the ANK 25-101. You're right, stem is a better term to distinguish it from "real" sliders.

Ok, so after seeing your changes I think "integrated slider" is the best term. I think this page explains it well and is good to link to. http://deskthority.net/wiki/Rubber_dome_over_membrane.

It's just called "integrated mount":

[wiki]Keycap mount[/wiki]

There's no particular reason to ever qualify such keyboards as 99% of rubber dome keyboards now are integrated mount.

If you take the analogy of electrical interfaces the slider is the plug and the socket is the ? but the mount is the connector i.e. the whole interface. I like the word slider as it almost always (or are there examples plungers that is not sliding?) has a sliding function of some sort.

Maybe "Integrated slider" is not needed as a term an should be called just "slider" or "the slider of the integrated mount"

I think that Daniel's point about 99% of rubber dome keyboards being this arrangement probably means that we shouldn't really need to point it out in most pages, which is why I removed it from the lead-in on the ANK 25-101 page. I have no problem with it being described as an integrated slider or, in the context of describing a keycap, something like "the keycap's slider..." As long as the reader isn't left with the impression that the 'slider' part is discrete/removable like on most mechanical switches.