F104+SSK+122+62+77+50+Ergo orders now open! New Kishsaver+Industrial Model F Keyboards

[Tritian]

I loved magnum p.i., although something about it seemed implausible... this guy just lets him use his car/house/helicopter in hawaii for his private investigator business? Great stuff, heh.

[Pete]

^^^^ @darkcruix Hahaha, I think that is the closest to a drop test we are gonna get.

Mine got banged around a bit in its 4+ week adventure through the post, but fortunately packaging did its job and it came though fine. One edge of the box looks like it suffered a pretty heavy blow, like it smashed into something else heavy, and the top has some places where the cardboard was pierced. But I can’t imagine the feeling of dropping it without all the foam and cardboard protection. Imagine if it hit concrete. Ow.

[quaker]

Can we buy those slick black keycaps for buckling springs?

[Scarpia]

@scarpia, would love to see a pic of yours with that ibm badge

Here are a few pics:

https://imgur.com/gallery/u57xHAs

[numist]

Here's a puzzler, I got my F62 today (woo!), it appears to have the QMK flashed, and right off the bat the column for 56tghb (and space) wasn't working.

The soldering was pretty rough; on the board side half the pins had no visible solder and on the controller side they had gobs of it, including a blob that was probably not bridging anything, but I cleared it anyway.

Reassemble, still nothing. Disassemble, all the keys work! Ok, so it probably wasn't the solder. Thinking it might be a short, I added some electrical tape to the lower case and there's obviously some clearance issues:



I trimmed the pins sticking out of the controller board, added another layer of electrical tape, and gave a gentle bend to the controller's mounting tabs to add a bit of clearance. If there ever was electrical contact before there definitely isn't any now yet still: tighten case, lose column. But if I loosen the case just enough, it works. At this point I'm out of ideas so I'm just running it loose.

Since we're sharing apocalypse photos, here's the view from my desk yesterday at 11:30am:

[darkcruix]

@numist, can you post a picture of both ends of the soldering? Sometimes just a little bend / pressure can cause a column not to register if the soldering has a flaw. I had this with my self modified keyboards.

[gianni]

Since we're sharing apocalypse photos, here's the view from my desk yesterday at 11:30am:

Incredible picture, how close is this to what you actually see? I mean, is it really so red??

[Redmaus]

reminds me of UAC mars

[numist]

@numist, can you post a picture of both ends of the soldering? Sometimes just a little bend / pressure can cause a column not to register if the soldering has a flaw. I had this with my self modified keyboards.

I neglected to take any pictures of the solder job when it arrived, but here's how it looks now:

Incredible picture, how close is this to what you actually see? I mean, is it really so red??

I'm colourblind but my wife says it's pretty accurate. Had to manually adjust the white balance (to 5500K) because AWB kept trying to "correct" for it. It was a super weird day.

[darkcruix]

@numist, can you post a picture of both ends of the soldering? Sometimes just a little bend / pressure can cause a column not to register if the soldering has a flaw. I had this with my self modified keyboards.

I neglected to take any pictures of the solder job when it arrived, but here's how it looks now:

Incredible picture, how close is this to what you actually see? I mean, is it really so red??

I'm colourblind but my wife says it's pretty accurate. Had to manually adjust the white balance (to 5500K) because AWB kept trying to "correct" for it. It was a super weird day.

OK, your column 4 (when starting to count from 1) has an issue. Your Y - key should also have problems.
I don't see any obvious shorts or cuts. I don't think the pinout has changed compared to the original controller. Find below the column location (Pin 16 if I am not mistaken):

Pinout-Model-F-ribbon-cable.jpg (595.44 KiB) Viewed 9694 times

[Scarpia]

Also pin 12 from the left (GND) doesn’t look so hot.

[str8away]

I've been running with one of the default qmk keymaps for a bit now, but finally got around to customizing my own. I rebased pandrew's work on top of qmk master because there was a feature I wanted upstream. I created my keymap and flashed it, but now nothing works and I can't get back to the bootloader with either the util app or by manually jumping the reset pads. Anyone have any ideas on what to try?

[darkcruix]

I've been running with one of the default qmk keymaps for a bit now, but finally got around to customizing my own. I rebased pandrew's work on top of qmk master because there was a feature I wanted upstream. I created my keymap and flashed it, but now nothing works and I can't get back to the bootloader with either the util app or by manually jumping the reset pads. Anyone have any ideas on what to try?

With a non-working firmware probably not helpful, but just in case: Left Shift + Right Shift + B ?

[kpishere]

An alternative here is add a Leonardo (or similar) device to connect PS/2 to USB with this kind of software :

https://github.com/kpishere/yakt122

[miredalien]

Hello

Long time lurker, first-time poster, and *very* happy owner of an F62

Could I get a link to the QMK beta please?

Many thanks!

[Pete]

Been using mine for just over a week now and I just realised it has replaced my Model M Spacesaver as my favourite keyboard when I tried that old keyboard again. The key switches on the F77 feel slightly lighter (in a good way) to press than on the Model M.

Now I want a new Model F with even more keys than the F77. A seperate keypad would be awesome.

[darkcruix]

Been using mine for just over a week now and I just realised it has replaced my Model M Spacesaver as my favourite keyboard when I tried that old keyboard again. The key switches on the F77 feel slightly lighter (in a good way) to press than on the Model M.

Now I want a new Model F with even more keys than the F77. A seperate keypad would be awesome.

Ever looked in getting the good old F107?

[zzxx53]

Been using mine for just over a week now and I just realised it has replaced my Model M Spacesaver as my favourite keyboard when I tried that old keyboard again. The key switches on the F77 feel slightly lighter (in a good way) to press than on the Model M.

Now I want a new Model F with even more keys than the F77. A seperate keypad would be awesome.

You can always go for an F122, but the prices have been crazy lately.
Haven't seen an F107 pop up for a while.

[str8away]

I've been running with one of the default qmk keymaps for a bit now, but finally got around to customizing my own. I rebased pandrew's work on top of qmk master because there was a feature I wanted upstream. I created my keymap and flashed it, but now nothing works and I can't get back to the bootloader with either the util app or by manually jumping the reset pads. Anyone have any ideas on what to try?

pandrew helped me out and I was able to get my keyboard back into the bootloader and flash a working firmware. Turns out I just suck at jumping the PROG while trying to plug in the keyboard. I ended up just soldering a switch on to the pads.

[darkcruix]

I've been running with one of the default qmk keymaps for a bit now, but finally got around to customizing my own. I rebased pandrew's work on top of qmk master because there was a feature I wanted upstream. I created my keymap and flashed it, but now nothing works and I can't get back to the bootloader with either the util app or by manually jumping the reset pads. Anyone have any ideas on what to try?

pandrew helped me out and I was able to get my keyboard back into the bootloader and flash a working firmware. Turns out I just suck at jumping the PROG while trying to plug in the keyboard. I ended up just soldering a switch on to the pads.

glad to hear ... good news

[Ellipse]

str8away I have found that pandrew's beta utility "auto enter bootloader" checkmark has worked for me, even if the controller is running xwhatsit firmware. I just plug in the keyboard after the check box in the utility has already been checked and it loads the bootloader and displays "AtMEGA32 DFU" in Devices and Printers (Windows). Yes the manual prog shorting does take a few tries to get right!

[BucklingSprings]

Got my F77 working with the QMK beta a couple weeks ago. Had some initial issues with keys not working and random keystrokes on the original xwhatsit firmware, but that all cleared up after switching to QMK. So big thanks to pandrew for his work on that.

Here are some pictures for anyone interested. All keycaps were taken from Model Ms. Also made a very minor mod to make the USB cable detachable.

LONG LIVE VI (or vim) !!!!

[BucklingSprings]

Got my F77 working with the QMK beta a couple weeks ago. Had some initial issues with keys not working and random keystrokes on the original xwhatsit firmware, but that all cleared up after switching to QMK. So big thanks to pandrew for his work on that.

Here are some pictures for anyone interested. All keycaps were taken from Model Ms. Also made a very minor mod to make the USB cable detachable.

... and I just saw the strain relief: I had to chuckle because _this_ is a strain relief, that you can tell
is high quality, just by looking at it.

[BucklingSprings]

...
And how does it compare to the original?
...
I'm new to the website (first post!) So sorry if I sound dumb

...
In summary, if you like the original Model F, you should like the new Model F.
...

I have used a Model F/AT many many years ago and remember that I was blown
away by the stellar quality and fantastic key-feel.
I can assure you that (to me) the new Model-F keyboards do not disappoint. They
are at the same level (perhaps even a bit better).

I have used Model-M s in the past and I own a Unicomp Model-M. Ellipses Model-F
replica puts them to shame (in my opinion).

[Ellipse]

Dye sublimation update - the trial of the dye sublimation jig is set to be completed this week.

Second container shipment update - the factory is wrapping up the repairs and expects the shipment to go out before the end of October. In order to continue mailing out keyboards upon request, they will not be holding up the second container shipment for the dye sublimation to finish.

This is the first test of a full jig as opposed to previous tests of small jigs to work out how to achieve the tolerances, so it took a few weeks longer than previous test jigs.

I wanted to share (with permission) a great photo from a customer matching a True Red F77 with an SGI (Silicon Graphics) Fuel computer. A great setup!

SGI Fuel.jpg (93.99 KiB) Viewed 8334 times

[depletedvespene]

Jaw, meet the floor.

[Redmaus]

That looks pretty dang clean!

[Ellipse]

Solenoid Installation Guide and Sound Test video:

[Lumiloop]

Solenoid Installation Guide and Sound Test video:

Does this mean the solenoids are shipping soon?!

[Ellipse]

The solenoids themselves already started shipping. I received a few of the production units by DHL Express. The rest of the production batch will be on the second container shipment later this year. If you would prefer not to wait please email or PM me if you wanted to help cover the additional shipping costs.