Deskthority Secret Santa 2015 Photo Thread

[Nuum]

They're just erasers I think

[kbdfr]

[…]

[DRUNKEN SANTA ACCIDENT]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Rumors say, that the drunken Santa at least made it to your closest post office.

Post office? Did you say post office?

[Ray]

They're just erasers I think

I wanted to reply with “But why do they look like having a mounting system?”, but I tried to rub them on paper. Yes, probably erasers

[XMIT]

Are you sure that's not just a standard Pencil mount?

[Ray]

It is too tight to fit the pencils I have here. Probably I need a vintage pencil. Does someone from the older generation still have one? I prefer NIB. Good thing shipping won't be expensive!

[Spikebolt]

I haven't had much time to come here and thank the great gift my secret santa gave me. Thanks a lot!

Sorry for potato quality photos.







It's a Magitronic D-K173 with Green linear alps. Clearly my giftee found out I like the linear feeling, thanks a lot. There's a bit of rust on the plate but other than that it's in great condition and works perfectly. It's currently missing a couple of keys because I have been trying (and failing hard) to stabilize the big ass enter key. I just can't get it right XD

[ramnes]

Nice!

[andrewjoy]

That is nice, shame about the big ass enter but oh well.

A very good gift.

[HzFaq]

Fitting a big ass enter is a pain in the arse.

I'll do you some pictures of how I do it a bit later on. The trick I found is to basically get the vertical stabilizer sorted, then take the wire from the horizontal stabilizer and place it into the inserts on the cap, put the cap in place on the switch and then clip the horizontal stabilizer into the plate. Easier said than done though...

Awesome gift though, nice get .

[andrewjoy]

or just take a dremmel to the top of it and live with the gap

[t!ng]

Shut up! My Santa is the best!

O.O

How? Where? Who? I can't even...

That Choc Mini is pure awesome!

[Halvar]

Wait, this is not over yet!

This parcel from Portugal arrived yesterday!

And the box turned out to be the B of a very nice NiB Olivetti terminal keyboard:

OlivettiSanta2.jpg (250.71 KiB) Viewed 3749 times

This is my first Olivetti board, but I always had a crush for their unique designs. Look at those blue doubleshots and font!

BTW, every keyboard should have a "Do" key.

OlivettiSanta3.jpg (340.83 KiB) Viewed 3749 times

Original Cherry MX black. The model number on the back is ANK 785, it says "Made in Taiwan".

OlivettiSanta4.jpg (267.81 KiB) Viewed 3749 times

It's a very unique keyboard, with the grey case and all those great special MX compatible key legends you see nowhere else. It's also a very solid build, weighing in at 1.5 kg.

Thanks lolpes, you're awesome!

[Muirium]

Nice one indeed. I need some Olivetti someday too. Did they ever happen to use Alps and make a 60%, I wonder?

Anyway, all in all, this entirely Secret Free Santa has been a success! Didn't even the Grinch come through with a gift for his assigned Santee in the end? I think we could have surely done it simpler, and sooner, and even maybe secreter if we tried. But isn't a bit of chaos, argument, last minute spending and missing the festive season entirely what Christmas is all about? Was that really just my family?

[Ray]

Well, I know who I sent the package to (although I missed the name on the adress at first. Where in the world is the name not in the first line?) and who sent one to me. But I quite like it that way, was a bit more "personal". I would have figured out the username from the address anyway.
Without proxying the mail, there wouldn't be more secrets. And that wouldn't be worth it imo.

And for most cases, it remains a secret for third parties who got what by whom. I am even not quite sure my giftee knows the package was from me (if I wasn't from germany, there would be no anonymity I think).

Edit on topic: Olivetty looks nice. So much space wasted on that bar, though.

[kbdfr]

Thanks again to my Secret Santa for shipping my present again after DHL had fucked it up,
and thanks for all these awesome gifts:

A very nice POS keyboard with MX blacks and pale green legends:

Secret Santa 2015 01.jpg (882.58 KiB) Viewed 3671 times

Some Cherry fan articles along with vintage doubleshot caps - yes, even the blanks are doubleshot

Secret Santa 2015 02.jpg (394.1 KiB) Viewed 3671 times

A DELL numpad, also with MX blacks and pale green legends,
along with amazing sweets matching not only the colour…

Secret Santa 2015 03.jpg (245.5 KiB) Viewed 3671 times

…but also the shape of keycaps, with the typical MX cross mount on top

Secret Santa 2015 04.jpg (185.79 KiB) Viewed 3671 times

[andrewjoy]

That Olivetti looks like a re branded wyse to me, still very nice.

[HzFaq]

I misread the sweets as Frisse MX

Worth the wait I think kbdfr .

[Compgeke]

A very nice POS keyboard with MX blacks and pale green legends

Looks a lot like the Desko I have, it might actually be one. Main differences I see are mine's ANSI, has a trackpoint thing in front and has a permanently attached serial cable. The casing and cutout for the keys are the same.

[7bit]

My Secret Santa Package:

Secret_Santa_2015_001.jpg (275.68 KiB) Viewed 3572 times

Secret_Santa_2015_002.jpg (262.53 KiB) Viewed 3572 times

Secret_Santa_2015_003.jpg (230.22 KiB) Viewed 3572 times

Secret_Santa_2015_004.jpg (230.06 KiB) Viewed 3572 times

Secret_Santa_2015_005.jpg (281.72 KiB) Viewed 3572 times

This is a really nice Christmas gift, something I would not have expected!


Thanks a lot, dear Secret Santa!


Merry Christmas everybody!

[andrewjoy]

We are still missing photos , get off your lazy bums !

[chzel]

Guilty! My present is currently to a friend who tries to decide what he prefers! Slowly converting people...
Soon he will taste buckling springs...

[Muirium]

We are still missing photos , get off your lazy bums !

Lazy bums… you could get off yours and sign up for the DT Club, already! I was sure you were a member already until I actually checked the list (for Matteo's proxy) and had to doubletake in surprise. C'mon, you're due a few quid for server bills by now…

[Muirium]

Here we go! Now I'm home again, I got my paws on my rather awesome secret Santa's gift: this here delicious little Marquardt Mini.

Marquardt Mini Side.jpg (427.84 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

Small, MX-free, and dyesub PBT caps. Sweet! Santa knows me well.

IMG_7042.jpg (293.98 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

Right down to my favourite key.

Marquardt Mini µ.jpg (400.69 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

Well worth the wait. Indeed, this wee board is the first one to be shot by my brand new camera…

IMG_7035.jpg (355.22 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

The profile is low but not flat like DSA. Different again to everything I'm used to, but it types well. They feel nice dry classic PBT, besides the spacebar.

IMG_7048.jpg (460.59 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

The switches are a pretty decent linear feel, but with lots of ringing like my IBMs! Nothing I'm not already used to, of course. But certainly different from a light wee thing like this.

IMG_7024.jpg (484.22 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

Those caps! They really are the star. The layout is a touch perplexing. I'm unused to German layouts in general, let alone the extra row of keys this board has over before Return. Cunningly F and J have only the subtlest of homing markers so it's easy for me to lose track of where I am when I venture over there. Practice, eh?

IMG_7023.jpg (480.38 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

I plugged the Marquardt right into my Soarer Box and then the fun began. It works, but the arrows and nav keys show up as numpad numbers (successfully remapped) while both Alt and Alt Gr apparently emit the same keycode, so I can't remap them as Control and Alt next to my Command key at Caps Lock. Ah well, at least Control is in the right place already.

IMG_7016.jpg (374.98 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

What's baffling, though, is the way Shift works. I can type in upper case easily enough, but Shift is interrupted by the arrow keys which really messes around with text selections. Eeep! I use those so frequently I discovered the problem straight away while iteratively editing the config file for my converter. Hmm. This is one compact keyboard that really is making me reach for the mouse!

IMG_7025.jpg (690.88 KiB) Viewed 3486 times

No denying it is a wee beaut, though. Even down to the flaking insulation on the AT cable! I'll give it a Teensy and make it a regular.

Thanks Santa! Great gift, highly appreciated!

[Chyros]

Oooh, pretty pictures =o . Must be a nice camera you went for, Mu!

[Muirium]

Heh, thanks. It's a 760D, which is essentially 10 years of improvement on my ancient 350D, with a few high end features cribbed from the bigger bodies and squeezed into the Rebel form factor. I like my cameras small and capable too!

I actually got the camera for £450 thanks to a Canon UK cashback. Which is the reason I had to wait to get my hands on it while I was away, too. I've already got quite a decent little collection of lenses so the new body has slid right into my routine.

But next up: lighting. I picked up something good for that in America. These pics were my usual cloudy afternoon environment, but I should be able to shoot in more than that now.