GEC-Marconi Rafi B8-C integrated trackball keyboard (Rafi RS 76 M switches)

[Aran.E99]

Hi everyone, sorry for my recent inactivity. I've been busy with uni and sadly haven't come by interesting keyboards or so I thought until I bought this interesting specimen. It contains Rafi RS 76 M switches which are full travel mechanical contact. They don't feel awful but they have a mushy and inconsistent feel.

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GEC-Marconi were a supplier of defense electronics (defunct ~20 years ago this month). Both the N.S.N. and M.O.D record confirm this was military however I doubt it was used because of how clean it is.

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the keycaps are nice ABS doubleshots but have a very odd profile.

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I unfortunately can't use the trackball because it uses a serial port although the main keyboard has a 5 pin din and is compatible with PC.

Internals

Spoiler:

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Case was manufactured in '94. The CPU appears to have been made in (I think) '98.

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Interesting little daughter board which attaches with a push fit connector.

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I believe this variant of switch is the integrated diode version. The spacebar uses a heavier orange switch and caps lock uses a white switch with integrated green LED (I actually thought it was an odd ALPS board because of the caps lock)

Overall it's a basic but decent keyboard. I wouldn't use this often but the switches and military history make it a nice collectors piece.