Toshiba T3100 & T5200

[Paranoid]

Just wanted to share something about the Toshiba T-series I've got so far for the nice ALPS keycaps.

As I was first making some custom ALPS boards (which are not nearly finished) I wanted to collect some nice ALPS keycaps, which were not easy to come by. So during the summer I found the T3100. I found one in my own country that was still working and had the layout I want (BE AZERTY), so that was cool.




I also found the T3100 keyboard itself from the US and A:



They are all doubleshot and have a nice Dolch theme going on.



Those two were very dirty. So I had to do some retrobiting (thank god it was summer at the time) and some hand washing. The result was a lot better:


The switches are some sort of ALPS, which are very smooth and linear. I actually like them, but I can't transfer them to an ALPS board or figure out how to use the laptop keyboard on it's own.


I was customizing a Dell AT102W to a tenkeyless, but there's something wrong with the components, because it's still not working. I double checked the wiring, so I might have to replace the controller and other stuff. There are some caps that can't be used, so I'll have to dye some other caps to match them or to give a color accent.


Now recently I discovered the T5200, which also has a numpad and a full function row. I had to get that of course because that way I can build a complete keyboard instead of a tenkeyless.

Unfortunately the T5200 got damaged in the delivery, resulting in a completely broken screen. Which is really a bummer because the laptop itself was still working. But the caps look very nice. Hopefully the seller can still refund me something out of the shipping waranty.



After some cleaning they were as good as new. I don't have any pics of this because it's already labeled and bagged ^^
They have different switches than the T3100.



And you can see it's clearly the big brother of the T3100.


So that's my collection of the Toshiba laptops for now. They are not always easy to find. Especially not for a reasonable price.
From what I found on all the Toshiba T-series laptops, the following have ALPS compatible keycaps. So if you're lucky, you might find some of them ^^ like webwit did with his T1200 and T3100 for example
T1200, T2100, T3100, T3200, T5100, T5200

[webwit]

Very nice, two more variants!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The top ones are just the normal corned beef tin can Alps switches that we don't have a name for, nor a wiki page for. There are several forum topics about them — someone who owns some should write about them on the wiki.

The second switch though — don't recognise it. Feels like I'm finding at least one new switch every day. According to this old topic, either Cherry did make a yellow switch, or the fake ones had a Cherry logo on them at one stage.

So many switches, so little time …

We need somewhere to stash photos and references of unidentified switches so that we know what it is that we don't know yet.

[Ascaii]

Ive got something that will make your life even harder, daniel. The mysteries of Alps appear nearly endless.

[webwit]

The top ones are just the normal corned beef tin can Alps switches that we don't have a name for, nor a wiki page for. There are several forum topics about them — someone who owns some should write about them on the wiki.

It's different because those in the T3100 have a completely metallic casing and in the T3100/20 only the top is metallic.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Ive got something that will make your life even harder, daniel. The mysteries of Alps appear nearly endless.

What makes you believe that's Alps?

It's different because those in the T3100 have a completely metallic casing and in the T3100/20 only the top is metallic.

Possibly — I studied the photos, and I could not be 100% sure whether it's simply dull, oxidised metal, or plastic dyed the exact same colour as the metal they used.

[webwit]

Let's see what Paranoid reports. I've seen the metallic type more often on the Korean forums, but I don't quite know the search term in order to find them.

[Paranoid]

Well, it seems that it's only partial metallic. The outer part is plastic. Here are some pics of the separate keyboard and the one still in the computer. The one that's separate is exactly the same as the one in the T3100/20 so I'm guessing it came from the same model, although that one had orange function caps instead of white ones.
Here are some crappy pics due to bad weather and a crappy camera ^^

[Daniel Beardsmore]

OK, here's your recognition diagram:

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Z_mount_recognition

At least, it will be when webwit fixes rsvg-convert — it seems to have died. Time for Doctor Who … bbl.

[webwit]

Is the new Doctor Who still a hugfest aimed at middle aged women who like to fantasize about fucking the Doctor while saving the world from sure destruction by cheap CGI?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

To me, it seems to be aimed at Americans. No more of Jon Pertwee's stiff upper lip, or Tom Baker's calm zaniness. Lots of running around in circles screaming. And the monsters put the Liquorice Allsorts man to shame. Strangely, it seems to be popular with the same band of Americans who appreciate our more venerable work from the past, so I'm not sure what went wrong. I also think that they've lost the ability to capture any essence of what it must be like to be nearly a millennium old. (I don't know the minds of men, let alone women, let alone middle-aged women.)

Why do I even watch it? Probably the same sort of padded-cell curiosity that drives me to obsess over Alps clones. I'm already insane — neither Alps nor Doctor Who can possibly make anything any worse now. (The padded cell also keeps the women out. Probably a good thing, quite honestly. No-one is ready for that level of madness.)

[webwit]

Easy to tell, if it is made for Americans it will have psychopaths in it more or less following the standard set by Hannibal Lecter, like most of their series and movies nowadays. If it is still British, the main underlying theme will still be the bizarre manifestations of British dentistry.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The Germans in the meantime are too busy trying to invent something even more absurdly complicated yet worthless than Cherry MY … the "MY" means "OH MY GOODNESS WTF IS THIS MESS?" So many strangely shaped bits, all lovingly crafted to give everyone their dead octopus typing experience. (That's one thing I suspect I won't do before I die — type using a dead octopus.)

It reminds me though — when I took the tactile leaf out of a blue Alps switch and reassembled it, it really was very smooth and light. Looking at the Alps force graph earlier, I can see that now: the force really falls off after the late tactile point, while white Alps shortened the pretravel and raised the force after the tactile point.

Blue Alps gets it right — sharp tactile point over a soft spring.

After that, it started to go downhill. I've lost faith in the switchplate theory though — salmon is smoother than black, despite both being short switchplate. I suspect Alps switches are just a lot more subtle about their specially-shaped parts. (I thought I'd proved the housing idea — upper housing affecting sound — by swapping just that part between black and salmon, but I think all I heard was the McRip effect.) Maybe one day I'll dig deeper into exactly which part makes black Alps feel worse.)

[webwit]

It's different because those in the T3100 have a completely metallic casing and in the T3100/20 only the top is metallic.

Possibly — I studied the photos, and I could not be 100% sure whether it's simply dull, oxidised metal, or plastic dyed the exact same colour as the metal they used.

You were right, it's just the flash and light which made them appear that way in my picture. I've looked at them with better light, and they have the same plastic sides.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Metal would be dodgy seeing as how they have wires coming out the side. Weird thing — looks like it belongs in the 50s or 60s. I really like the "CM" switch — the design just seems right somehow.

[calavera]

So what kind of switch is that on the T5200?

Also whatever happened to the customized keyboard?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

So what kind of switch is that on the T5200?

I don't think we have a name for them yet. They're these:

http://www7.ocn.ne.jp/~hisao/image/toshibaten.htm

A different version, with LED recesses:

http://www7.ocn.ne.jp/~hisao/image/5962851.htm

From Mousefan's switches page.

Alps switches, that appear to be compatible with their modern products, but the contact mechanism is totally different.

Alps made a lot of different switches, not just the "CM" type we're all familiar with.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

And to make things more interesting, here's NEC's switch that's very similar to the Alps oval slider:

http://sandy55.fc2web.com/keyboard/nec_square.html

Not a clone (wrong leg arrangement) but the same insanity is there. Would not surprise me if they were keycap compatible.

Does anyone actually know whether Alps oval slider is Alps compatible or not? I suspect now that it actually isn't.

[webwit]

The keycaps? I always presumed they were compatible, but never actually checked. I'll check later and let you know, unless someone beats me to it (not on location now).

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Ta.

[KennyR]

Hey there Paranoid,

I may have found something interesting for you.
It's the numpad which seems to be an accessory for your Toshiba T3100!






Interested? You may have it for 1 euro! The price I paid in the second hand store.

[Paranoid]

Wow, sold That's really awesome! why do you have such awesome stuff in your neighbourhood ^^
This will go well with the TKL alps that I'm going to build with the Toshiba keycaps What is the connection type of the numpad?
I also found a T3200 which I will be receiving next week or the week after that.
We should meet up again soon!

[KennyR]

Well, you shall have to act quick if you want it, because I'll be leaving for Portugal in a week, for 3 months.

The connection looks like this, I believe it's a mini-8 connector.

[Paranoid]

Oh right, I forgot you were leaving ^^ I shall further discuss this with you through emaillll.
That image is from a 8 pin Mini Din indeed!

[Paranoid]

The numpad will be for later! I recently found a T3200. It uses the same switch as the T3100, the layout is different though and it also has the tenkeys like the T5200. Some keycaps are different at the bottom. Maybe the doubleshot process was different on those caps.
Anyways here are some pics:








And the collection so far ^^

[TicTocTom]

I picked up a T3200 by accident on ebay this week. Floated a $50 bid (shipped) and to my surprise the seller took it. Missed out on a T1200 which I really wanted, because I'd already spent $ on the T3200, and because the shipping was like $40 from Texas. It sold for about $10US. I really wanted the arrow and escape keys. Oh well. I'll see if it has any real use on my Tactile Pro, or if I'm better off trying too mod the keyboard as is. Probably both.

[green-squid]

I picked up a T3200 by accident on ebay this week. Floated a $50 bid (shipped) and to my surprise the seller took it. Missed out on a T1200 which I really wanted, because I'd already spent $ on the T3200, and because the shipping was like $40 from Texas. It sold for about $10US. I really wanted the arrow and escape keys. Oh well. I'll see if it has any real use on my Tactile Pro, or if I'm better off trying too mod the keyboard as is. Probably both.

Don't just ruin a perfect good Toshiba for the keyboard! They are getting rare..

[TicTocTom]

Don't just ruin a perfect good Toshiba for the keyboard! They are getting rare..

It's not operational so I don't feel bad at all. The switches are mush, so I think I'll just be the keycaps.

[Willy4876]

So that's my collection of the Toshiba laptops for now. They are not always easy to find. Especially not for a reasonable price.
From what I found on all the Toshiba T-series laptops, the following have ALPS compatible keycaps. So if you're lucky, you might find some of them ^^ like webwit did with his T1200 and T3100 for example
T1200, T2100, T3100, T3200, T5100, T5200

Just wanted to add that the Toshiba T1600 has the same switches as the T5200 as well as some very nice doubleshot keycaps.