Great/Interesting Finds

[davkol]

WTF

Cherry G81-3000SAT sold for 37267 CZK ~ 1512 EUR. Not even on eBay.

[Muirium]

You heard it: we are past peak keyboards, people.

[Jan Pospisil]

The hell. Time to chuck some of my collection's extras on Aukro.

[hellothere]

I stumbled upon this interesting Falco terminal board with the MX blacks replaced with 40g Zeal Clickies. Looks great and I bet it sounds great too: https://www.ebay.com/itm/403896807224

I won that. Polecat messaged me on it. I've wanted to try Clickiez and their current price is $1.50 a switch, so this was a bargain and it comes with a nicer-than-I-can-make Soarer's Converter (I think it's an orihalcon-made one). If I don't like it, I can just resell it and probably not at any loss. FWIW, I'm not a fan of MX blacks, vintage or new, so I'm definitely happy with the switch upgrade.

Rare mac version of omnikey ultra?
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/314161601692?mk ... media=COPY

Yup. I used to own one and I have a full set of key caps lying about. Y'know, it wouldn't surprise me if this is the one I sold. Anyhow, I just tossed a couple bids at it and was instantly outbid each time.

[hellothere]

You heard it: we are past peak keyboards, people.

FWIW, I've seen a lot of keyboards that sold for big $ a year or so ago not selling anywhere near that, particularly in the Alps and IBM M market, as well as Model F XT. I just had no bids for an overhauled one at $230.

I am happy that we're starting to see more unique keyboards, though.

Anyhow. Saw an Interesting. https://www.ebay.com/itm/125530997284. Podworld 292 w/amber switches and Arabic sub-legends. $44, currently.

[Polecat]

I won that. Polecat messaged me on it.

What, you say? I don't think that was me, but it's a cool looking keyboard.

The OmniMac is interesting, because it has only a paper label, and an apparent serial number of 00012. Looks to be the "Platinum" version, as explained in the writeup Mu recently posted.

[thefarside]

I stumbled upon this interesting Falco terminal board with the MX blacks replaced with 40g Zeal Clickies. Looks great and I bet it sounds great too: https://www.ebay.com/itm/403896807224

I won that. Polecat messaged me on it. I've wanted to try Clickiez and their current price is $1.50 a switch, so this was a bargain and it comes with a nicer-than-I-can-make Soarer's Converter (I think it's an orihalcon-made one). If I don't like it, I can just resell it and probably not at any loss. FWIW, I'm not a fan of MX blacks, vintage or new, so I'm definitely happy with the switch upgrade.

Congrats on the purchase. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

[hellothere]

Hmm. I thought Polecat told me about it. Well, I'll just say that, then. Polecat's told me about a lot of keyboards to lighten my wallet .

I'll do my "review" of the Falco when it comes in. The only negative, so far, is that I bought it on Sept. 27 and the seller printed a packing label on the 30th. USPS's status page says it hasn't received the package yet. I paid for "expedited shipping" :grr:

[Polecat]

Hmm. I thought Polecat told me about it. Well, I'll just say that, then. Polecat's told me about a lot of keyboards to lighten my wallet .

I'll do my "review" of the Falco when it comes in. The only negative, so far, is that I bought it on Sept. 27 and the seller printed a packing label on the 30th. USPS's status page says it hasn't received the package yet. I paid for "expedited shipping" :grr:

Hey, what's wrong with enjoying keyboards vicariously by spending someone else's money? I don't know if the post office is playing games, or if something got changed at ebay's end, but for what it's worth the ebay tracking has been really misleading lately. The conspiracy people will tell you that the postal service is sending stuff in circles to justify their demands for more money, but more likely it's just incompetence.

[hellothere]

I got a response from the seller. He just hasn't sent it yet .

Well, I guess that's why there's the feedback thing. However, I wish I could use that on buyers, too.

[Polecat]

I got a response from the seller. He just hasn't sent it yet .

Well, I guess that's why there's the feedback thing. However, I wish I could use that on buyers, too.

It's been quite a while since ebay would let you leave a neutral or negative for a buyer. The best way to weed out a suspected problem bidder in my experience is to send an incidental note, something like making sure they're aware of some flaw in the item. If you get a two or three letter abbreviation as a response it's an illiterate idiot typing on their phone; and time to cancel their bid and block them. You might lose a few sales, but you'll avoid a lot of headaches.

[ekeppel]

Agreed. I don't cancel bids since I usually run BIN listings, but if someone starts asking lots of seemingly random questions about one of my items and the answers are already right there in the listing for them to see, then I tend to just block them immediately so that they can't buy from me. I've found that the sale is not worth the stress of dealing with someone like that afterwards.

[Muirium]

Hey! That sounds like me!

(Only accidentally. I get anxious when buying things, and often wind up seeming like that. I pay better attention when I haven't got my wallet out.)

[guidemetothelight]

wiki/DEC_LK401
on Kleinanzeigen.
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz ... nt=app_ios

10B7362A-6C67-474A-AD0E-4999A83F2AFA.png (221.13 KiB) Viewed 5114 times

[guidemetothelight]

Who snatched that Oemmax ?

19B6093B-4FDC-49B6-ACAD-3F02ABC87130.jpeg (267.53 KiB) Viewed 5074 times

iam 99.9% sure it was one of you guys !

[Lalaland124]

Who snatched that Oemmax ? 19B6093B-4FDC-49B6-ACAD-3F02ABC87130.jpeg
iam 99.9% sure it was one of you guys !

Agree - who’s the lucky bastard ? Someone bid so damn early - moments before I wanted to ask the seller if he would sell it to me right away..

[inozenz]

I got it Al hamdu li llah
But the keycaps are weak, maybe buy a tai hao set for it.
I also went for the at Siemens board the seller had.

[guidemetothelight]

I got it Al hamdu li llah
But the keycaps are weak, maybe buy a tai hao set for it.

Congrats ! I wanted to use the tai hao Caps for it as well ... maybe even german ones soon


btw i love you guys <3 were all like vultures ,circling the desert-like plains of ebay for that sweet sweet keyboard heaven

[inozenz]

I got it Al hamdu li llah
But the keycaps are weak, maybe buy a tai hao set for it.

Congrats ! I wanted to use the tai hao Caps for it as well ... maybe even german ones soon


btw i love you guys <3 were all like vultures ,circling the desert-like plains of ebay for that sweet sweet keyboard heaven

Tbh there is not much anymore I am seeking. So a lot of good deals are open for you.

[Lalaland124]

I got it Al hamdu li llah
But the keycaps are weak, maybe buy a tai hao set for it.
I also went for the at Siemens board the seller had.

I had the feeling it must have been you Well, congrats! I’m happy that there’s still someone to have a healthy competition with amongst German folks.

[Bjerrk]

I got it Al hamdu li llah
But the keycaps are weak, maybe buy a tai hao set for it.
I also went for the at Siemens board the seller had.

Seems like you have your work cut out for you!

[inozenz]

I got it Al hamdu li llah
But the keycaps are weak, maybe buy a tai hao set for it.
I also went for the at Siemens board the seller had.

Seems like you have your work cut out for you!

Yeah definitely. We should set up another podcast bjerrk

[wobbled]

Loaded with 55g domes surprisingly.

IMG_2092.jpg (2.24 MiB) Viewed 4914 times

[SK-8K]

Loaded with 55g domes surprisingly.
IMG_2092.jpg

Getting this working on a PC would be insane, including that giant volume wheel. These are the conductive dome variant correct? Would be fairly easy to map out the matrix and do a QMK controller replacement if that's the case.

[wobbled]

Loaded with 55g domes surprisingly.
IMG_2092.jpg

Getting this working on a PC would be insane, including that giant volume wheel. These are the conductive dome variant correct? Would be fairly easy to map out the matrix and do a QMK controller replacement if that's the case.

There's a dude in Conical Keyboards discord group that is working on getting these boards functional.
And these are actually capacitive 55g topre domes - not the conductive BKE domes that I was expecting, which I'm pretty glad about actually since I prefer 55g stock over BKE (bit less harsh)
The keycaps, domes, sliders, and housings have provided parts for a noxary evija and S60 Sho boards. Such a good deal, but always a shame to harvest things from such an imposing looking beast. I did save the wrist rest though, and plan to trim it to either TKL or 60% size and mount it on some wood.

[guidemetothelight]

Tbh there is not much anymore I am seeking. So a lot of good deals are open for you.

I dont really search for specific boards, just anything that isnt super expensive and looks promising / interesting

[guidemetothelight]

another podcast bjerrk

So you are saying that there is a podcast out there from dt members ? now i wanna check that out

[inozenz]

Tbh there is not much anymore I am seeking. So a lot of good deals are open for you.

I dont really search for specific boards, just anything that isnt super expensive and looks promising / interesting

Same. the problem is that i dont know which keyboards exist and what their name is, so i go by gut feeling and or by knowledge i acquired over the last 2-3 years. And im still learning new things from other members, which is awesome.

[thefarside]

I found some interesting keyboards with wooden cases that might either be alps or a BTC dome with slider?

Here’s the first one I found that has sold. The orange backspace and big ass enter seem like a strongman or Datacomp? The model is SMK-8851:

9D523B7E-8A19-4B4E-970E-FC603317A398.jpeg (938.11 KiB) Viewed 4700 times

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284997252540

The seller has another one with an identical key layout and lighter wooden case, but is a SMK-8852:

C6C746B6-C5A8-4929-B1B4-071544E1EA78.jpeg (774.57 KiB) Viewed 4700 times

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275495177921

The wiki describes the first sold one as an alps SKBM:
wiki/Strong_Man_SMK-8851

I couldn’t find any other info other than SMK-8851 info from an d post:
viewtopic.php?t=17341

Does anyone know what these might be? I know I’ve see an orange legend alps keyboard before that was black alps but I can’t remember what it was… The wooden cases are interesting and I can’t imagine they were factory originals.

[Polecat]

I found some interesting keyboards with wooden cases that might either be alps or a BTC dome with slider?
...

Does anyone know what these might be? I know I’ve see an orange legend alps keyboard before that was black alps but I can’t remember what it was… The wooden cases are interesting and I can’t imagine they were factory originals.

The story on Strongman/Datacomp was apparently sorted out at one time by Daniel B. That was before I joined this site, but the info is probably here someplace, or maybe at his Telcontar site. From what I can tell Datacomp was the actual manufacturer of the keyboards, and Strongman was one of the brand names they were were sold under. Antec was a wholesale distributor in Fremont, CA that sold Datacomp keyboards, and one of their brand names was Ancer (not Acer!). Here are a couple old posts about that:

viewtopic.php?p=390768#p390768

viewtopic.php?p=390890#p390890

I've never seen the wood case versions of these before. The normal case for the ones with black and dark gray caps was dark gray plastic. Those came in multiple brandings and model numbers, and with several different switches. My old post was an early attempt to figure out more of the story on those. I've seen and recorded several more versions since then. Switches include white Alps SKCM, unbranded complicated Alps/clones, Futaba MA, SMK, and slider-over-membrane. Chicony had nothing on Datacomp when it came to multiple switch options. Model numbers are somewhat of a mystery, and depended on the retail brand name. Some have a Datacomp model number on the bottom label (example DFK-191) and a Strongman model number also on the label or on the PC board inside (example SMK-8851). And sometimes a different one yet in the FCC ID. My guess is that Strongman assigned their model numbers to the PC board and used the same internal assembly in multiple case styles with different model numbers. We've seen that on other Strongman models.

Here's another old post with a better look at the caps and original case on a custom version I built.

viewtopic.php?p=450045#p450045

Anyway, the caps on the black/gray versions are printed, rather than doubleshots, And the switches could be any one of those I mentioned above. Some of the Datacomps came with the complicated Alps/clone mystery switches, with no branding whatsoever on upper or lower housings, and which feel very much like early SKCM clicky switches.

edit: I should have mentioned that the "third" series of model numbers for this line begins with "KF", for example KF-191. Those numbers are somehow related to Datacomp's numbers (DFK-191). Time to go through my database and jump to some more conclusions.