Great/Interesting Finds

[arkanoid]

Fujitsu libertouch in the UK. Beware, key feeling might not be as pleasant as you expect.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174674539296

[dcopellino]

1615625928774652856155648743546.jpg
Any hints how to get them white back.
I washed them with soap with candeggine oxygen. Results are quite opinabile as you can see in the attached pic.

Wasn't expecting to learn some Italian today. I looked up candeggine and opinabile and saw the latter was synonymous to debatable or questionable. I wonder if it has a link to the english word opinable, which has a similar but different meaning of: to be able to be made into an opinion.

As far as the caps, there is no good way to get them unyellowed. You might want to try retr0brite if the hydrogen peroxide bath in the sun fails, but honestly, ymmv because the original clear caps can be pretty brittle as it is.

Ahahah, I appreciate your honest linguistic complaint that places me in front of my naive mistakes as those who pretend to mimic a foreign language with "nonchalance", ending to speak an Italish,. precisely. I also thank you for forgiving me the word white instead of the more correct clear. Three mistakes in a single sentence would have been too much even for me. Jokes aside, I'll try to expose them to sunshine with some hydrogen peroxide as soon as the season allows me.
cheers

[orihalcon]

Nice APL beam spring restoration:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324522052015

Kind of reminds me of this APL restoration:
viewtopic.php?t=9365

[TNT]

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz ... 9-228-6893

Keytronic E03159 (wiki/Key_Tronic_E03159)

[JP!]

Fentek sells some high quality (dare I say better quality) clear key caps for our beloved IBM boards. They do not come cheap however.

[webwit]

Fentek got those caps from Unicomp a long time ago, NOS IBM.

[webwit]

Symbolics guy is selling three of these for 4K USD each in a private sale. If you're interested see symbolics-dks.com for his contact details.

20210313_132215.jpg (841.58 KiB) Viewed 5452 times

Spoiler:

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I have three (3) XL-401s that are ready for sale. I have decided not to list them on eBay because of the increased fees that they are charging. So, I am putting them out to this list at a fixed price of $4,000 per system. Buyer pays actual shipping charges and any credit card fees. All systems consist of a desktop XL-401 with 4 MWords of memory, an FPA and an 18 GB 15K SCSI disk. This is paired with a 19 inch premium monochrome monitor, 3 button mouse and slimline keyboard. Power and video cables are included. All Symbolics software is loaded on the disk. I have attached pictures of the system and screen shots of the directory listings. These are 30+ year old machines that have been refurbished with newer disks, recapped console power supplies, cleaned and thoroughly tested. Since these are used machines, there may be some cosmetic blemishes on the cases.

The way this will work is the first three people that commit to buy a system and send me their shipping address will get a Pay Pal invoice from me for the system price, the shipping cost and the 3% credit card transaction fee. If they decide to pay using some other method (Zelle, wire transfer, check) that I don’t get charged a transaction fee, they can deduct the 3% transaction fee. I will keep a list of anyone else that responds and contact them if I have any other machines available. Shipping can be expensive. From here to CA, it will cost about $300. Shipping to Europe is over $1,000.

I do not currently have any NXP, MacIvory or 36xx machines available and do not have any in the pipeline. I am not currently doing any XL1200 machines pending a renewal of the last maintenance contract sometime this summer. If you need parts for a machine, contact me and I will check my inventory and quote you pricing. If you have any questions, please email me.

[Weezer]

1615625928774652856155648743546.jpg
Any hints how to get them white back.
I washed them with soap with candeggine oxygen. Results are quite opinabile as you can see in the attached pic.

Wasn't expecting to learn some Italian today. I looked up candeggine and opinabile and saw the latter was synonymous to debatable or questionable. I wonder if it has a link to the english word opinable, which has a similar but different meaning of: to be able to be made into an opinion.

As far as the caps, there is no good way to get them unyellowed. You might want to try retr0brite if the hydrogen peroxide bath in the sun fails, but honestly, ymmv because the original clear caps can be pretty brittle as it is.

Ahahah, I appreciate your honest linguistic complaint that places me in front of my naive mistakes as those who pretend to mimic a foreign language with "nonchalance", ending to speak an Italish,. precisely. I also thank you for forgiving me the word white instead of the more correct clear. Three mistakes in a single sentence would have been too much even for me. Jokes aside, I'll try to expose them to sunshine with some hydrogen peroxide as soon as the season allows me.
cheers

I wasn't trying to criticize you, I was genuinely interested in the links between languages.

[JP!]

This is pretty cool I think.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/COMPAQ-Portabl ... Sw1EFgTstt

[Weezer]

This is pretty cool I think.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/COMPAQ-Portabl ... Sw1EFgTstt

That's incredibly cool. I've always wanted to make a sleeper PC out of a retro case.

[depletedvespene]

Fentek sells some high quality (dare I say better quality) clear key caps for our beloved IBM boards. They do not come cheap however.

For those who may more information on Fentek clear keycaps, see the post on viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17805 about them, written by some stroppy git.

[webwit]

My contact at Fentek actually told me they got them from Unicomp and at one point Unicomp tried to buy some back because they were short. This was a long time ago though. Makes sense though. Fentek wouldn't invest in a mold and plastics blah blah just for retro clear IBM caps. They just got a billion of them from Unicomp stock which Unicomp got from original stock which they inherited.

[bak3dbeens11]

I'm not sure if anyone else has seen this, but there is an nos ncr g81-3077sau on ebay. It is like $1.7k though, so maybe stay away. Anyways, here is the link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-NCR-Heavy- ... 3486894993

[juspek]

Nice looking Lynx branded small form factor keyboard. It says it's clicky, made in Taiwan. Can't find much information with google:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-3-BTC-5 ... 3191755855

[Muirium]

Looks a lot like this wee man:

wiki/Monterey_K110

I’ve got the clicky SMK/“Monterey” switch variant. It also came in Alps clones.

Here’s a bunch of closeups, when it had some prototype MX adapters and fancy Granite caps.

viewtopic.php?p=194579#p194579

[juspek]

They certainly have lot in common, Lynx also being from about 1991 according to one magazine article found online.
Those adapters are interesting idea! Recently got Amiga 1000 keyboard with really nice keycaps (even that some are missing) but switches are binding quite heavily. As I have understood that Mitsumi switches are difficult to clean it would be nice if it was possible to use keycaps with Alps switches by using some kind of adapters.

[Muirium]

An interesting idea, aye, but a fiddly one in reality. They were really tough to pull out of the caps, and didn't much like going in, either.

The crumbly 3d print material was the main problem. A true plastic could certainly do the trick, if within the right tolerances. Got to be good and sharp on the inner corners of the MX mount.

If someone wants to have another go at making these…

[ekeppel]

Decent price on a 3278 beamer. A few replaced keys.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-3278-Keybo ... 4717026291

[Double_Shot_ABS]

Indeed. But paint chips can be seen on the sides and seller did not post side views or rearview.

Good restoration project though. Glad someone bought it.

Last one in perfect cosmetic & working condition sold for 1600 in auction three months ago. So taking into account tax and fees, approximately $200 profit margin right here for those who restore and resell. Not much but not bad.

Decent price on a 3278 beamer. A few replaced keys.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-3278-Keybo ... 4717026291

[MMcM]

SD-series art piece

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284224502714

[John Doe]

SD-series art piece

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284224502714

Dont you have interest, MMcM?

[Rayndalf]

SD-series art piece

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284224502714

That's bad ass.

All it needs is a DIY wooden case and it'd be perfect.

[raoulduke-esq]

I would file this one under “interesting” as it’s a Model M that was skinned alive, turned into a Frankenstein’s monster, then had IKEA desk lamps bolted to it... but it does have a certain charm. No doubt took a lot of work but the decimal point still feels wrong.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steampunk-Keyb ... 4378594028

[kmnov2017]

I would file this one under “interesting” as it’s a Model M that was skinned alive, turned into a Frankenstein’s monster, then had IKEA desk lamps bolted to it... but it does have a certain charm. No doubt took a lot of work but the decimal point still feels wrong.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steampunk-Keyb ... 4378594028

Looks disgusting if you ask me

[fohat]

but it does have a certain charm

"Steampunk" designs peaked in popularity (in a niche way) a few years ago, with "Datamancer" being the foremost proponent until his unfortunate suicide.

https://datamancer.com/products/

[inmbolmie]

I would file this one under “interesting” as it’s a Model M that was skinned alive, turned into a Frankenstein’s monster, then had IKEA desk lamps bolted to it... but it does have a certain charm. No doubt took a lot of work but the decimal point still feels wrong.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steampunk-Keyb ... 4378594028

Looks disgusting if you ask me

The Frankenstein simile is pretty accurate here.

[Muirium]

but it does have a certain charm

"Steampunk" designs peaked in popularity (in a niche way) a few years ago, with "Datamancer" being the foremost proponent until his unfortunate suicide.

https://datamancer.com/products/

Oh, that’s what happened to him. I enjoyed seeing his works in the spotlight every once in a while. Nutty, yes, but otherworldly inventive.

[AJM]

...... I'll try to expose them to sunshine with some hydrogen peroxide as soon as the season allows me.

BTW: Sunshine is not a necessity. I retrobrighted a set of keycaps over night, the bowl sitting on a radiator - in complete darkness.
But starting in the morning and monitoring the progress regularly would - of course - be the better option.

[John Doe]

I would file this one under “interesting” as it’s a Model M that was skinned alive, turned into a Frankenstein’s monster, then had IKEA desk lamps bolted to it... but it does have a certain charm. No doubt took a lot of work but the decimal point still feels wrong.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steampunk-Keyb ... 4378594028

Looks disgusting if you ask me

Have to agree..

[SlowTyper]

I found this weird Panasonic keyboard on local ads. It costs 5 euros it seems to be some phone terminal keyboard. Does anyone know name of this switches?