Great/Interesting Finds

[podgen]

Yah. You need to lead with that .

to be fair, that keyboard only *ever* came with mechanical switches, and the most common was white alps (though salmons are apparently also possible)

[thefarside]

Yah. You need to lead with that .

to be fair, that keyboard only *ever* came with mechanical switches, and the most common was white alps (though salmons are apparently also possible)

Glad to hear it because I ordered the other one listed. Fingers crossed for some good condition alps!

[podgen]

Yah. You need to lead with that .

to be fair, that keyboard only *ever* came with mechanical switches, and the most common was white alps (though salmons are apparently also possible)

Glad to hear it because I ordered the other one listed. Fingers crossed for some good condition alps!

Ah, well done! I wish I could've done so myself, but shipping to the UK ended up being the equivalent of like $60 so wasn't totally worth it. I'm hoping one will pop up here some time

[Muirium]

Another thing to watch out when importing keyboards here is Her His Majesty's Customs & Excise will often snatch larger items like that as they arrive, send them off to processing, and eventually send you a demand for a hairy figure of their own concoction unless you'd prefer for it to be destroyed. In my early days of this hobby, I got sucker punched for a purchase from Tinnie in Hong Kong, which taught me not to take them for granted. Sometimes you're lucky, but when you're not: you're really not.

[podgen]

Another thing to watch out when importing keyboards here is Her His Majesty's Customs & Excise will often snatch larger items like that as they arrive, send them off to processing, and eventually send you a demand for a hairy figure of their own concoction unless you'd prefer for it to be destroyed. In my early days of this hobby, I got sucker punched for a purchase from Tinnie in Hong Kong, which taught me not to take them for granted. Sometimes you're lucky, but when you're not: you're really not.

aw shit ok, I've been pretty lucky with mine so far - I've imported both a model m and f, both came to be fine despite their £100> value and size, but not everyone is that lucky i suppose. What percentages are usually demanded?

[Muirium]

That's the thing: they're wildly inconsistent, and they make the rules.

For instance, when I proxied the Kishsavers into Britain, I got a customs fee of £150-£200 as memory serves. This was my second time getting something from Tinnie, so I made sure he lowballed the customs declaration. Customs felt the weight, though, and plucked numbers out of thin air instead. (A Kishsaver weighs over 3 kilos, so 4 + 1 50 key 4704 was quite a package!) They reckoned these 5 boards sent to China for recycling were now worth whatever 200 is 20% of… £1000! An outrageous calculation at the time! We paid about 110 per Kishsaver. This was 2013.

Nowadays, each one of those boards is worth 2k plus so not such a big deal. But imagine if customs seized them now!

Another time I got caught was when Signature Plastics shipped me caps from their Pimp My Keyboard store, and declared them quite correctly. That time, the handling fee is how customs hit me where it hurts.

Here in Britain, you're charged £8 minimum for processing, the moment customs strikes. Which is on anything over £15 declared value! That absolutely murders small items, like my ducks. That was the lion's share of the £12.68 customs I had to pay on… drum roll… 12 caps! That's just the smallest possible handling fee. It's higher for larger items like keyboards. And unsettling in its randomness.

[podgen]

We paid about 110 per Kishsaver. This was 2013.

that. is. insane. if only i were born 10 years later, i could've had such finds when they were still landfill fodder to most people!

but no, all in all i think we have a really quite funky customs system - i'm realising now i think most my lack of trouble was probably ebay's international shipping program, iirc it helps avoid a lot of the faff involved with our lovely king's customs services.

[Muirium]

It was a nice Christmas payoff for a frustrating wild SSK chase that had lasted most the year. I’d been on DT since February before those showed up in December, hunting in vain. We heard the old timers tales ahead of us about ten dollar SSKs when nobody thought twice about throwing anything beige away. The good times were all over. Here we late comers were left chasing phantoms on Taobao with our clicks in our hands. I know your ennui.

The Kishsavers were a shot in the dark, besides, as they were new to the scene and no one had converted them yet. Mine got Xwhatsit’s very first Model F prototype controller he shipped out.

So yeah, be persistent and be in the right place when the right time strikes. You’ll never know until it does.

[thefarside]

Hypothetically speaking, if a member traveled from the USA to the UK with a keyboard to give to someone in the UK as a “gift”, would they have to declare that keyboard, and pay a duty?

[jsheradin]

Hypothetically speaking, if a member traveled from the USA to the UK with a keyboard to give to someone in the UK as a “gift”, would they have to declare that keyboard, and pay a duty?

That's my personal keyboard! I always travel with spares. No clue what you're talking about Mr. Customs officer.

[thefarside]

Hypothetically speaking, if a member traveled from the USA to the UK with a keyboard to give to someone in the UK as a “gift”, would they have to declare that keyboard, and pay a duty?

That's my personal keyboard! I always travel with spares. No clue what you're talking about Mr. Customs officer.

Haha of course I always travel with an IBM battleship. Who doesn’t?

[hellothere]

to be fair, that keyboard only *ever* came with mechanical switches, and the most common was white alps (though salmons are apparently also possible)

Glad to hear it because I ordered the other one listed. Fingers crossed for some good condition alps!

Ah, well done! I wish I could've done so myself, but shipping to the UK ended up being the equivalent of like $60 so wasn't totally worth it. I'm hoping one will pop up here some time

I think I'd recoup something, even if it's a rubber dome. It's the mystique of "vintage ergonomic". Well, no, not really, because I remember playing with the Apple Adjustable Keyboard when they came out. Unergonomic at any speed.

* White or salmon Alps. Great!
* Four-tab Alps clone. Less great, but I have a ton of white Alps switches I can swap them with!
* Rubber dome. Whatever.

It'd be cool if it was something exotic. Oki gourd springs or something.

[hellothere]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/145193589644

6 Avant Stellar (Northgate Omnikey's successor) programmable keyboards for sale. Not mine, sadly. Also bit pricey, at $249 each, but I haven't seen these on ebay in awhile.

[kbdfr]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/145193589644

6 Avant Stellar (Northgate Omnikey's successor) programmable keyboards for sale. Not mine, sadly. Also bit pricey, at $249 each, but I haven't seen these on ebay in awhile.

Interestingly, the seller's description contains a full description of how to program the keyboard.
No idea if this is already documented anywhere on DT.

[hellothere]

Yah. You need to lead with that .

to be fair, that keyboard only *ever* came with mechanical switches, and the most common was white alps (though salmons are apparently also possible)

Glad to hear it because I ordered the other one listed. Fingers crossed for some good condition alps!

Mine just came in. Neon green Alps. I'll be relisting on ebay for $14,568.

I'm kidding. I'll list it for $15,568.

I'm still kidding. Chicony KB-7001. 5 Pin DIN. Pine white (SKCM) Alps (I opened the switch to be sure) with "silver" springs. The sliders are much brighter white than, say, the ones in my Omnikey Plus, but not quite as white as the white damped sliders in some of the AEK IIs. The keyboard, itself, feels a bit flimsy and has a lot of flex. I wouldn't be overly surprised if the key switch mounting plate is plastic, but I don't have time to open it, ATM. Feels nice to type on.

[thefarside]

Nice! Are you sure it’s not SKBM? Mine also came in and didn’t have slits on the top housing. Below are some pics. Overall it’s a nice keyboard.

IMG_8425.jpeg (164.99 KiB) Viewed 429277 times

IMG_8427.jpeg (3.49 MiB) Viewed 429277 times

[Polecat]

Nice! Are you sure it’s not SKBM? Mine also came in and didn’t have slits on the top housing. Below are some pics. Overall it’s a nice

Pine complicated (SKCM) Alps had slits. Bamboo complicated (SKCM) Alps had no slits. Simplified (SKBM) Alps had bigger mold numbering (and no switchplates). And the SKBM generation numbers (see below) seem to have started over.

Regarding the mold numbering on SKCM my theory (and it's only that...) is that the prefix on the upper right (27 in this case) was a generation number, and got bigger as older molds wore out and were replaced with new ones. I probably have enough data now to narrow down the change from pine to bamboo to a specific generation number.

The letter suffix was possibly a cavity number on the particular mold. Those letters appeared to range from A to P, which would be 16 cavities. 4 by 4 or 2 by 8?

I was told before that nobody cared about any of that, but I've been collecting the data anyway.

[Muirium]

That’s the spirit! The quest for Alpine understanding is quixotic, and therein lies the fun. Surely they put those codes on them for a reason.

Nice looking board, btw. It’d likely drive my wrists mental but it’s got undeniable class.

[hellothere]

Nice! Are you sure it’s not SKBM? Mine also came in and didn’t have slits on the top housing. Below are some pics. Overall it’s a nice

Pine complicated (SKCM) Alps had slits. Bamboo complicated (SKCM) Alps had no slits. Simplified (SKBM) Alps had bigger mold numbering (and no switchplates). And the SKBM generation numbers (see below) seem to have started over.

Regarding the mold numbering on SKCM my theory (and it's only that...) is that the prefix on the upper right (27 in this case) was a generation number, and got bigger as older molds wore out and were replaced with new ones. I probably have enough data now to narrow down the change from pine to bamboo to a specific generation number.

The letter suffix was possibly a cavity number on the particular mold. Those letters appeared to range from A to P, which would be 16 cavities. 4 by 4 or 2 by 8?

I was told before that nobody cared about any of that, but I've been collecting the data anyway.

I'll check in a bit. I wanted to post one of my recent finished keyboards and the I'm going to be posting stuff to ebait.

[hellothere]

You're right. Bamboo. I'm wrong. I need new glasses. At least it's not simplified Alps.

[thefarside]

No worries . Thanks for the great explanation. I’m going to post more attention to the info on the top housing.

[thefarside]

Model F AT at a decent price ($195):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175770059864

[fohat]

Model F AT at a decent price ($195)

Quite a good price for the most "normal" of the Model Fs.
Somebody should pounce on this.

[thefarside]

Beautiful board for $100:

IMG_8469.jpeg (506.13 KiB) Viewed 428392 times

My understanding is it uses Futaba linear switches. Looks like a fun project.

[hellothere]

I'd call this, "Task failed successfully."

About the same time that I purchased the above ergo keyboard, I noticed that someone was selling a cheap Matias Laptop Pro FK303QBT for parts. It has chaaaaattttterring key switches and the battery doesn't hold a charge. I have a Laptop Pro sitting in a corner because it's got a bad PCB, if not some other problems, too. However, I'm pretty sure that the battery in mine is OK and I've got plenty of different switches lying around, including a bag full of new Matias switches. I offered half the asking price and the bid was accepted!

You can probably guess the rest. I've tested for a few days and there aren't any problems with this keyboard. I'm typing on it right now. One key was chattering, but I spammed it for a minute or so and it's now working fine. There's a small amount of wear on the 1.25U+ key caps, but it's definitely not bad.

Well. I'll sell this one, I guess, and wait around until I can get another cheap PCB (if you have one you want to sell, PM me).

Anyone think I should swap out the switches? I've got some more Alps orange, cream damped, white, and black switches lying around ...

[hellothere]

TheFarSide is teasing us by posting a pic without a link. Search for "Televideo." Closest price I found was $145 US.

* I confirm Futaba MD. I can't say I've seen many 925s, but the switches I've seen in them have orange bottoms.
* These can sell for a LOT more than $100.

There's another seller that's selling a keyboard that looks very much like a 925 for $90. Those don't look like Futaba switches.

[Polecat]

TheFarSide is teasing us by posting a pic without a link. Search for "Televideo." Closest price I found was $145 US.

* I confirm Futaba MD. I can't say I've seen many 925s, but the switches I've seen in them have orange bottoms.
* These can sell for a LOT more than $100.

There's another seller that's selling a keyboard that looks very much like a 925 for $90. Those don't look like Futaba switches.

I used Televideo 925 and 950 terminals back in the day. But I much preferred the Zeniths with Alps SKCC switches. The Futaba MD switches are linear, nothing like the clonky MA switches that came later. The 925 and 950 keyboards are probably going to people who want them for their terminals, rather than keyboard fans.

The "Televideo Clone" keyboard has what look like SMK J-M0404 switches. I have a Keypro keyboard here with those; about as unremarkable as the Futaba MDs.

[thefarside]

Whoops sorry about that! That listing was purchased (not by me).

[Muirium]

That listing was purchased (not by me).

"Great Founds"

[engr]

A new open box Datadesk Switchboard for sale on eBay.
A very unique keyboard that I would love to buy... but not for $400.

Note the description on the back of the box: "Datadesk's Module Development Team is at work on still more input devices - a digitizer tablet, a numeric keypad especially designed for accountants and auditors, and LCD calculator and many more - designed to make the Switchboard ever more powerful and ever more flexible".

I guess Focus wasn't the only one interested in built-in calculators.