Unicomp - Keyboards with all-white keys

[daedalus]

Announced yesterday. Why they didn't do this before is beyond me... much nicer (IMHO) than the old blue/grey keys. The keys are referred to as "Brilliant white" which suggests to me that they may be a different colour tone to the standard pearl white ones.

[nathanscribe]

"Pearl white" is off-white, yep. It's the standard IBM key colour as far as I recall from my time with a Unicomp. These look like "white" white. TBH I find hard black and hard white too strong a contrast; vintage Cherry DS not-quite-white is white enough for me against a dark surround. But these have to be better than spangly grey...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Interesting ..... I do quite like that. A little odd, but the grey-on-black looked a little dingy.

[Halvar]

Needs grey modifiers, a red Esc, and black keys on the number pad ...

[tinnie]

Ambra M's color?

[Ekaros]

Black White might bee too much, but old colour case + white might work...

[rodtang]

These look a lot better than the gray at least. I think they look more modern than the gray ones as well.

Ambra M's color?

Nah, these are white. The Ambras are tinted blue.

[webwit]

Wake me when they make a tenkeyless.

[7bit]

Wake me when they make an industrial grey 122 key shell.

[Daemon Raccoon]

Wake me when they revive the Model F's capacitive tech.

[webwit]

Now you're talking. And in HHKB format.

[Daemon Raccoon]

So, Unicomp needs to come out with a modified Kishsaver, then we can be woken up.

[webwit]

Glad we got this figured out for them. Next move is Unicomp's!

[7bit]

No! I want a Selectric in 122-key layout with PS/2 plug and free endless paper supply!

[bhtooefr]

No! I want a Selectric in 122-key layout with PS/2 plug and free endless paper supply!

Screw the paper supply, I want free field engineer visits, to keep a Selectric I/O going...

[vivalarevolución]

Wake me when they recreate a programmable kishsaver. I'll be fine with membrane buckling spring they can do that.

[drozzy]

Quick note guys, Massdrop for an custom ultra classic is now on:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/unicomp-ul ... guest_open

Looks like they are mixing the brilliant white and grey.

[vsev]

Unicomp Customer Survey ask me for satisfaction answers so to :

Please use this free-text space to inform us what we should 'START' doing......

I answered :
-improve way of input ordering for multiple custom printed keycaps that one do not have to return from start page for each cap.
-allow custom colors and prints for multi wide keys
-adding diodes to membrane assembly to allow NKRO for custom controllers
-making tenkeyless keyboards
-making model F's barrels/pivot plate&spring assembly
-making model F original/custom pcb's
-try to minimize shipping costs for non US customers

I know I'm dreaming, but they asked !

[Mal-2]

-improve way of input ordering for multiple custom printed keycaps that one do not have to return from start page for each cap.

They could do this without having to invest in any machinery, or stopping production of anything. Therefore it might happen.

-making tenkeyless keyboards!

Maybe some time before the sun goes Red Giant, they'll make that new SSK...

[Muirium]

It'd be nice if they still even made complete black blank sets. My hopes are not high. They're nice enough people, but not in the same game as the newer manufacturers out there. Hell, even Topre's nimble and responsive compared to Unicomp.

[andrewjoy]

what's annoying is they have the tooling there to do it! Just need some black plastic .

they could even keep making industrial cases. Dont know if they ever got the tooling for the original SSK but i dont see why not if they got the rest of it from lexmark, why would you not take some of it?

[Redmaus]

Its 2020, and Unicomp just announced that they have started working on a TKL model M.

But due to manufacturing problems, we will have to push this back to 2021. Sorry for the inconvenience. We do have a brand new breast cancer awareness special edition keyboard however!!

[Hak Foo]

what's annoying is they have the tooling there to do it! Just need some black plastic .

they could even keep making industrial cases. Dont know if they ever got the tooling for the original SSK but i dont see why not if they got the rest of it from lexmark, why would you not take some of it?

The SSK was always a niche product... was it even produced alongside the full run of the conventional 101/102 and 122 Ms? They could well have discarded the tooling long before Unicomp spun off.

[zts]

what's annoying is they have the tooling there to do it! Just need some black plastic .

they could even keep making industrial cases. Dont know if they ever got the tooling for the original SSK but i dont see why not if they got the rest of it from lexmark, why would you not take some of it?

While I give Unicomp lots of credit for continuing production throughout the years, I'm not sure if Unicomp equipment is getting old or needs some repair/maintenance, but the case edges are currently substandard -- what I mean by this is that the edges are not smooth at all. I feel like getting some sandpaper and smoothing them out. Anybody else noticed that?

[seebart]

That sounds like Unicomp is having quality issues in production. Who knows how old their tooling is and in what condition. I never understood their product range either. Since their keyboards are not distributed in the EU officially they don't show up that often. Personally I've never seen one myself.

[zts]

That sounds like Unicomp is having quality issues in production. Who knows how old their tooling is and in what condition. I never understood their product range either. Since their keyboards are not distributed in the EU officially they don't show up that often. Personally I've never seen one myself.

I think this may be a newer issue as tools are getting older ... not sure, but I took these pics for DT wiki and then I remembered this conversation ... anyways, this is a (2015) Ultra Classic ... you can see the unpolished finish on the keyboard edges (not perfect fit and rough stuff):

[andrewjoy]

whist bad its nothing a bit of http://www.3mdirect.co.uk/scotch-brite- ... -pads.html would not fix

[chzel]

That right edge looks as if it is unclipped...

[zts]

whist bad its nothing a bit of http://www.3mdirect.co.uk/scotch-brite- ... -pads.html would not fix

yes, it could be smoothened, but 25-year old IBMs were perfectly polished; haven't seen old Lexmarks with this issue either. Maybe, there was a reason why they were using metal tops those days.

That right edge looks as if it is unclipped...

came in perfectly packaged from Unicomp, so there is no damage from the shipping process. But it seems more like that the plastic top is not a perfect fit for the base. I may need to open it up, but it seems properly clipped.
In a way, all this gives me a glimpse of why the promised Unicomp SSK is not coming out soon ... Maybe, they just need a newer tools/equipment and someone to do a more rigorous finished product quality control.

[Muirium]

I think it's safe to say the Unicomp SSK is dead. This kind of quality control shows how much they're struggling. And, from what I've heard, they're on autopilot over there anyway. They could have hooked up with the big spending keyboard community (they're in the land of Geekhack and Massdrop after all). But they did not. Instead, Unicomp's path is towards retirement. That's the big announcement I expect from them.

Surprise me!