Great/Interesting Finds

[Prelim]

you guys just didn't had enough of mIRC

[Chyros]

Hearing people actually say "loll" really brings home what an execrable shorthand it is. Meant to say OH YEAH I'M LITERALLY LAUGHING RIGHT NOW but sounds like "meh".

Lol.

[Muirium]

Used like that, it's a bit like Aussie / Valley Girl uptalk. The idea, I think, is to put up a bit of a shield to hide behind. Something like "I don't really mean this" or "my bad" or ultimately "don't hurt me!"

Laughing out loud. With nervous laughter. Sure…

Or, you know, stand by your fucking convictions, people, and speak your mind "eff eff ess!"

[mr_a500]

Arrg! Uptalk is everywhere now! It makes me want to puke? LOL!

(yes, I'm angry, uptalking, puking and "laughing out loud" at the same time)

[Muirium]

Go on then, what about vocal fry?

If you haven't heard the name, you've certainly heard the effect.

[seebart]

Mumbo jumbo? Jabberwocky!

I don't need all that jive. Don't believe the hype.

[mr_a500]

Go on then, what about vocal fry?

If you haven't heard the name, you've certainly heard the effect.

I can only do so many things at once? Like, right now I'm uptalking? I could aaadd a vocaal fry, but then it's hard to LOL.

[Muirium]

Blurrrrff!

[derzemel]

you guys just didn't had enough of mIRC

ASL PLS?

[Prelim]

/chanserv OP #Deskthority derzemel

[gogusrl]

They go back to 2002-2003. More "asl pls" in there than I'd like to admit

[Muirium]

Pfft, kids. I was doing that shit back in ¡THE PREVIOUS CENTURY!

And I gave up back then too. You might have noticed I operate best, longhand.

[Prelim]

hehe, I lost my nights in the previous century as well! (1997-2000)... ohhh, I miss that good old days but quite frankly I didn't used to talk with strangers, I recall meeting new people and then talk with them through IRC afterwards.

[Blaise170]

Just remember that it's totally possible that there are people on these forums that weren't even born in the 20th century.

[Muirium]

Yup. We lean a little older than many tech sites here – mechanical keyboards, especially the vintage ones we so often bang on about, appeal more easily to those who grew up with them around – but 2000 was 15 years ago now and there'll be some young punks showing up sooner or later if they haven't already.

You know, once they figure out there's more to computers than Minecraft…

[E3E]

Speaking of vintage appreciation. I was somewhat hesitant to post pictures of my Fame keyboard since I thought it might be seen as sacrilege the way I customized the board instead of just restoring it to its former appearance 1:1.

I just like it so much, that I figured I'd never sell it anyway and decided to put a little flair on it.

So here's some more pics of that FAME board you requested, seebart. It looks a lot like the Chicony 5161 but it's bigger and has a metal back. Also brass inserts for the screws unlike what I've seen for the Chicony, so maybe a bit better quality. I still like those 5161s though.

http://imgur.com/a/koUlt

I always get torn by the difference between obscurity and rarity. Objectively, they're kind of the same thing. Perhaps desirability is more the word I'm looking for. I've been seeing a lot of boards that are considered quite rare pop up a bunch lately, like the DC-3014 and KB101A.

I think it's just a relative thing. Sometimes the market is dry, sometimes it's churning out boards not seen for ages, hehe.

I still have yet to see another one of these (been trying to find any more info on it to no avail). That doesn't exactly make it super desirable. That Datatech SPK-100 is another example I can think of that I've only seen one of until it hit eBay the other day, and I think it's quite hideous, even if rare.

Excuse my tangent. This might not be the place. xD But the question always gets at me.

[E3E]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-ZENITH- ... SwA4dWMA51



As everything these days, the price is a bit on the high side, but this is a 100% guaranteed green Alps due to the MFG date.

The caps are likely doubleshot ABS, but there is a very slim chance that they are PBT. I doubt this, personally.

This one IS both green alps and PBT, but it's not a GREAT deal. It's a rather poor deal and only for those who are desperate or loaded.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-ZENITH- ... SwHnFV5cax

[gogusrl]

My Zenith with Green Alps came with thick pbt dyesubs. There's another guy here with another Zenith that looks the same but it's yellow alps + doubleshots.

edit :
ibm box

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-Com ... 1981280529

[E3E]

My Zenith with Green Alps came with thick pbt dyesubs. There's another guy here with another Zenith that looks the same but it's yellow alps + doubleshots.

edit :
ibm box

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-IBM-Com ... 1981280529

Yep! I have a Z-150 with yellow alps and doubleshots. Apparently, only the really old ones have PBT, typically without a label on the back from what I have read. The top link I mentioned might have PBT, being from April '87, but I really get the feeling it's ABS.

[shreebles]

As for Model Ms, sure there's a good supply out there but forgetting about Unicomp (which is probably wise) it's a static supply that doesn't get bigger, while the Model M's outsized reputation, meanwhile, grows and grows. I don't see cause for a big price drop. The more people want Model Ms, the more they will be worth. What needs to fail is demand.

It's true that the reputation is huge, and rightly so because it pioneered today's keyboard design.
But what happens when supply dries up is that the sellers increase prices, which leads to elliptical prices as you described.
At this point, it becomes unfeasible for potential buyers to own the keyboard. Paying over 100 bucks for a model M? I think most people would pass on that, because one can appreciate what it did without owning it.
Am I glad that I have an M that I paid less than 30€ on? Yes, of course, but even so I have considered selling it because it is not my favorite, I don't type on it nearly enough, and lastly, I can appreciate it's legacy without feeling like I have to own the keyboard.

Model M is like the reference for mechanical keyboards to the average unknowledgeable person.

Good thing! Few years ago "mechanical keyboard" to many meant either "that loud old piece of junk?" or "nice, a clicky DAS Keyboard with Cherry MX Blue Switches"...

[Chyros]

When I talk to people about old keyboards all that they can recall about them is that they were loud, or "clicky" as they call them (irrespective of whether they actually were). They never mention or remember that they were better to type on. To them it's just obsolete rubbish.

[Muirium]

Exactly. I was the same way myself until I got one of these:


Pretty, before the insects and finger spooge move in, forever to be displayed like protected works of art behind the transparent plastic. And meh feeling, until it ages, and it turns amazingly, heroically, legendarily bad.

It takes a truly awful keyboard to suddenly awaken the realisation that keyboards do in fact matter. A lot of old Mac greybeards were the same way when the AppleDesign Keyboard (also awful, but not quite as bad!) replaced the Apple Extended II. If they were lucky, they hadn't junked their old board yet. Thus "legends" are born…

[andrewjoy]

They are horrible, its the clear bottom i don't like. Shows all the dirt. They are not that hard to clean but why would you bother on a terrible keyboard like this ? I have to , we still have some in use in work. Myself i prefer my 122, eats them things for breakfast.

[Stabilized]

They are horrible, its the clear bottom i don't like. Shows all the dirt. They are not that hard to clean but why would you bother on a terrible keyboard like this ? I have to , we still have some in use in work. Myself i prefer my 122, eats them things for breakfast.

I remember we had iMacs at my school with those exact keyboards, and they looked absolutely disgusting after a month or two, not to mention the keycaps had a lovely brown hue to them. Felt the need to wash my hands straight after being close to one.

[E3E]

When I talk to people about old keyboards all that they can recall about them is that they were loud, or "clicky" as they call them (irrespective of whether they actually were). They never mention or remember that they were better to type on. To them it's just obsolete rubbish.

Haha. Clicky tends to be a hot word for any mechanical keyboard by someone who isn't familiar with them.

Personally, and you can laugh up and down the block about this, but up until I really got into mechanical keyboards, I thought they were something modern since everyone seemed to be so hyped around them and since they seemed like a gamer fad. I had no idea they were actually much older than I thought.

I was born right in the transition period between mechanical keyboards and rubber domes, so I never had any real memories of them.


My dad worked with computers during the 80s and 90s, so surely he had quite a few somewhere, and the computer he gave us had an amber on black display running DOS or something. It might not have had a mechanical keyboard. I certainly don't remember some heavy keyboard. I think that's one of the most tell-tale signs of an old mechanical, that it's heavy compared to any rubber dome.

I help my mom clean up this printing press on Sundays and they have an old McIntosh with an AppleDesign Keyboard that I thought was mechanical until I started wising up and realizing how light it was. When I got my AEK, it was even more blatantly obvious. That board is hefty!

[Findecanor]

Something that does not have mass appeal, but are very much liked by some users:
Typematrix 2030 on Swedish auction site Tradera. 200 SEK, which is about 25 Euros. Ends in two days.

[gogusrl]

pretty sure this one has alps + doubleshots (but not 100%).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1980s-Toshiba-T ... 1096761788

[seebart]

pretty sure this one has alps + doubleshots (but not 100%).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1980s-Toshiba-T ... 1096761788

Looks almost exactly like a SIIG MiniTouch / Monterey K110.

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Monterey_K110

[Muirium]

Strong resemblance, but those stepped caps are a bit off. Anyway, there's still a chance it has pale blue Montereys.

[jbondeson]

It's a rubberdome. ika found a disassembly video that shows the underneath of the keyboard and it's domes.

Theoretically could be alps-mount domes, but that would be a gamble.

Edit: https://youtu.be/hO2FUOBDVkQ?t=314