NTC KB-6851EA White Alps, Greek sub-legends.(BOARDS RECEIVED)

[andrewjoy]

Mine arrived today.

I must say i am impressed, it could use a little weight to it but brand new while alps feel amazing.

I put a scratch on the box when opening it tho .

[Tuntematon]

So this means both boxes are accounted for? Lotteries suck. Screw you guys!

Edit: Also, I'm looking forward to testing out the new white Alps feel. I've tried many different used white Alps boards and they range from pretty good to pretty terrible. Hard to get a read.

[ImbaHue]

Still waiting for mine. Probably tomorrow. . Tomorrow.

[jou]

Almost forgot about this and there was a package from Greece on my desk yesterday. Thanks for organizing this!

[Blaise170]

Got this last week but I was out of town. All switches are working on my Soarer Converter, so it must be a problem with corroded switches.

[scottc]

Mine is boxed too! Just haven't seen it yet, it's waiting for me at home while I'm away for the week.

[Shinryuu]

Got this last week but I was out of town. All switches are working on my Soarer Converter, so it must be a problem with corroded switches.

Interesting because it seems electricity goes through switches just fine and guess I'll have to figure out if it stops somewhere else

[chzel]

It might be dried caps, there are 2 electrolytics on the board, I'll try to check over the weekend!

[gogusrl]

got mine, haven't tested it yet. looks awesome, thanks chzel.

[Shinryuu]

I got everything to work! I re-soldered and heated some pins that had some brown stuff around them, it seems it was corrosion after all

[shreebles]

Still waiting, anyone else didn't get theirs yet?

[ImbaHue]

I'm still waiting for mine as well.

Since chzel might be chiming in, I might as well relay what he told me through pm.

He was holding some of the keyboards for inspection before sending it over.

[scottc]

Mine works 100%! Some of the time. The rest of the time it works 0%. But I was lucky enough to get a boxed one, for which I am very grateful. Thank you very much chzel!

[shreebles]

I'm still waiting for mine as well.

Since chzel might be chiming in, I might as well relay what he told me through pm.

He was holding some of the keyboards for inspection before sending it over.

Yes, he messaged me instantly! It's coming soon I hear
Best of all, we get the ones that he tested already!

[Tuntematon]

Got my two keyboards today, both working fine. One seen here with the rest of the mini gang (SIIG MiniTouch and KPT-84). Thanks chzel!

20160201_161459_HDR.jpg (605.78 KiB) Viewed 7397 times

[shreebles]

Checking back in here, also received my board, it gets points for

++ Size
++ form factor
++ looks
+++ condition
+++ price!

I substract points for
--weird arrows
--hollow, plasticy sound
--awkward layers
-white, plasticky Alps

I am not amazed by the white alps switches. Precision and typing speed are quite good for me, but it's not entirely a pleasant experience. Maybe this is due to the sound but I simply disagree with the actuation point of white Alps, they are not smooth nor very tactile, the switch itself sounds nice but the rest of the board doesn't. Actuation force is a bit too high for my taste even though I like Model M (which should be heavier, but with sharper tactility). For me, white Alps seem plasticky and sluggish. Actuation feel is quite good but the rest feels weird to me. Like a clicky Clear switch that sticks a bit.

I can be happy with Cherry, Model M or the Novatouch, but not Alps it seems.
This is the third Alps board I tried that didn't do it for me.
If I ever tried a custom made one with thick keycaps I might change my mind though....

PS: This keyboard worked fine with a DIN/PS2 and a PS2/USB adapter, which is nice!

[Blaise170]

I wouldn't give up on Alps yet! Especially because of SKCM White, I've never been a huge fan of them compared to the others like Blue, Orange, Salmon, etc.

[shreebles]

Well maybe I won't give up altogether but I do not think I will keep this keyboard. It's too nice to just have it laying around with someone who doesn't enjoy it.

We collect keyboards, the price is money, storage space and sanity. Especially the latter two are in very low supply at the moment!
Hence why I can't keep keyboards I don't use anymore.

But as I said, maybe a proper custom keyboard with one of the other Alps types could change my mind. I only had Whites and Blacks so far. But, there are no thick keycaps for Alps keyboards, correct?

[gogusrl]

There are thick keycaps but not that many. There's apple's AEKs, some Zeniths and a portable IBM 5xxx.

edit : also there's the old logo DELL AT and SGI.

[shreebles]

Ah, I see. Had a newer Dell AT 101 once, with SKCM Black. It was a newer model but quite worn, and dusty. Bad typing feel, IMO (still better than G81 or ML, though).

[Tuntematon]

Well maybe I won't give up altogether but I do not think I will keep this keyboard. It's too nice to just have it laying around with someone who doesn't enjoy it.

If you do decide to sell it I'm interested! I like the size and layout enough that I might even do a switch mod (I'm not crazy about the white Alps either). It would be good to have another spare.

[Blaise170]

I don't know if I'll keep mine either, I was hoping unused White Alps might change my mind about them, but even so I still prefer every other Alps switch to them. Maybe I'll swap in some Matias linears or something like that. The pad printing is a bit disappointing too, but for the price I can't complain.

[shreebles]

Well maybe I won't give up altogether but I do not think I will keep this keyboard. It's too nice to just have it laying around with someone who doesn't enjoy it.

If you do decide to sell it I'm interested! I like the size and layout enough that I might even do a switch mod (I'm not crazy about the white Alps either). It would be good to have another spare.

If you are still interested I will put it up for sale soon.

However, if there is someone who wanted to participate in this group buy but missed it, I would favor them over someone who already has one! Hope you understand.

We really don't want to encourage hoarding... Right guys..? Right.....?

[Tuntematon]

Well maybe I won't give up altogether but I do not think I will keep this keyboard. It's too nice to just have it laying around with someone who doesn't enjoy it.

If you do decide to sell it I'm interested! I like the size and layout enough that I might even do a switch mod (I'm not crazy about the white Alps either). It would be good to have another spare.

If you are still interested I will put it up for sale soon.

However, if there is someone who wanted to participate in this group buy but missed it, I would favor them over someone who already has one! Hope you understand.

We really don't want to encourage hoarding... Right guys..? Right.....?

That's fair. I recall seeing 7bit on the list, not sure if he dropped out or got bumped off when the numbers were adjusted. He was at or near the bottom of the list. As for hoarding, I would never! Maybe I just need lots of the same thing.

[shreebles]

As for hoarding, I would never! Maybe I just need lots of the same thing.

PM'd

[zuglufttier]

Does anybody want my defective unit? At first, the Shift, Control and Alt keys were not working, then I tried to clean the back of the board with isopropanol: Now all LEDs are lit when I connect the keyboard, no keys get registered at all... My cleaning seems to have shortened something... Aquakey shows that multiple keys are pressed when I press only one.

I guess, it's not really defective but cleaning the board completely would require desoldering every switch and that's just too much for me PM me if you're interested!

[Blaise170]

If I were in Germany I'd take it, but shipping will probably be prohibitive to the US.

[zuglufttier]

I think it could be done for less than 20 euros or US dollars The board's really small.

[shreebles]

Does anybody want to buy my working unit?

[zuglufttier]

I'll put mine on eBay in the next days if nobody takes it.