Alps Appreciation

Redmaus · 15 Feb 2016, 05:03

Videowriter lock, narrow green, and tactile brown alps

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Lonely yellow alps switch

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Chyros · 15 Feb 2016, 08:51

jacobolus wrote: ↑
Chyros wrote: ↑Truth be told I'm running out of keyboards,
If you come to the SF bay area, you can visit HaaTa’s apartment for about a year’s worth of new review material.

A year? Judging by how much he finds I would've thought a lifetime xD .

Blaise170 · 15 Feb 2016, 22:25

This is perhaps the coolest looking Alps keyboard I've yet seen.

Redmaus · 15 Feb 2016, 23:00

Why does that keycap set have to be bigass and not ANSI?

Would be amazing if you could use that set with current boards. Such a shame.

Chyros · 15 Feb 2016, 23:51

Blaise170 wrote: ↑This is perhaps the coolest looking Alps keyboard I've yet seen.

It kind of reminds me of those weird Apple boards that get disgusting after a lot of use. This one looks way funkier though =o .

HzFaq · 16 Feb 2016, 00:03

I nearly bought one of those, was too expensive for me though. Certainly a cool one, looks like an x-ray lil' big board.

Speaking of which...one of my favourites (the bottom one:D). It has OA2 switches so not technically alps but I still love it all the same.

Spoiler:

Also has a very odd FN layer which is activated by hitting right shift which then temporarily turns the arrow keys into home/end/pg up/pg down, right alt into insert and the backslash key into delete.

Oh, another weird thing, it has ADB sockets on the board but it is actually PS2...which confused the fuck out of me when I tried to plug it into my ADB converter and it proceeded to go haywire

.

Blaise170 · 16 Feb 2016, 00:28

That board is probably the same OEM. I was talking about it the other day, it seems that Strong Man made a lot of Alps and Alps clone boards back in the 90s, including keyboards for Filco, Atessa, Pioneer, and more. They all have the characteristic case design too. I'm willing to bet that you have SMK-### as a product number and KM9 as the FCC ID.

HzFaq · 16 Feb 2016, 00:32

Nope, although you probably are right in that it was one OEM churning them out as they are a pretty common design.

Spoiler:

bocahgundul · 16 Feb 2016, 00:52

What is the best caps that is available with alps? cause I have a doubleshot and still they are really bad

bocahgundul · 16 Feb 2016, 00:54

What is the best caps that is available with alps? cause I have a doubleshot and still they are really bad

Blaise170 · 16 Feb 2016, 01:13

Zut! I'm still sure it was made by Strong Man considering the case is identical, and Datadesk just made their own branding for it unlike the others. I have a couple coming my way that are similar too: a Filco Falcon Black, Pioneer, and something else with SMK on it. Considering the Datadesk is also a Mac board, I'd say Strong Man was the OEM since Mac boards were their specialty.

fohat · 16 Feb 2016, 01:50

bocahgundul wrote: ↑What is the best caps that is available with alps? cause I have a doubleshot and still they are really bad

Doubleshot ABS looks good but feels bad. The best caps by far are the PBT found on AEK2 but there are a lot of gaps that cannot be matched on non-Apple boards.

These have gotten attention:

https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/in ... ail&p=1361

mastermachetier · 16 Feb 2016, 02:08

My baby the ASK opened when moving the teensy from an external adapter to internal for more portability since I bring this thing to work everyday. From all the switches I have tried as of now from a few different alps, all kinds of mx, buckling spring, The orange alps switch is my favorite cannot get enough of it. Sorry for potato picture only have my phone. Also excuse my horrible soldering skills. The teensy fits quite well in the keyboard I managed to fasten a way to keep it in place so I can remove and reattach the cable without opening it up. Only think i need to figure out now is how to get into the boot mode of the teensy without pressing the button.

Spoiler:

seaworthy · 16 Feb 2016, 04:36

Nice board @ mastermachetier. The M0116 is one of my favorite boards as well. Tough to beat salmon and orange in a small format. I'm working on turning a M0116 into a 60% board.

mastermachetier · 16 Feb 2016, 05:26

seaworthy wrote: ↑Nice board @ mastermachetier. The M0116 is one of my favorite boards as well. Tough to beat salmon and orange in a small format. I'm working on turning a M0116 into a 60% board.

I would love this keyboard in a more standard or useful layout, but to be fair this is pretty decent.

jacobolus · 16 Feb 2016, 06:26

bocahgundul wrote: ↑What is the best caps that is available with alps? cause I have a doubleshot and still they are really bad

What are your criteria? What is “really bad”?

Different types of plastic sound different, wear at different rates, and are amenable to different types of legends.

ABS keycaps are going to make keyswitch clicking louder and higher pitched; for clicky switches, some people prefer this. For other types of switches, most folks prefer PBT, but it’s really just a matter of personal preference.

jacobolus · 16 Feb 2016, 06:30

My father, for most of his career an independent scholar/writer, used a Mac SE with an M0116 keyboard for most of his work from ~1989 to ~2008. Really great machine, just did a few simple things, but did them really well. The original Mac OS is a great system if all you need is word processing, and Microsoft Word for Mac in the late 80s/early 90s was a really great piece of software. (Unfortunately at some point Microsoft ported their Windows version over, and every version of Word since then has been a steaming pile of poop. Oh well.)

A year and a half ago, I USB converted a different M0116 for him, but I don’t think he’s used it much; when using a laptop, it’s easier for most people to just stick to the built-in keyboard.

ReleaseCandidate · 16 Feb 2016, 08:49

fohat wrote: ↑The best caps by far are the PBT found on AEK2

You misspelled 'SGI'.

bocahgundul · 16 Feb 2016, 12:34

jacobolus wrote: ↑
bocahgundul wrote: ↑What is the best caps that is available with alps? cause I have a doubleshot and still they are really bad
What are your criteria? What is “really bad”?

Different types of plastic sound different, wear at different rates, and are amenable to different types of legends.

ABS keycaps are going to make keyswitch clicking louder and higher pitched; for clicky switches, some people prefer this. For other types of switches, most folks prefer PBT, but it’s really just a matter of personal preference.

Its just that the abs doubleshot that I got is really makes the switches feels cheap! its just not thick or anything just real cheap feeling. But when I try the switches without the caps they feel quite nice

Chyros · 16 Feb 2016, 13:25

bocahgundul wrote: ↑
jacobolus wrote: ↑
bocahgundul wrote: ↑What is the best caps that is available with alps? cause I have a doubleshot and still they are really bad
What are your criteria? What is “really bad”?

Different types of plastic sound different, wear at different rates, and are amenable to different types of legends.

ABS keycaps are going to make keyswitch clicking louder and higher pitched; for clicky switches, some people prefer this. For other types of switches, most folks prefer PBT, but it’s really just a matter of personal preference.
Its just that the abs doubleshot that I got is really makes the switches feels cheap! its just not thick or anything just real cheap feeling. But when I try the switches without the caps they feel quite nice

Double-shot injection molding isn't cheap to make at all xD . They also provide, with no contest, the highest contrast and sharpest print by far. I made some high-magnification electron microscopy images of keycap printing recently; the quality of doubleshots was impressive.

Muirium · 16 Feb 2016, 13:28

Doubleshot: great.

ABS: tragic.

fohat · 16 Feb 2016, 14:25

ReleaseCandidate wrote: ↑
fohat wrote: ↑
bocahgundul wrote: ↑The best caps by far are the PBT found on AEK2
You misspelled 'SGI'.

Both have goofy fonts, but SGI comes much closer to a realistic usable set. The Apples are still "better" in construction.

seebart · 16 Feb 2016, 14:28

Muirium wrote: ↑Doubleshot: great.

ABS: tragic.

Yup, here's a nice Alps keycap summary:

keyboards-f2/various-alps-keycaps-t1289 ... =tai%20hao

Some of the nicest I own are indeed the SGI and Apple caps and of course the vintage Tai Hao Northgate doubleshots.

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bocahgundul · 16 Feb 2016, 14:29

What about the PBT keycaps found on wang 725?
EDIT: typo

seebart · 16 Feb 2016, 14:34

bocahgundul wrote: ↑What about the PBT keycaps found on wang 734?

I wish I had those, I'm sure they're nice.

Got a picture? Now that you mention it the double dye sub keycaps on my Wang 725-3770 are pretty nice:

wiki/Wang_725-3770

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bocahgundul · 16 Feb 2016, 14:40

seebart wrote: ↑
bocahgundul wrote: ↑What about the PBT keycaps found on wang 734?
I wish I had those, I'm sure they're nice. Got a picture? Now that you mention it the double dye sub keycaps on my Wang 725-3770 are pretty nice:

wiki/Wang_725-3770

800px-Wang_725-3770_keycaps.jpg

That colour is awesome!

Redmaus · 16 Feb 2016, 14:54

mastermachetier wrote: ↑My baby the ASK opened when moving the teensy from an external adapter to internal for more portability since I bring this thing to work everyday. From all the switches I have tried as of now from a few different alps, all kinds of mx, buckling spring, The orange alps switch is my favorite cannot get enough of it.

Yeah in orange alps is my favorite light tactile switch. I really need to get some more. Black alps just isn't the same.

seebart wrote: ↑
bocahgundul wrote: ↑What about the PBT keycaps found on wang 734?
I wish I had those, I'm sure they're nice. Got a picture? Now that you mention it the double dye sub keycaps on my Wang 725-3770 are pretty nice:

wiki/Wang_725-3770

Oh man, those look killer with the light blue

seebart · 16 Feb 2016, 14:58

Redmaus wrote: ↑Oh man, those look killer with the light blue

Yeah thanks and sitting on SKCM orange Alps.

I gladly picked that up in webwit's Wild Duck Exotics Boutique. Notice the tiny one unit enter key.

Redmaus · 16 Feb 2016, 15:07

Oh man that is so nice now that I see it on the wiki page.

Anything alps with ANSI is pure gold to me.

Blaise170 · 16 Feb 2016, 15:26

I'm going to have several AEK II with Japanese legends coming to me soon. Once I get them cleaned up I'll probably sell to the community since I won't need them all. I also got a Sharp X68000 which is what I've been trying to get for months but unfortunately I didn't get the black one I was bidding on because I accidentally used my deposits on a different item, so I couldn't increase bid.

I'm still going to try to get a black one though.