Great/Interesting Finds

[Wodan]

Low Profile Alps ?
https://www.ebay.de/ulk/itm/131731198309

[E3E]

When I ordered my first linear Alps board, the Zenith Z-150, I was banking on Greens as well, but I got yellow SKCL.

They were icky and scratchy too. Because the seller listed the board as AT as opposed to XT, however, I was able to get a partial refund (half off) and keep the board.

You didn't get the switch you wanted so you exploited the AT/XT error to squeeze a 50% refund out of the seller? . Ruthless. I hope I never encounter you on eBay.

Pff, I had no idea there was a difference. As an AT model, I wholly expected it to work with my system but it did not.

That's all there was to it.

I'm actually hashing it out with the seller right now. He said he could give me 108 green switches if I swapped out the yellows and shipped them back. I told him if he wanted me to do that he would need more switches

I bought two boards, so thats kind of a crappy deal to me

Good point! That's pretty unbalanced considering that's well... Not two keyboard's worth of switches.

Did you manage to snag the Bondwell PRO 8T laptop by the way?

[Wodan]

Fujitsu N860-6149
https://www.ebay.de/ulk/itm/111909159554
Probably similair to this one:
photos-f62/fujitsu-n860-6131-t011-02a-t6503.html

[Redmaus]

Good point! That's pretty unbalanced considering that's well... Not two keyboard's worth of switches.

Did you manage to snag the Bondwell PRO 8T laptop by the way?

Yes I did

Has not arrived yet however

Interesting enough, one TI board has very nice smooth yellow alps and pad printed(or dyesub?) keys. The other has doubleshots with yellows that are very scratchy. Are there different variants between yellows?

[itzmeluigi]

I'm actually hashing it out with the seller right now. He said he could give me 108 green switches if I swapped out the yellows and shipped them back. I told him if he wanted me to do that he would need more switches

I bought two boards, so thats kind of a crappy deal to me

Exchange one board worth of yellows to the seller for the greens, then ask for a refund on the last yellow board.

[Redmaus]

Giving you back the switches would mean I would have to spend around 3 hours desoldering them, then ship them to you and pay for shipping. I appreciate that you want to help me out and supply the switches, but considering the boards should have had green in the first place its a bad deal for me.

Keep in mind I bought two boards, not one. And neither had greens.

I have to do a lot of work to do now just to get back half of what I should have had in the first place. I am not trying to be condescending, I simply want fair reparation. I would need equal amount of switches I should have gotten which would be somewhere around 200 or a fair refund, which would actually be more than 20$ per board considering I have something I had before and which there is no demand for. Or if you have any other alps switches that have value, those could be substituted as well. Such as blue, neon green, or brown alps.

Thanks

That's what I told him after. Still waiting on a reply. It's taking awhile

[seebart]

Interesting enough, one TI board has very nice smooth yellow alps and pad printed(or dyesub?) keys. The other has doubleshots with yellows that are very scratchy. Are there different variants between yellows?

Yes, dirty vs. clean ones and less used ones vs. heavily used ones.

[Redmaus]

Oh yeah your probably right. More used should be smoother right?

[seebart]

The less used and the cleaner the smoother they are.

[E3E]

Oh yeah your probably right. More used should be smoother right?

This is true for Cherry, yeah. Well-used Cherry ages like a fine wine. This is usually the opposite for Alps, though with linears, it probably doesn't matter (aside from the contacts going out, which can always be replaced anyway).

The reason it's negative for Alps is that the tactile and click leaves can bend out of shape over time and that can alter feel or sound.

Again, for linears, I don't think this is an issue. They might get smoother over time just like Cherry, but I can't say. I've never tried Matias to compare something freshly manufactured to the Alps of yore.

[seebart]

Again, for linears, I don't think this is an issue. They might get smoother over time just like Cherry, but I can't say.

You might be right about that, the green SKCL's on my Zenith Z-KB 2 from 1987 are super smooth and that keyobard has seen some major action from what I can tell. Such a shame they're not produced anymore. I have only tried the Matias Quiet in the Ergo and did not like them that much. They're not bad but not up to par with clean vintage Alps SKCL/SKCM.

[ohaimark]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-Alps-Qty- ... 1907783764

Some Green Alps switches.

Edit: seems like I'm developing a sixth sense where Green Alps are concerned...

[Redmaus]

wtf those were the exact alps the seller was going to refund me with!

He isn't gone he just ignored my message!

Or he lied and has more than 108 switches...

[bocahgundul]

wtf those were the exact alps the seller was going to refund me with!

He isn't gone he just ignored my message!

Or he lied and has more than 108 switches...

bro I just snatched it

[ohaimark]

bro I just snatched it

Laughing: probably not appropriate.

[Redmaus]

Its okay I understand the snatchiness but did I sound unreasonable in my message above? Don't know if I pissed him off or not.

[bocahgundul]

Its okay I understand the snatchiness but did I sound unreasonable in my message above? Don't know if I pissed him off or not.

yeah you need to message him again and sorry for the laugh

I think he don't want to refund you

[Redmaus]

yeah you need to message him again and sorry for the laugh

I think he don't want to refund you

I'm not mad at you at all. I just messaged him and am still waiting for a reply.

[photekq]

Those green alps look very rusted.

[Redmaus]

Well I told him I just wanted a full refund and have him pay for shipping the way back and he just replied

No thnx

Sent him a message saying I would rather not have to use ebay buyer protection.

@photek Now that you say it, those green alps do look rather rusted underneath the contacts. Kinda glad he sold them to bogandhul now (i kid)

[Crazy Canadian XXIV]

Just go straight to buyer protection, dude. Don't waste any more of your time on this slimy newt.

[Tuntematon]

I think you should've just requested a partial refund, shipping is so cost prohibitive with keyboards. Yellow Alps aren't so bad are they? Aren't they just like green, just less good?

[rddm]

model m?
http://www.ebay.de/itm/IBM-Tastatur-die ... SwezVW0esu

[Redmaus]

I did request a partial refund, dude said "13$ per board is best I can do" Fuck that.

Yellow alps are very nice, but its not what I paid for. I really wanted a donor board for green alps.

[webwit]

Seller's error, he should pay for the return shipping and fix it by sending the green alps or do a refund. It's as simple as that. I myself did sent someone the wrong thing once. You fix it when it's your fault. I don't see the problem. So fuck the seller if he doesn't do the right thing, to save a few bucks.

[Madhias]

A German G80-1000: http://www.ebay.de/itm/262304880340

[ohaimark]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-BKE-9400-E ... 2037631179

Topre?

[guk]

Look at the led position.

[XMIT]

Seller's error, he should pay for the return shipping and fix it by sending the green alps or do a refund. It's as simple as that. I myself did sent someone the wrong thing once. You fix it when it's your fault. I don't see the problem. So fuck the seller if he doesn't do the right thing, to save a few bucks.

I've been on both sides of this situation. It's really frustrating. It's entirely possible the seller was selling multiple items under one listing thinking they were identical and didn't realize there was a difference.

I think the best way to deal with it is to simply issue a refund for the price of the item and not require return shipping, especially if the item was about as expensive as shipping. So, if I sold you an item for $20 and you paid me $20 to ship it, and I refund you $20, I'm still out the $20 I paid to ship it to you. Otherwise I'm out $40 for round trip shipping but have an item that I can sell to someone else (maybe) for $20 and thus am still out $20.

As a seller: list one item in the auction, photograph it well including a serial number, describe it minimally, and send the buyer that exact item. Or just avoid eBay entirely.

As a buyer: ask lots of questions, and expect that your purchase is a final transaction.

[E3E]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-Alps-Qty- ... 1907783764

Some Green Alps switches.

Edit: seems like I'm developing a sixth sense where Green Alps are concerned...

Ha, yeah! You started with a Zenith Z-150, found that Texas Instruments board. Found MORE Texas Instruments boards, stumbled upon a batch of Greens.

The keyboard leprechaun is surely among us!