Great/Interesting Finds

[emdude]

Thanks for the clarification, I was confused because I thought you had just one of these keyboards.

[Hypersphere]

@emdude: Your'e welcome. I think I might even have one more. If so, I will hand it off to Mrs. Hypersphere and get it listed within the next few days.

[Lynx_Carpathica]

Hi
Is a USB G80-1800 for 10€+6 shipping on German ebay, great deal?

[Phenix]

which model?

if its HAD most likely

[chzel]

Being USB, it's probably lasered, and should be worth only if in very good condition, otherwise it's 5€ from cumb.de

[Lynx_Carpathica]

well, I hope it did worth it, otherwise... gonna go cry



maybe not, but... At least the keycaps are lasered, not pad printed. If for nothing else, gonna be good for a "ok" cheap switch acceptor.

Is the build quality OK? what to expect? or G80-3000 level erm... Brown stripe?

[H3lium]

It's not a particularly bad keyboard.

But it probably has MX-Blacks so desoldering the switches might make no sense (since nobody buys used blacks). The keycaps are lasered thin PBTs so they are not very special either. And the bottom row with all those 1x1 keys is almost useless when it comes to using the keycaps on a different board.

If you can stand MX-Blacks, like the layout and if you want to use it it probably is a good deal. If you bought it just for the heck of it you might get disappointed.

[chzel]

...since nobody buys used blacks...

I buy used blacks!
Smooth ones that is!

[shreebles]

True dat. You can take new blacks and shove them... But old blacks are aight. Same for Browns

[H3lium]

So I guess I was wrong.
Of course it has nothing to do with me hating MX-Black switches .

And maybe I am a bit frustrated that you can buy 100 of those boards with mx blacks for 200 € (not joking) but getting a single mx blue board for a real bargain seems to be impossible. If you can stand knockoffs it might even make sense to buy a new cheap mechanical and desolder the switches (TKL ISO 88 keys for 30 € -> 0,35 € per switch). If you like soldering that is ( I do).

[Khronokrator]

NIB DC-3014 for a cool $700:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-3014-LEADING ... 2170527500?

I feel like this one was posted before, and it turned out the board actually came with White Alps switches.

[elecplus]

NIB DC-3014 for a cool $700:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-3014-LEADING ... 2170527500?

I feel like this one was posted before, and it turned out the board actually came with White Alps switches.

I can ask him to pull a cap, if you want. He is one of my dealers. He also knows the $700 is a totally retarded price, and does not expect to get that.

[Khronokrator]

I think he'd have more luck just running a bidding war; that's where all of the major Blue Alps sells of the last few months went. Wouldn't be surprised if he got up to at least half of his asking price.

(Make no mistake, I'd love to own it, but I couldn't really afford that either.)

[Lynx_Carpathica]

I don't mind desoldering, but clones? Not really. If they're done right, ok, but putting them in a cherry board... Nope, thank. I might go on hunting for a G80-3000 with MX Blues.

Thanks for the answers.

[Hypersphere]

NIB DC-3014 for a cool $700:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-3014-LEADING ... 2170527500?

I feel like this one was posted before, and it turned out the board actually came with White Alps switches.

I can ask him to pull a cap, if you want. He is one of my dealers. He also knows the $700 is a totally retarded price, and does not expect to get that.

If this is the same listing as before, I asked him earlier to pull a cap. He didn't publish the pic, but told me it was white Alps. I told him the price was much too high, but he has persisted in listing it at ~ $700 and describing it simply as "Alps switches".

[jerue]

bolt modded 1392464 SSK (rare! especially with full key set)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-1392464-Mod ... 1930866700

[//gainsborough]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COMMODORE-AMIGA ... Sw-KFXfqTR

This looks like it's in really good condition. Are these boards compatible with any standard 5-pin DIN to PS/2 converter?

[lot_lizard]

bolt modded 1392464 SSK (rare! especially with full key set)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-1392464-Mod ... 1930866700

Jealous of the Esc (Exit) key. That little devil is never there on these guys. Standing offer.. If someone ever has one, and removed to put on a Bro-cap or something... I would pay 30 bucks for that cap alone. It's about what they cost to reproduce as a one-off.

[fohat]

Jealous of the Esc (Exit) key. That little devil is never there on these guys.

I like the stepped Control keys. Stepped Alts are not that rare, but Control is harder to find.

Otherwise, at least some of that set looks like the Wheelwriter set, or maybe not.

[alh84001]

I was wondering if stepped Ctrl keys existed. And those shifts are more similar to 1386304/1392595 than to Wheelwriters since legends are vertically centered.

[jerue]

bolt modded 1392464 SSK (rare! especially with full key set)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-1392464-Mod ... 1930866700

Jealous of the Esc (Exit) key. That little devil is never there on these guys. Standing offer.. If someone ever has one, and removed to put on a Bro-cap or something... I would pay 30 bucks for that cap alone. It's about what they cost to reproduce as a one-off.

I've had people offer me about 50-60 before for mine (when I had a BBv2 on the Esc key), but still said no. Interesting that's what it costs to get caps reproduced. Good to know

I just noticed that F7 key on the keyboard is the only missing special key in the set...shame

[lot_lizard]

Nakazato has been dye-subbing PBT M keys for a bit now, and is getting very good at it. He made me a couple of unicorns. It took me a few iterations with him to really dial it in (helped when he finally gave me his template to do the tweaking myself). They are indistinguishable if done correctly. The custom one-offs have a minimum order of 35 bucks (at least did at one point). The $5 dollar variety below are ones he already has the templates produced for.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/194579578/ ... ome_feat_2

[Darkshado]

Slight O/T: What about Unicomp? If this was a standard legend at some point shouldn't they have the template for it?

[emdude]

Yes, Unicomp can certainly do key caps with custom legends. However, the quality of the legends is often less than stellar compared to those on original IBM caps.

[Darkshado]

Funny you mention... Got my keyset, keycaps and case not long ago.

I remember seeing comments of blurry legends, looks like that's not a problem anymore. Alignment is.

I just opened a ticket earlier today about these and am awaiting news, probably next week:

First on the left are from my 1989 1391413, then from the keyset I ordered from Unicomp, then pairs of custom keys for both my boards. (The other one is a 1391402, originally with the AZERTY layout.)

Spoiler:

IBM 1989 and Unicomp 2016 keycaps

Pause key - IBM 1989, Unicomp 2016.jpg (1014.56 KiB) Viewed 5466 times

Spoiler:

Échap key - IBM 1989, Unicomp 2016

Échap key - IBM 1989, Unicomp 2016.jpg (1.19 MiB) Viewed 5466 times

Still, at about 2 $ a keycap, it's worth a shot.

Regards,

Darkshado

[emdude]

Yes, I'm personally a bit nit-picky about the legends of their key caps, but on their own, they aren't so bad. The alignment is definitely an issue, a common one, that bothers me a lot more.

Here is an RGB set that I purchased from them in January, compared with mods from a 1391401:

Spoiler:

Unicomp sent me a replacement set, but it was hardly better.

[Techno Trousers]

I think what bothers me most about the Unicomp caps is that their "pebble and pearl" doesn't match color with the original IBM variety. So it really sticks out when you try to mix and match.

[LewisR]

Yes, I'm personally a bit nit-picky about the legends of their key caps, but on their own, they aren't so bad. The alignment is definitely an issue, a common one, that bothers me a lot more.

Here is an RGB set that I purchased from them in January, compared with mods from a 1391401:

Spoiler:

Unicomp sent me a replacement set, but it was hardly better.

That's more terrible than I expected.

[hypkx]

I experienced the same, also there was some colour differences between keys (different shade of green between the shift keys) and a really muddy looking red on a ESC keycap.

[Wodan]

Oh wow those caps look like they were all out of f'cks to give when they made them ...