Great/Interesting Finds

[Ghost963]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tastatur-PS-2/1 ... RTM2247626

Zenith board with the new logo. Might be mechanical.

[gogusrl]

Don't think so

[kbdfr]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252641830001
Crappy pics, but the label gives almost all required info:
Tipro 12x8 matrix board, MID, black.
Almost probably PS/2, but will work wenn instead connected to the USB staggered unit I have for sale
and can also take its USB controller.

[Chyros]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tastatur-PS-2/1 ... RTM2247626

Zenith board with the new logo. Might be mechanical.

Nope, rubber dome .

[Hypersphere]

Zenith 163-57 NIB/NOS $180 shipped

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heath-Zenith-SW ... SwcUBYLMHV

What switches and keycaps are in this keyboard? I think this is a rack-mountable version.

[mike52787]

Zenith 163-57 NIB/NOS $180 shipped

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heath-Zenith-SW ... SwcUBYLMHV

What switches and keycaps are in this keyboard? I think this is a rack-mountable version.

Magnetic valve switches. Chyros did a review on that particular board.

[Hypersphere]

Just discovered Chyros' review a few moments ago! Interesting board!

[XMIT]

I have one as well. It's one of my favorites. An actually usable magnetic valve board is a really rare thing.

[Hypersphere]

Looks like it would actually be worth the asking price. I am of course tempted, but I am WAY over my keyboard budget for this year. My recent surge in interest in Alps along with the Ellipse F62/F77 project and the lot_lizard MF project have put my accounts into deep red status.

[lot_lizard]

I know we don't do typewriters much here, but anyone in upstate MI (or willing to make a trek) this is a gold (well.. silver) mine. I'm sure 350-400 cash would be considered given the duration of the post

https://nmi.craigslist.org/bfs/5869699652.html

[LeandreN]

duplicate

[LeandreN]

Maybe not great, but interesting.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKIDATA-PS-2-MU ... SwzgRWxucZ

Went from 55€ a keyboard to 125€, but they are in stock.

[Menuhin]

Maybe not great, but interesting.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKIDATA-PS-2-MU ... SwzgRWxucZ

Went from 55€ a keyboard to 125€, but they are in stock.

It is better this way, as only serious collectors are going to think about having it.

Otherwise, we'll see all SkiData keyboards scrapped to scrapped to barebone with all the Clear and the caps taken away. It's one of the many masterpieces of GMK for collectors who have spare space and money.

[LeandreN]

Maybe not great, but interesting.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKIDATA-PS-2-MU ... SwzgRWxucZ

Went from 55€ a keyboard to 125€, but they are in stock.

It is better this way, as only serious collectors are going to think about having it.

Otherwise, we'll see all SkiData keyboards scrapped to scrapped to barebone with all the Clear and the caps taken away. It's one of the many masterpieces of GMK for collectors who have spare space and money.

That's an interesting way to look at it. I still want to find the iso Nordic version though, seems impossible.

[Menuhin]

Maybe not great, but interesting.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKIDATA-PS-2-MU ... SwzgRWxucZ

Went from 55€ a keyboard to 125€, but they are in stock.

It is better this way, as only serious collectors are going to think about having it.

Otherwise, we'll see all SkiData keyboards scrapped to scrapped to barebone with all the Clear and the caps taken away. It's one of the many masterpieces of GMK for collectors who have spare space and money.

That's an interesting way to look at it. I still want to find the iso Nordic version though, seems impossible.

If I create a post here on DT or GH, giving away a SkiData for free. Many people will PM me, and 90%+ of them would just take away the caps, and perhaps not even bother to desolder the Clear, and the whole thing will end up in junkyard / landfill. Modern human nature under the fast paced consumerism with programmed obsolescence, at least planned in the marketing.

[Menuhin]

Two SGI Bigfoot keyboards, one 9500900 and one 9500801, booth with alps.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SGI-Silicon-Gra ... SwHMJYKG6B

Damnit -- I'm going to kitten all over that Granite...

Spoiler:

It ended so CHEAP this time! I paid almost $90 shipped across the pond and at the end it has white bamboo inside. Don't tell me the person who won is going to just take the caps and the switches and then trash the whole board, "I don't know who you are but I will track you down and i will find you..."

[seebart]

If I create a post here on DT or GH, giving away a SkiData for free. Many people will PM me, and 90%+ of them would just take away the caps, and perhaps not even bother to desolder the Clear, and the whole thing will end up in junkyard / landfill. Modern human nature under the fast paced consumerism with programmed obsolescence, at least planned in the marketing.

Really?

keyboards-f2/an-obituary-of-a-keyboard- ... 15098.html

[Scarpia]

Damnit -- I'm going to kitten all over that Granite...

Spoiler:

It ended so CHEAP this time! I paid almost $90 shipped across the pond and at the end it has white bamboo inside. Don't tell me the person who won is going to just take the caps and the switches and then trash the whole board, "I don't know who you are but I will track you down and i will find you..."

The person who won this had the nine blessings of the Church of The Kitteh and if you can tell me where I can get a standard ANSI PBT keyset for Alps that won't set me back $70+ then you can save that keyboard from the desoldering station.

[Norman_]

Damnit -- I'm going to kitten all over that Granite...

Spoiler:

It ended so CHEAP this time! I paid almost $90 shipped across the pond and at the end it has white bamboo inside. Don't tell me the person who won is going to just take the caps and the switches and then trash the whole board, "I don't know who you are but I will track you down and i will find you..."

The person who won this had the nine blessings of the Church of The Kitteh and if you can tell me where I can get a standard ANSI PBT keyset for Alps that won't set me back $70+ then you can save that keyboard from the desoldering station.

You won't find standard on that, damn capslock...

I plan on modding an omnikey to accept the steps capslock actually, and if you're curious, the stepped capslock stem aligns vertically with the tab key stem

[alh84001]

It ended so CHEAP this time!

The person who won this had the nine blessings of the Church of The Kitteh [/quote]

Well, it looks like you had all the blessings for yourself Beige non-PS2 being cheapermore expensive than granite What's next, dogs and cats living together?

[Menuhin]

Damnit -- I'm going to kitten all over that Granite...

Spoiler:

It ended so CHEAP this time! I paid almost $90 shipped across the pond and at the end it has white bamboo inside. Don't tell me the person who won is going to just take the caps and the switches and then trash the whole board, "I don't know who you are but I will track you down and i will find you..."

The person who won this had the nine blessings of the Church of The Kitteh and if you can tell me where I can get a standard ANSI PBT keyset for Alps that won't set me back $70+ then you can save that keyboard from the desoldering station.

That means, if there's the availability of some nice and reasonably priced ANSI PBT sets for Alps, or these SGI boards go as high as $100+, then you won't slaughter them for economic / trading reason.

[Menuhin]

If I create a post here on DT or GH, giving away a SkiData for free. Many people will PM me, and 90%+ of them would just take away the caps, and perhaps not even bother to desolder the Clear, and the whole thing will end up in junkyard / landfill. Modern human nature under the fast paced consumerism with programmed obsolescence, at least planned in the marketing.

Really?

keyboards-f2/an-obituary-of-a-keyboard- ... 15098.html

That also means, if I really want to ensure this (rare? or not so rare?) Tektronix board be safe, I should resell it at a price beyond 125€ which deter scrappers for just the caps and the switches. Or I should sell it or trade it or gift it to someone who promises to do a conversion or has it as part of a collection. If DT has a donation center, I will consider that. Sadly, everyone is selfish about their time and money volunteering.

[Nuum]

Selling it at a high price to "deter scrappers" sounds just like an excuse to make more profit on it. I think it's on the owner's discretion what he wants to do with his keyboard.
I, for example, have keyboards around I don't want to take apart, since they are a collectible to me and I want to preserve them, but those only have sentimental value to me and no real use. I tend to think that using old things to create something new and usable is better than just letting it sit around for display or even keep it in a save. If you had created one of those keyboards would you want it to be repurposed and reused or just kept away from everyday use just because it simply is unusable nowadays, may it be because there is no converter or the layout is not to your liking or the switches under those keycaps are crap or vice versa?
Also, where do you draw the border between keeping it original and repurposing it? Is it ok to tear down G80/G81s with nice doubleshots or dyesubs because they aren't rare (at least in Germany)? I mean those look beautiful on their own and even feature a useable layout, but nobody would complain here. Being a work of art and keeping it original for the sake of its design isn't a thing of rarity but personal preference. It's not that the keyboards we play around with daily have real historical value, they are usually neither the world's firsts nor one of their kind.

Maybe cars are a good parallel to this problem as well; some like them original, some like them modded to the max, some like them old and rusty (Rat Rods, I'm looking at you), some like sleeper cars etc., but in the end every car enthusiast worships cars and that's what it's all about.

So there is no general answer but everybody has to decide on his own. It's a hobby, you decide what to do and what you like and it doesn't hurt anybody in an existential way when you do things different than it would be considered "OK".
Or in other words: Make it yours! I don't care how, as long as you feel good about it.

In general I find all paths interesting in their own way, be it cars or keyboards.

[fohat]

I think it's on the owner's discretion what he wants to do with his keyboard.

Yes, if you want a certain item a certain way, then bid high and put it in your collection.

That said, there have been a handful of occasions that I have gotten a nice old keyboard with the intent of using it for parts, but it turned out to be so charming that I sold it off at approximately what I paid, or a moderate profit, to "find a good home" for it.

In general, though, I am not particularly sentimental - I want something that I can use and enjoy.

[Scarpia]

That means, if there's the availability of some nice and reasonably priced ANSI PBT sets for Alps, or these SGI boards go as high as $100+, then you won't slaughter them for economic / trading reason.

Also, I would never slaughter it for economic reasons. Only to repurpose the caps for a custom build. But yes, I think if there were good keycap options for Alps enthusiasts that would save a LOT of fine vintage boards.

Actually to be fair, I love SGI and I don't think I could bring myself to gutting this one (unless there turns out to be something really wrong with it), even with such nice keycaps. We'll see though.

(as a young teen I used to dream about SGI workstations and at university excitedly I got to work on them, though by that time the ones the uni had were a decade old and were being used as thin terminals)

[Ghost963]

http://imgur.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/wdCyw

This one is (probably) not for sale but somebody found a Dolch PAC computer with Alps keyboard. Quite neat, shame that he wants to harvest the keycaps for a 75% board.

[seebart]

That also means, if I really want to ensure this (rare? or not so rare?) Tektronix board be safe, I should resell it at a price beyond 125€ which deter scrappers for just the caps and the switches. Or I should sell it or trade it or gift it to someone who promises to do a conversion or has it as part of a collection. If DT has a donation center, I will consider that. Sadly, everyone is selfish about their time and money volunteering.

Triple NO! DT does not have a "donation center". DT does not have a museum or a "room" in Berlin or anywhere in the world for something like what you mean. Who do you think we are? Also you can be quite sure there will most likely be no conversion the Tektronix. Also what is "money volunteering"? Giving money away? Of course people are "selfish" about that.

[webwit]

What are you talking about? The donation center is right here in the Netherlands. PM me for my the address.

[seebart]

What are you talking about? The donation center is right here in the Netherlands. PM me for my the address.

Ahh yes of course... Donate to the duck.

[ohaimark]

So I guess it'd be a... ducknation?

Spoiler: