Stuff you just bought

[alienman82]

removed.

[lancre]

That looks nice and clean

[thebluefox]

Blue Alps board (my first), $30 plus shipping.

Long live ebay kleinanzeigen

How do you manage to get it delivered in other country than Germany, from Kleinanzeigen. Mutual agreement with the seller?

[Phenix]

What are good expressions to use when searching for alps boards on kleinanzeigen?

[Wodan]

Tastatur und Tastertur

[Khers]

Tastatur und Tastertur

[Scarpia]

How do you manage to get it delivered in other country than Germany, from Kleinanzeigen. Mutual agreement with the seller?

I just write the seller and ask if they'll ship to Sweden. I suspect they're more likely to ship to nearby countries than overseas though. It probably helps to write in German if you can, I do my best with what little German I learned at school.

What are good expressions to use when searching for alps boards on kleinanzeigen?

I would recommend just searching 'tastatur' and scanning everything - sellers often don't know much about the keyboards anyway, and scanning over everything is faster than doing a bunch of custom searches for SGI, Dell, Focus, etc.

Tastatur und Tastertur

[thebluefox]

Tastatur und Tastertur

Und, alten tastatur/en

[Wodan]

Simple rule about ebay kleinanzeigen. The reason people use is because they can just take a pic and list it. Hardly any background knowledge required. As soon as they believe it's worth much, they will put it on real ebay and mark it accordingly. Anyone who knows what an Alps keyboard is will be smart enough to know that ebay kleinanzeigen is the wrong place to get good money for it.

I actually stopped checking ebay kleinanzeigen intensively because I found it very troublesome and time consuming. It's still one of the best places for a great bargain, just much more work required. The best finds you often find out someone else has been quicker and the seller hasn't taken it off yet. Too much excitement for too small chance for success.

If you really want it, also look for "computer" and check these 90s computer offers. With a trained eye you might spot some HADs and SADs ...

[thebluefox]

At any moment you should find some keyboard with Cherry switches. So the good deals would be there...
But, I think that it would be harder to find someone to ship it to another country.

[hypkx]

Yeah the peoples on ebay kleinanzeigen are often even afraid to ship to their own country.

[y11971alex]

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/192024273310

For $17.83, A BTC keyboard that's allegedly similar to Topre, according to Chyrosran22.

[Phenix]

Thanks for these tips..
will try to spot something nice

[hypkx]

Fulfilled a dream and bought a redscarf on massdrop.

[Wodan]

Anyone seen these keycaps before:

Normal G81 with thick Laser-Foamed POM keycaps and cyrilic sublegends ... look pretty sweet.

[emdude]

I was elated with this eBay find, $120 for two!



Both are apparently refurbished, but from the photos they look pretty much pristine as far as I can tell. The caveat here is that they are both 1392980s, terminal keyboards, so I'll have to do a controller swap if I want to use them. I'm also assuming the keyboard matrices are like those in full-size terminal Model Ms, so they will probably have poor key rollover.

[alh84001]

Wow, nice find! Wouldn't soarer's converter work with those?

[Muirium]

Nice find!

SSK rollover is perfectly good in practice. Yes, it's just 2KRO, but IBM designed the matrix well and prioritised the mods. Only multiple alphas get shadowed in my experience.

As for terminal SSKs, I believe the matrices are 100% compatible with a regular Model M controller. Halvar had success with that exact swap a few years ago. The catch: no I-centred numpad layer for you. An SSK specialty.

Edit: Soarer's will work fine, too. But watch out for rollover issues with the stock terminal controller. Hopefully not a problem on Terminal SSKs, but the rollover on 101 and 122 Terminal boards is a misery.

Or you could go MF. Which is the fate awaiting mine! NKRO is just one of the many upsides of that overhaul. Mwahaha!

[emdude]

Wow, nice find! Wouldn't soarer's converter work with those?

I thought about doing that, but the SSK I have now doesn't feel quite right so I don't mind doing a swap if one of these terminal SSKs feel better..

Nice find!

SSK rollover is perfectly good in practice. Yes, it's just 2KRO, but IBM designed the matrix well and prioritised the mods. Only multiple alphas get shadowed in my experience.

As for terminal SSKs, I believe the matrices are 100% compatible with a regular Model M controller. Halvar had success with that exact swap a few years ago. The catch: no I-centred numpad layer for you. An SSK specialty.

Or you could go MF. Which is the fate awaiting mine! NKRO is just one of the many upsides of that overhaul. Mwahaha!

I vaguely recalled terminal 101-key Model Ms using a different matrix, one that did not prioritize the mods. If that's not the case with these SSKs, then that's great!

[Halvar]

Yes, as Mu said (Hi there Mu, nice to see you here!), mine worked without a problem with a standard Model M controller. It's a 1392980, too, and it definitely has a standard matrix.

Now it's running with a Teensy++ with TMK / Bluetooth, so I looked at the matrix pretty closely...

[Muirium]

A Teensy++ and Bluetooth? Fancy. EZkey, I presume?

I sensed a disturbance in the buckling spring force. Right enough, the MF is near completion!

[bearwool]

I just bought it last week. A Cherry G80-3112HAG. With AT connector and a DIP switch I guess.

[Wingpad]

I thought about doing that, but the SSK I have now doesn't feel quite right so I don't mind doing a swap if one of these terminal SSKs feel better.

Wow, those seem like a great find, emdude. I owned one of these terminal SSKs for a bit and it just worked out of the box, I don't know if someone did a controller swap in the past but I was able to plug in one of the SDL cables from Unicomp and it just worked over PS/2. Your mileage may vary, though, but I'd try it before swapping the controller.

[alh84001]

I thought about doing that, but the SSK I have now doesn't feel quite right

What's wrong with it?

[y11971alex]

3 SSKs for a little less than $58 each...

[emdude]

3 SSKs for a little less than $58 each...

Nice!!

I thought about doing that, but the SSK I have now doesn't feel quite right

What's wrong with it?

I'm not sure exactly, it feels all right I suppose but the sound is more of a lifeless click than the clack I normally expect from Model Ms.

Wow, those seem like a great find, emdude. I owned one of these terminal SSKs for a bit and it just worked out of the box, I don't know if someone did a controller swap in the past but I was able to plug in one of the SDL cables from Unicomp and it just worked over PS/2. Your mileage may vary, though, but I'd try it before swapping the controller.

The SSKs just came in today (seller was only a three hour drive away from me!) and they both have attached cables so I guess I will have to swap the controller.

That said, I am actually verrry hesitant to even use them.. The keyboards are in fantastic condition, they look practically new! Only slight shine and even slighter wear on the key caps give away that they were refurbished.

The case is scratch-free, and the barrel plate is virtually immaculate, no sign of use whatsoever! The metal back plate has practically no rust.

One of the keyboards also came in this nifty Uline box that is just the right size for an SSK. Probably the closest I'll ever get to a NIB SSK..

One is from '91, the other from '87, both look practically new. Photos of the latter:

ssk_1.png (1.15 MiB) Viewed 5673 times

Very clean!

ssk_2.png (1012.73 KiB) Viewed 5673 times

ssk_3.png (1.14 MiB) Viewed 5673 times

Minimal legends!

ssk_5.png (1.08 MiB) Viewed 5673 times

Back label

ssk_4.png (1.05 MiB) Viewed 5673 times

[bearwool]

ssk_4.png

That label's font look fantastic

[Scarpia]

3 SSKs for a little less than $58 each...

I hate you.

Spoiler:

brownfont

[y11971alex]

3 SSKs for a little less than $58 each...

I hate you.

Spoiler:

brownfont

Not in nearly as good condition as emdude though. And shipping from China might be expensive.

[Scarpia]

Sure, but emdudes are terminal ones, so he's got some challenges ahead before those beauties are up and running. So I hate him a little less

(seriously though: great hauls, both of you. Big kudos!)