Texas Instruments Low Profile Customizable Layout + Fat Brown Alps?

[JP!]

Oh man, I wouldn't say I am qualified to name these but would love to hear some suggestions.

@Chyros - It's hard to nail down a color with my lighting. It seems like a light turquoise? I guess that white plastic piece just holds the smaller spring in place. Maybe it also serves as a guide for the larger spring?

[seebart]

Oh man, I wouldn't say I am qualified to name these but would love to hear some suggestions.

squareJP!fatties

[JP!]

It uses two springs per switch?
Is the tactile leaf part of a dummy switch plate that is removable like SKCM Brown Alps?

Yep, it uses two springs per switch.
There is a switch plate in the plastic housing which looks like it could be removed. I believe this is like SKCM Brown Alps.

I would say pastel blue best describes the color of the switch plate.

[JP!]

Oh man, I wouldn't say I am qualified to name these but would love to hear some suggestions.

squareJP!fatties

I don't care that they are fat, it's the personality that matters

[seebart]

I don't care that they are fat, it's the personality that matters

Oh Mr. Sophisticated eh?

[//gainsborough]

can the tactile leaf be removed or is it part of the top housing molding? The teeth on the leaf kinda look like the shape of the neon green alps tactile leaves. It's hard to tell from that angle though.

Very cool find regardless! it'd be very interesting if they could fit in normal alps plates! You could build yourself one very unique custom!

[JP!]

can the tactile leaf be removed or is it part of the top housing molding? The teeth on the leaf kinda look like the shape of the neon green alps tactile leaves. It's hard to tell from that angle though.

Very cool find regardless! it'd be very interesting if they could fit in normal alps plates! You could build yourself one very unique custom!

The one from the top housing is removable. A custom build would be interesting, not a lot of choices for keys though

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[seebart]

A custom build would be interesting, not a lot of choices for keys though

Just do us all a favor and take enough usable pics for the wiki before you kill it OK ?!?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

… I doubt the swtich is Alps Electric until proven in detail. …

The entrails mould marks never lie …

It's too bad that the other code isn't present, the one that gives you the series name. Those codes are frustratingly rare, and only Canon keyboards consistently used them.

Looking at the ICs, that would be 19_5, and 1985 would fit according to [wiki]Alps keyboard codes[/wiki]. So it's very early on in the SKCM lifetime.

Why the spring inside the slider though?

[flowerlandfilms]

Oh man, I wouldn't say I am qualified to name these but would love to hear some suggestions.

I love the name "Fat Alps" for the sheer hilarity and accuracy.
And in honour of Fats Domino.
Or you could go for the Topre pun and call them Oprah switches.
Or the mountain pun because they are from Texas Instruments and call them "Southern Alps".
I'm here all week folks, try the Salmon!

[Chyros]

Wow. Yeah, they're essentially a custom variant of SKCM Browns specifically for this model of board.

I'd think that's way too early to say that. Rare yes as we've never seen them but even that means little to nothing.

It's got a brown slider, a similar switchplate, and brown Alps tactile leaf and dummy post from what it looks like, it's probably not from the same series but surely it's at least somewhat related :p .

[codemonkeymike]

Oh man, I wouldn't say I am qualified to name these but would love to hear some suggestions.

I love the name "Fat Alps" for the sheer hilarity and accuracy.
And in honour of Fats Domino.
Or you could go for the Topre pun and call them Oprah switches.
Or the mountain pun because they are from Texas Instruments and call them "Southern Alps".
I'm here all week folks, try the Salmon!

"Lone Star Browns", a play on lone star blues and captures the whole "everything is bigger in Texas vibe".

[seebart]

Wow. Yeah, they're essentially a custom variant of SKCM Browns specifically for this model of board.

I'd think that's way too early to say that. Rare yes as we've never seen them but even that means little to nothing.

It's got a brown slider, a similar switchplate, and brown Alps tactile leaf and dummy post from what it looks like, it's probably not from the same series but surely it's at least somewhat related :p .

Absolutely.

Oh man, I wouldn't say I am qualified to name these but would love to hear some suggestions.

I love the name "Fat Alps" for the sheer hilarity and accuracy.
And in honour of Fats Domino.
Or you could go for the Topre pun and call them Oprah switches.
Or the mountain pun because they are from Texas Instruments and call them "Southern Alps".
I'm here all week folks, try the Salmon!

"Lone Star Browns", a play on lone star blues and captures the whole "everything is bigger in Texas vibe".

"Lone Star Browns" is great as a provisional name. No way we are calling them Oprah.

[Chyros]

Oh man, I wouldn't say I am qualified to name these but would love to hear some suggestions.

I love the name "Fat Alps" for the sheer hilarity and accuracy.
And in honour of Fats Domino.
Or you could go for the Topre pun and call them Oprah switches.
Or the mountain pun because they are from Texas Instruments and call them "Southern Alps".
I'm here all week folks, try the Salmon!

"Lone Star Browns", a play on lone star blues and captures the whole "everything is bigger in Texas vibe".

Alps aren't even American xD .

[seebart]

Alps aren't even American xD .

Very true. Alright then:

FAT NIPPON square browns...

[E3E]

Alps SKCFATM Doublespring Brown

It's interesting that the switches have little retaining clips for stabilizes built in. Makes sense with the modular nature of this keyboard. If only it came with more caps so you could add more keys as opposed to just rearranging what the board has on it.

I'm guessing that only the "60%" portion of the board with the alphanumerical keys has staggering and the rest is ortholinear, is that right? I was wondering how that'd work if not.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Way back in 2015, someone told me that Texas Instruments are prompt and helpful when dealing with enquiries about the TI-99/4A. It's worth contacting TI directly, JP!, and see if they are able to provide any details about this keyboard.

[seebart]

Alps SKCFATM Doublespring Brown

Best suggestion so far.

Way back in 2015, someone told me that Texas Instruments are prompt and helpful when dealing with enquiries about the TI-99/4A. It's worth contacting TI directly, JP!, and see if they are able to provide any details about this keyboard.

In this case it would be well worth the effort.

[JP!]

How does SKCM Brown Doublespring Mega (aka Fat Browns) sound?

[seebart]

How does SKCM Brown Doublespring Mega (aka Fat Browns) sound?

Too long...so make that:

SKCM Brown Doublespring M̶e̶g̶a̶ ̶(̶a̶k̶a̶ ̶F̶a̶t̶ ̶B̶r̶o̶w̶n̶s̶)̶ ̶

[JP!]

How does SKCM Brown Doublespring Mega (aka Fat Browns) sound?

Too long...so make that:

SKCM Brown Doublespring M̶e̶g̶a̶ ̶(̶a̶k̶a̶ ̶F̶a̶t̶ ̶B̶r̶o̶w̶n̶s̶)̶ ̶

That sounds good to me. Thanks everyone for the name suggestions. If I have some time I will try and reach out to TI for more info.

[Sangdrax]

This is such a cool find. The customization is so novel.

[juryduty]

One of the best parts of this is the badass supermarket scale.

[JP!]

So the best conclusion I can draw about the secondary smaller spring is that this spring along with the white plastic leg serve to provide a tiny bit more force once the actuation point is reached. This effect is quite nuanced. Note that the base where the large spring sits is raised in the center which is where the plastic leg would fit. I believe this design helps slow the descent, possibly preventing the slider from fully bottoming out or at least reducing unwanted sound if the slider bottoms out. Any travel distance past the actuation point is quite short. Once the actuation point is reached and you force it to bottom out, any additional noise is practically unnoticeable. Comparing this to a unmodified Cherry MX Blue for example, once the actuation point is reached you can easily produce more noise if you are a heavy handed typist who slams the keys so they bottom out.

[JP!]

One of the best parts of this is the badass supermarket scale.

I wish the scale was mine.

[Norman_]

Holy balls this is strange. Almost nothing about this is normal. Blanked out switches isn't that unique, but in this quantity definitely strange. After that you've got the square stem, two springs, curved backplate...

This is absolutely incredible.

[JP!]

Finally plugged this beast into my computer. It did not work right when plugged into an active usb to ps2 adapter but everything works when using a soarer's adapter. Seems like there is some interference from my computer or somewhere though since there are some odd noises being produced the internal speaker. Reminds me of a laptop hard drive running.

[Findecanor]

FAT NIPPON square browns...

Sumo-wrestler Alps switches?

[seebart]

FAT NIPPON square browns...

Sumo-wrestler Alps switches?

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[hoaryhag]

A custom build would be interesting, not a lot of choices for keys though

Just do us all a favor and take enough usable pics for the wiki before you kill it OK ?!?

I would love to have one of these. It's already customizable. Please, don't hurt it.