IDENTIFY THE KEYBOARD thread

[Polecat]

Damn that Zenith Data Systems ZTX-11-Z is nice !

s-l1600.jpg

SKCC green, there are pics of the same board with heathkit branding and different colored caps. It really is a nice cute little board.

Ended up accepting the offer.... I figured if I was thinking about the board this much that I would regret it if I didn't buy it. It would be cool if I could get it working on modern day boards, but I think that would require hand-wiring, and I don't really want to do something of that scale to a pristine old board like this one, so it'll probably just stay as a neat collection piece =)

I told myself not long ago that I would stop buying boards I can't use, but this one, as you say, was too cute, hahaha.

You've got more than just a keyboard there! Video out, printer port, phone connections, RS232 port...smells suspiciously like a terminal minus the monitor. If you can find a power supply and a composite video monitor (a surveillance monitor should do...) you'll likely see a prompt when you fire it up. Connect pins 2 and 3 together on the RS232 port and it should echo what you type to the screen. Dang, I'm dating myself now.

[rich1051414]

Pretty sure that was a dumb terminal. It connected over the network to external servers. Those servers provided the processing power.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Hi,
I recently found this olympia keyboard that is in really bad shape and I was wondering if anybody could Identify its switch? Second picture is the slider out of one of the switches that were broken.

Spoiler:

I think this is a keyboard module from a typewriter. It uses wiki/Marquardt_Series_6180 switches, it seems.

Maybe finally we'll get some photos on the wiki of what is inside one of these. Sadly Marquardt didn't have any spares squirrelled away.

[Keybug]

Would this be mechanical? Case shape is somewhat reminiscent of a Chicony 5191... Thanks

[rich1051414]

The 5191 has 4 status lights. The 4th is 'Online' that lights up when the keyboard is connected to a computer. Also, on the other old 3 led chicony boards I know, the label text is offset from the LED status lights, in a sloppy and cheap looking way Typical chicony. The keyboard shape(IBM like), the BA Enter, and the 1u backspace is all very chicony like, so I think you are on the right track. If it is a chicony though, I don't know that model. Either way, the inclusion of a windows key dates the keyboard pretty new. I would bet that is a rubber dome.

I would wait for someone to certify it's not before buying it.

[Dingster]

Anyone recognise this board ?

imgur link just in case : https://imgur.com/a/6bDxj

[davkol]

Would this be mechanical? Case shape is somewhat reminiscent of a Chicony 5191... Thanks

Could be 5981. Nice find.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

It does look like Chicony made a Windows key version of the KB-5191, with a replacement top case without the grid lines in it, and removed one of the LEDs. As for switches, quite possibly something like Aristotle MX clones.

[ts124]

Hi,
I recently found this olympia keyboard that is in really bad shape and I was wondering if anybody could Identify its switch? Second picture is the slider out of one of the switches that were broken.

Spoiler:

I think this is a keyboard module from a typewriter. It uses wiki/Marquardt_Series_6180 switches, it seems.

Maybe finally we'll get some photos on the wiki of what is inside one of these. Sadly Marquardt didn't have any spares squirrelled away.

As soon as I can get home again ill try and take one apart to get pictures of the insides.

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

[Keybug]

Thanks for the further Chicony 5191 replies!

Does this G80-11900LTMDE really have silent MX blacks (in accordance with the table for Cherry article numbers in the wiki)? Wiki also says it's USB only, but this one is PS/2. As silent blacks are a very recent development, it seems rather unlikely...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I seems pretty unlikely. Even then, none of the examples on the [wiki]Cherry G80-11900[/wiki] wiki page have a "T", so it must mean something at leasts a little unusual.

[citrojohn]

I have a relatively recent list of Cherry keyboards, which I downloaded in January 2016 when silent switches were still very new. (I think the list may have been produced by Cherry, because I've seen it on several different sites.) G80-11900LTMxx seems to have been supplied with a pair of adapters for older systems. Doesn't say what switches they had, unfortunately. Screenshot below (I added the arrow).

Screenshot of presumed Cherry list, re G80-11900LTMxx

Cherry list re 11900LTMxx.png (48.07 KiB) Viewed 6259 times

edit: also, Cherry's current datasheet for the 11900 lists the LTMxx as having adapters that LPMUS don't have.

[Keybug]

The seller sent a photo, seems it doesn't have silent switches. So the 'T' will only mean silent switches for certain models and more recent boards. USB versions won't include DIN adapters so I guess the 'T' was free to be used in a different way...

[Keybug]

What's this switch? Tried to figure it out from the wiki, but a good many pictures weren't showing. I found a number of similar-looking switches / sliders but none were white... If only those caps were MX compatible...

[elecplus]

IMG_20180124_140152_941.jpg (2.12 MiB) Viewed 6206 times

what switch is this please? Note the base is square and flat.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

What's this switch? Tried to figure it out from the wiki, but a good many pictures weren't showing. I found a number of similar-looking switches / sliders but none were white... If only those caps were MX compatible... :shock:

Possibly [wiki]Monogram SMK derivative series[/wiki]. The type you have isn't shown, but I have some of those here, that I might document one day.

With that said, those keycaps appear to be genuine SMK, so either the switches are an unusual SMK variant, or someone bought SMK keycaps and used them on clone switches.

What keyboard is that? If it's a major brand, chances are they're real SMK, but if it's some clone computer, clone switches are more probable.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

IMG_20180124_140152_941.jpg

what switch is this please? Note the base is square and flat.

Never seen those before — do you have the whole keyboard there, and is there nothing written on the back of it?

[elecplus]

IMG_20180124_140152_941.jpg

what switch is this please? Note the base is square and flat.

Never seen those before — do you have the whole keyboard there, and is there nothing written on the back of it?

I have the whole keyboard, including some NIB. Model KB-101, which is not helpful! Caps are double shots. I can send pics of the board and box if you want.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

It might help, although I suspect not. It sounds like one of those annoying unidentifiable Taiwanese-made keyboards. Possibly something inside holds a clue though.

[Keybug]

What's this switch? Tried to figure it out from the wiki, but a good many pictures weren't showing. I found a number of similar-looking switches / sliders but none were white... If only those caps were MX compatible...

Possibly [wiki]Monogram SMK derivative series[/wiki]. The type you have isn't shown, but I have some of those here, that I might document one day.

With that said, those keycaps appear to be genuine SMK, so either the switches are an unusual SMK variant, or someone bought SMK keycaps and used them on clone switches.

What keyboard is that? If it's a major brand, chances are they're real SMK, but if it's some clone computer, clone switches are more probable.

If it was Monogram SMK derivative, could the caps fit MX??

The seller describes it as an "Apple clone" board...

[elecplus]

It might help, although I suspect not. It sounds like one of those annoying unidentifiable Taiwanese-made keyboards. Possibly something inside holds a clue though.

Model DS-1000 US101
PN 5400402101
FCC ID H77DS 101-300MS
Made in Taiwan
June 26 1991 EFI

It has an AT/XT switch on the back.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Hm, DS is probably Dih-Shin, that's a Dih-Shin–style model number. Indeed, FCC grantee H77 is Dih-Shin.

Tells me nothing about what the switch is, but at least now we know who made it.

[Keybug]

Keyboard 'profilers' needed! Haha, I like my little pun! Anything nice in this box I'm getting? The big wedge shaped one looks like a Model M, no? And number four from the bottom reminds me of Apple Extended keyboards. Curved bottom one a rubber dome?

Reporting back on the mystery box from above,
- there was indeed a Wang keyboard but it's not mechanical. Still, not too bad as my NIB orange ALPS Wang was short of a cable and I hope to be able to use this one's
- lucky find: got a an XT era blue ALPS Multitech board, yellowed but with switches in excellent condition; unfortunately with a proprietary protocol so I can't adapt it
- that Nan Tan with the compact case, white ALPS, decent condition
- a good condition Model M with the detachable cable and some key tops missing
- the remaining eight are RD

So quite happy overall, even though none of this will be added to my collection

[IKSLM]

Ey, which switch is this?

[rich1051414]

TEC switch?

[Keybug]

Probably a KPT variant? wiki/KPT_switch

[IKSLM]

Could be, but this one has "ab5" written on top (seen partially obstructed on the picture).

[Daniel Beardsmore]

It's possibly a variant of what's listed as O-series under [wiki]KPT-like switch[/wiki].

[IKSLM]

A different angle:

[IKSLM]

I guess it could really be the "O-series". If you look at this picture

wiki/File:PW292_switches.jpg

There are some switches similar to this one.