Texas Instruments Low Profile Customizable Layout + Fat Brown Alps?

[hoaryhag]

Also, I found this funny. I googled customizable because the spellchecker underscores it, and this pops up.

cus·tom·iz·a·ble
adjective
able to be modified to suit a particular individual or task.
"a customizable keyboard designed with the gamer in mind"

[JP!]

I just posted a quick video I took with my crappy iPhone in one take with no editing. Sorry, I do not have Chyros' golden voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RlivvG1msQ

[SAisBAE]

Really cool find, how would you rate their feels compared to other alps?

[E3E]

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.

No real reason to! The switches aren't really compatible with anything else, and the board, aside from being purpose-built, is able to be used on a computer. I'd say it's perfectly fine as is.

[alh84001]

Wait, what?!

[E3E]

Wait, what?!

The IBM 5576-002 and 001, which are plate mount Alps Plate Spring boards, also have a flexible PCB just like this one.

[alh84001]

Interesting, I didn't know that. Alps being Alps.

[alh84001]

It's hard to tell from the pics, are they pin- and plate- compatible with SKCL/M switches?

[JP!]

I just came across some very interesting information regarding the hardware specifications of this keyboard.

Entire hardware reference:
http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttga ... _Apr86.pdf

bizprokeyboard.jpg (290.21 KiB) Viewed 6845 times

[//gainsborough]

Man. That keyboard was way ahead of its time.

[mike52787]

Hey guys, I recently found this. I believe it has fat alps as well. It is probably too expensive to buy just to document, but if you would like to do so please send me a private message, and I will provide the link.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Too bad on the price, because what we need to find is a fat Alps keyboard where Alps made the PCB, so that we can read off the 12K code (assuming it's old enough to be 12K and not 56AAA, i.e. early to mid 80s) and determine what series family it falls under.

[subcat]

I was talking with Mike about this, but I'm not actually sure that this is 'fat alps' - the picture, in typical taobao form, is garbage, but when i zoom in i'm seeing that the housings aren't actually square and have their corners cut. Anyway, what do you all think? If chances are high that it is in fact what we seek I am happy to purchase it for documentation's sake.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I did wonder about that when I first saw it. Also note that the slider is black.

Since you queried it, I went and checked what I thought it looked more like:

http://mousefan.telcontar.net/image/micro.htm

It's Micro Switch SD Series, slot mount. The keycap is also a Honeywell type, just as in MouseFan's photos.

[mike52787]

I did wonder about that when I first saw it. Also note that the slider is black.

Since you queried it, I went and checked what I thought it looked more like:

http://mousefan.telcontar.net/image/micro.htm

It's Micro Switch SD Series, slot mount. The keycap is also a Honeywell type, just as in MouseFan's photos.

shit... well I tried guys

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Here is the patent for the fat Alps keyboard: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4906117A

[JP!]

Here is the patent for the fat Alps keyboard: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4906117A

Good find. I started looking for patents for the switches themselves but did not find one.

[Blaise170]

I just now discovered this thread - wow what a find! I thought we were getting closer to an end for Alps switches, but this opens up the possibility of yet more unknown switches being out there.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Patents are a whole vortex unto themselves — was the product patented at all, has the record been digitised yet, has the record been given English metadata that I can search for (that mystery patent doesn't even have an applicant — I found it as it was linked from another patent) … and finally, what is the date relationship between each patent and full scale production? For example, the patent for the manufacture process of the Marquardt two-finger contact module was filed two years after Series 6180 was introduced, while Cherry MY seemed to come out two years after the patent.

Google Patents is easy to work with, but records are coming on-stream slowly. Espacenet has far more data, but it's terribly antiquated. Even so, I've found patents via Espacenet that I was not able to locate via Google Patents.

It does feel like we're near the end of Alps, and probably at the end of the mainstream switches. SKFNAA for example was a mystery part, and it's turned out as expected to map to Alps octagonal, not a new switch. I'd like the series name for the ultra-low-profile telescopic switches from Nan Tan laptops, but that's pushing it, as those are extremely rare. Texas Instruments could easily have ordered these switches fully custom from Alps.

[KeebMeUp]

Hey guys, I recently found this. I believe it has fat alps as well. It is probably too expensive to buy just to document, but if you would like to do so please send me a private message, and I will provide the link.

necro-post but relevant -- https://mousefan.telcontar.net/image/micro.htm

no fat alps unfortunately, but hall-effect goodness!