Great/Interesting Finds

[Ir0n]

What's better than one unsaver?

Two Unsavers.

Twinsavers? (trademark pending)

That guy must have a lot of those..He has already sold like 3 or 4.

[Bass]

I salivated the moment I saw the word "Unsaver", until I actually clicked the link and realized that these variants are not buckling springs

[Polecat]

Hmm. Kind of odd that the Omnikey is going for 50% more after just one day than the one that ended a few days ago:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/153046124270

Two words. "Blue Alps". From the serial number the other one almost certainly was also, but it wasn't listed as such. Some gold label 102 boards came with white Alps. I have two pristine 102s that are dated three weeks apart, one white, one blue, and I couldn't tell the difference if blindfolded (not that I can type blindfolded mind you...) but I could probably get twice the price at least for the blue board just 'cuz.

[orihalcon]

Hmm. Kind of odd that the Omnikey is going for 50% more after just one day than the one that ended a few days ago:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/153046124270

Two words. "Blue Alps". From the serial number the other one almost certainly was also, but it wasn't listed as such. Some gold label 102 boards came with white Alps. I have two pristine 102s that are dated three weeks apart, one white, one blue, and I couldn't tell the difference if blindfolded (not that I can type blindfolded mind you...) but I could probably get twice the price at least for the blue board just 'cuz.

Yeah, but the pictures actually show that the other one was indeed blue alps. Perhaps just because blue alps wasn't in the title specifically?

[Polecat]

Yeah, but the pictures actually show that the other one was indeed blue alps. Perhaps just because blue alps wasn't in the title specifically?

Oh, interesting, the photo showing the switches must have been added after I looked at the listing.

[Drclick]

https://www.ebay.it/itm/173362129239
G81-3000SAI and G81-1000HAI

[depletedvespene]

Good deal for those who still don't have an M0110A: https://www.ebay.com/itm/132662388754/

[xxhellfirexx]

Video writer with brown Alps.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/292602343583

Zenith Z-150


https://www.ebay.com/itm/183271122166

[orihalcon]

I'm not sure why those videowriter boards go for so much more than other Brown ALPS boards. Are they easily converted to USB and then using them, or are people harvesting switches?

[Brett MacK]

I'm not sure why those videowriter boards go for so much more than other Brown ALPS boards. Are they easily converted to USB and then using them, or are people harvesting switches?

I honestly believe the one that I sold at auction is a 1 off deal. I would be really surprised if this one sells for this much. My guess is they well settle out around 200-300.

The only reason people are buying these are to harvest the switches. I think the reason these are going for so much is because this is the most well known brown alps board. Since there is no way to convert these, people don't feel as bad about harvesting them. But since the video writer is well know, the listings for them get a lot of traffic, over inflating the price.

Using me as an example, my Video writer listing was the second most popular listing I have ever done, only behind my APL SSK. Because the other brown alps boards pop up on eBay WAY less, nobody looks for them making the video writer in higher demand than it really should be.

[orihalcon]

Definitely might be the case.

I hadn't really mapped out the matrix on a Videowriter, but I'm guessing they wouldn't be too hard to convert, plus there aren't that many switches if one were to just hand wire. Don't think I've ever seen a videowriter conversion post though, but I may certainly have missed one if there was. I think I have a harvested one around here somewhere that I could look at and see how bad the conversion would be. The layout is actually pretty decent I think.

[mog_genius88]

I'm not sure why those videowriter boards go for so much more than other Brown ALPS boards. Are they easily converted to USB and then using them, or are people harvesting switches?

I honestly believe the one that I sold at auction is a 1 off deal. I would be really surprised if this one sells for this much. My guess is they well settle out around 200-300.

The only reason people are buying these are to harvest the switches. I think the reason these are going for so much is because this is the most well known brown alps board. Since there is no way to convert these, people don't feel as bad about harvesting them. But since the video writer is well know, the listings for them get a lot of traffic, over inflating the price.

Using me as an example, my Video writer listing was the second most popular listing I have ever done, only behind my APL SSK. Because the other brown alps boards pop up on eBay WAY less, nobody looks for them making the video writer in higher demand than it really should be.

I think that is definitely the case. I've been watching 5140s a lot in the past few weeks (picked up 2 5140s in extremely nice condition for about $300 total) and they all hover around $150-200. Congrats on getting lucky, though, I think you advertised and worded the listing very well so it may not have been all luck.

[Chyros]

Full pair of Datahands!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-D ... SwgTJbIC6Y

Only $500. Ironically, while everything else seems to get more expensive, these seem to be getting cheaper xD .

[Lanrefni]

This is more of an interesting rather than great find-https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XK ... 0UY9O2U907,87 key,with N key rollover for $14.99,looks to have Outemu blue clones for switches,tempted to order one just for laughs due to it having cloned clone switches.

[orihalcon]

Full pair of Datahands!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Vintage-D ... SwgTJbIC6Y

Only $500. Ironically, while everything else seems to get more expensive, these seem to be getting cheaper xD .

I picked this one up since it won't work as is due to needing an external control box and power supply and it won't be easy to convert. I want to test an idea I've had for converting it with an Xwhatsit. Here's to a challenge!

The idea is that since this uses optical IR emitters/receivers for each switch, I'll try using the strobing 5V pulses that an Xwhatsit makes to power the IR emitters and whatever "sensed" voltage comes back from the IR receiver hopefully will be readable by the Xwhatsit as a switch press. Haven't actually tried this though. Would be a fairly easy thing to test with a couple of IR emitters and receivers outside of a keyboard hooked up to an Xwhatsit, but I'm sure the listing would have sold before all that arrived, so as they say "Buy it now!"

If it doesn't seem doable, probably will resell, so hit me up if you've been looking for one of these and happen to have the control box and power supply that will be needed for it. I won't actually make any modifications to the board until I can prove outside of the board that it should work with a test setup

[kbdfr]

https://www.ebay.it/itm/173362129239
G81-3000SAI and G81-1000HAI

As ebay now links to other, "similar" items when a listing is completed,
here's a link to the original sale:
G81-3000SAI and G81-1000HAI

Both keyboards together went for 24.90€ - now that's a steal…

[Blaise170]

This is more of an interesting rather than great find-https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XK ... 0UY9O2U907,87 key,with N key rollover for $14.99,looks to have Outemu blue clones for switches,tempted to order one just for laughs due to it having cloned clone switches.

Meh, not really interesting either, you can get boards for even cheaper out of China and I know of several channels where I can get models just like these for free.

[Iggy]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-1982-Digit ... SwlTBa9LYL
Mayhap of interest to someone out there. I can't say I've seen the keyboard before.

[chip chop]

Metal case Cherry from 1983 - should be M7's

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192564555678

[Noobmaen]

Should be a closed housing variant of Cherry M8: keyboards-f2/could-it-be-the-forgotten- ... 11886.html

[digital_matthew]

Model F122 with wacky keyset:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Model-F-12 ... SwkJZbIuAg

[fohat]

Model F122 with wacky keyset:

I would love to have some of those weird keys. If somebody gets it and wants to trade that key set for the standard original, let me know.

[digital_matthew]

I wonder if those grey numpad keys originally came from an unsaver. They really don't make sense on a keyboard that already has a numpad.

[E TwentyNine]

I wonder if those grey numpad keys originally came from an unsaver. They really don't make sense on a keyboard that already has a numpad.

It's a data entry setup. Note the numeric rows are inverted compared to the numpad.

[digital_matthew]

I wonder if those grey numpad keys originally came from an unsaver. They really don't make sense on a keyboard that already has a numpad.

It's a data entry setup. Note the numeric rows are inverted compared to the numpad.

Interesting. Are there two numpads so you can enter numbers with both the left and right hands simultaneously? If so that would be really hardcore.

[darkcruix]

Numbers like on a phone layout (reversed)

[Iggy]

Model F122 with wacky keyset:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Model-F-12 ... SwkJZbIuAg

I'll give it a shot.

[Bass]

Model F122 with wacky keyset:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Model-F-12 ... SwkJZbIuAg

Reminds me of the rare selectric variants with the numpad layer:

[digital_matthew]

Model F122 with wacky keyset:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-Model-F-12 ... SwkJZbIuAg

I'll give it a shot.

Good luck!

[kakan]

I've never had a pizza keyboard before.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-I-open ... Swb8Va4Kbk