Alps Appreciation

[Polecat]

Try a trophy shop or a dash plaque supplier for car shows. Back in the '80s we had some dash plaques made up for car events by a local trophy shop. Any size you wanted, not expensive, and small quantities were not a problem.

[Polecat]

Those blue leds look DOPE!

Awwwwww yeah!!!!! That looks great, dude!!!! Agreed with snacks, the blue LEDs are pretty cool!

Thanks for the kind words, both of you. This thing is awesome now that it's finally put together. I agree, the blue LEDs really work well. I tried quite a few different resistors to find the right light level I wanted from them, I found them to be ideal with a 100kOhm resistor.
I've still got a few oddities with the firmware, such as any key with caps lock assigned to it outputting the signal for control, and the scroll lock light not turning on, but for now, I'm happy with it. Once I can get a gold badge or replicate one, I'll probably write up a review.

If you're still running the original internal controller dipswitch 5 swaps the caps lock and control keys. Northgate originally supplied extra caps with the alternate legends to match the switch settings.

[Chyros]

I wanted to have a bunch of replacement black Zenith badges made as well, but that was also harder than I thought.

[ZedTheMan]

Those blue leds look DOPE!

Awwwwww yeah!!!!! That looks great, dude!!!! Agreed with snacks, the blue LEDs are pretty cool!

Thanks for the kind words, both of you. This thing is awesome now that it's finally put together. I agree, the blue LEDs really work well. I tried quite a few different resistors to find the right light level I wanted from them, I found them to be ideal with a 100kOhm resistor.
I've still got a few oddities with the firmware, such as any key with caps lock assigned to it outputting the signal for control, and the scroll lock light not turning on, but for now, I'm happy with it. Once I can get a gold badge or replicate one, I'll probably write up a review.

If you're still running the original internal controller dipswitch 5 swaps the caps lock and control keys. Northgate originally supplied extra caps with the alternate legends to match the switch settings.

I'm running a Blackheart PCB, so I've got that lovely QMK programmability. It's really weird. No matter where I assign KC_CAPS on the matrix, pressing that key outputs control. The control keycodes work as expected. I have no idea why it does this. Maybe I should try a not-homemade-cable.

As for the suggestion on the replacement badge stuff, thanks for the lead, I'll have to look into it!

[Myoth]

did you change your registry ?

[ZedTheMan]

did you change your registry ?

What do you mean?

[Myoth]

I've heard of people changing their windows registry library (?) to change Caps Lock to Control, so I thought you might have done this and forgotten about it

[ZedTheMan]

I've heard of people changing their windows registry library (?) to change Caps Lock to Control, so I thought you might have done this and forgotten about it

No such thing done by me.

This is a keyboard exclusive issue.
If anyone else has a Blackheart Omnikey, are you willing to try my firmware to see if something is up?

[abrahamstechnology]

[Hak Foo]

I'm running a Blackheart PCB, so I've got that lovely QMK programmability. It's really weird. No matter where I assign KC_CAPS on the matrix, pressing that key outputs control. The control keycodes work as expected. I have no idea why it does this. Maybe I should try a not-homemade-cable.

As for the suggestion on the replacement badge stuff, thanks for the lead, I'll have to look into it!

I use Soarer's firmware on my Blackheart. You could try that to contrast them.

[Primuds]

Nice find! What do you plan on doing with those?

[abrahamstechnology]

Nice find! What do you plan on doing with those?

Most are for my group buy and the rest are for Alps64s.

[Drclick]

My PingJunior build

[//gainsborough]

My PingJunior build

Woahhhh!!!! That's so cool! What's it sound like?

[Drclick]

Woahhhh!!!! That's so cool! What's it sound like?

I used FR-4 plate so it's pingless and I'm working on adding a solenoid or buzzer.
Switches are NOS from TaoBao, alpha keys feel great but I still need to lube multi wide keys to make them better.

[scottc]

My PingJunior build

Whoah! Did you design the PCB and plate yourself? I’d love to get one of these.

[Drclick]

Whoah! Did you design the PCB and plate yourself? I’d love to get one of these.

Yes, this is a prototype and I need to fix some little problems.

[scottc]

Whoah! Did you design the PCB and plate yourself? I’d love to get one of these.

Yes, this is a prototype and I need to fix some little problems.

Do you plan to run a GB or open-source the schematics or something?

[zrrion]

I really like the look of thew board! If you do end up doing a GB you can count me in for one. Support 1.5, 1, 1.5 on the right of the spacebar would be cool too.

[tron]

If you plan on running a GB I'd love to get multiple. I was going to hack mine down but this looks like a much better option .

[kokokoy]

My PingJunior build

Wow man! Looks so good!

[the_ambyguous]

My PingJunior build

holy SHIT man! that thing is GORGEOUS! That's only the second SKCC green / pingmaster board I've seen so far, and its even more impressive than the first! I echo everyone elses response here. Definitely interested in a group buy for the plate and pcb. also, do you notice much of a difference between NOS from tao vs the NOS switches in the pingmaster?

[Primuds]

Made some Alps wallpapers for your viewing pleasure.
https://imgur.com/gallery/4i2aSMd


Edit: Forgot to link the source images:
https://kbwiki.ai03.me/uploads/images/g ... 699886.png
https://kbwiki.ai03.me/uploads/images/g ... 740319.png
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... go.svg.png

Edit2:
Older Logo versions as per u/Spooknik's request on reddit: https://imgur.com/gallery/YyXFPdJ

[StrangerInTheAlps]

Hey everyone,
I got an AEKII (M3501) keyboard with white damped Alps a few months ago and just recently got around to getting a converter/S-video cable and finally testing it (one dead key, but otherwise working well, though the board and keycaps are a little dirty). My first experience with Alps, besides a very dirty pine black keyboard that I will clean later, and a loose orange switch that I really love the feel of and absentmindedly fidget with from time to time. I would have preferred to get an orange Alps board, but pricing and availability weren't in my favor during the time period I was checking.

The damped white Alps switches feel nice, though I wouldn't mind if they were slightly louder (undamped) and very slightly lighter. I'm considering desoldering, cleaning, and transplanting the switches into a new build and was wondering how new click leaves from a Matias would compare, or if I should just consider click modding. Also, where would SPRiT 40cN springs put the switches at in weighting/feel? Closer to blue or other SKCM? Thanks!

[swampangel]

The damped white Alps switches feel nice, though I wouldn't mind if they were slightly louder (undamped) and very slightly lighter. I'm considering desoldering, cleaning, and transplanting the switches into a new build and was wondering how new click leaves from a Matias would compare, or if I should just consider click modding. Also, where would SPRiT 40cN springs put the switches at in weighting/feel? Closer to blue or other SKCM? Thanks!

To me, click-modding (/replacing with a click leaf) makes the switches feel a bit lighter anyway, since the hooks on the leaf move out of the way with slightly less resistance. So you might start there and see how you feel.

[StrangerInTheAlps]

To me, click-modding (/replacing with a click leaf) makes the switches feel a bit lighter anyway, since the hooks on the leaf move out of the way with slightly less resistance. So you might start there and see how you feel.

Thanks! I hadn't considered that.

[fohat]

It has been at least a couple of years since I found an excellent keyboard for a cheap price in the wild, but today I got an absolutely pristine AEK2 in a salvage shop for $3.99

This one is utterly immaculate and not yellowed at all whatsoever, a later model with dampened whites instead of creams.

It is exquisite to type on, but I had forgotten how absolutely infuriating it is to have the stupid Apple/Windows/Command keys on either side of the space bar rather than the Alts. I have mapped many favorite short cuts to Cntrl+Alt+something and having Alt in the wrong place is making me crazy.

I know that I could jump through hoops and re-map the keys, but even then then the Alts ("option") are 1.25u while the Apples ("command") are 1.5u so they won't even swap! Aarrrgghh!

cross-posted to GH

[cli]

It has been at least a couple of years since I found an excellent keyboard for a cheap price in the wild, but today I got an absolutely pristine AEK2 in a salvage shop for $3.99

This one is utterly immaculate and not yellowed at all whatsoever, a later model with dampened whites instead of creams.

It is exquisite to type on, but I had forgotten how absolutely infuriating it is to have the stupid Apple/Windows/Command keys on either side of the space bar rather than the Alts. I have mapped many favorite short cuts to Cntrl+Alt+something and having Alt in the wrong place is making me crazy.

I know that I could jump through hoops and re-map the keys, but even then then the Alts ("option") are 1.25u while the Apples ("command") are 1.5u so they won't even swap! Aarrrgghh!

cross-posted to GH

Nice, 3.99 for a AEK2. And I thought I was lucky I found a broken and dirty M0118 for 17 euro.
Matias has a Windows app that swaps the Alt and Command keys, works also on Apple keyboards.
https://matias.ca/tactilepro3/support/

You can also do some keymapping with the Hasu ADB-USB firmware. I remapped the complete numpad on my M0118 as a TKL keyboard.

[Aran.E99]

Zenith Z-150 work in progress. First time typing on SKCL greens (first SKCL board) and I already know I'm gonna love it once it's been cleaned and lubed. When it is time to assemble, I'm not sure if I hand wire it rather than re-using the PCB. My only problem is my PC refuses to make a hex file without errors (problems with the compiler) so I might go with the PCB although it was being quite temperamental when I tested it.

Switches close.jpg (1.82 MiB) Viewed 12124 times

[swampangel]

My only problem is my PC refuses to make a hex file without errors (problems with the compiler) so I might go with the PCB although it was being quite temperamental when I tested it.

Would https://kbfirmware.com/ work for you (or do you need a different architecture, etc)?