Great/Interesting Finds

[Go-Kart]

Never mind - I just bought one rather than risk they ran out (when I sent through an offer there were 7 competing offers - clearly a lot of interest) £24 is a good price to try a new switch. I passed up the chance to get an Alps Buckling Spring board recently which I half regret, but they are said to be heavier than Model M springs, whereas Syncan are lighter, which suits me better.

Well, I actually don't mind the key feel Kinda bindy where you'd expect though. Two of the caps/barrels are pretty dry and they just stay depressed - need lube'n! My favourite thing about this board is the fact that it comes with a floppy disk. I miss floppy discs.

PXL_20220317_211156518.jpg (2.63 MiB) Viewed 5397 times

[fohat]

I miss floppy discs.

Yes, so do I.
Too bad that today they won't even hold one photo.

[SK-8K]

If Iomega's Zip discs had better quality control and didn't fail then perhaps we could have 1TB floppy-like disks by now.

[inozenz]

Seller seems to have more of them: https://www.ebay.de/itm/165388477093?_t ... %7Ciid%3A1

isnt this the third one ?

Nice, I missed the first one. You happen to have the link to that auction? Wanna know for how much it went

if im not mistaken it was around 141

[Bjerrk]

isnt this the third one ?

Nice, I missed the first one. You happen to have the link to that auction? Wanna know for how much it went

if im not mistaken it was around 141

161€ to be precise

[inozenz]

Nice, I missed the first one. You happen to have the link to that auction? Wanna know for how much it went

if im not mistaken it was around 141

161€ to be precise

https://www.ebay.de/itm/165353645489

123

what swicthes does this one have ?

[Bjerrk]

The 161€ one:

Screenshot_20220318-092459_eBay.jpg (375.98 KiB) Viewed 5270 times

Link:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Computer-Keybo ... 634-2357-0

[TNT]

https://www.ebay.de/itm/165353645489

123

what swicthes does this one have ?

Probably Microswitch Hall Effect viewtopic.php?t=17088

[inozenz]

https://www.ebay.de/itm/165353645489

123

what swicthes does this one have ?

Probably Microswitch Hall Effect viewtopic.php?t=17088

ah i think im good on microswitch hall effects.

[TNT]

You don't like em?

[John Doe]

So at least there're two variants existing, hall effect and ITW switches respectively?

I doubt if we could distinguish from just observing keycaps.

Spoiler:

31E05592-D650-4702-9873-0B4EA0606663.jpeg (405.33 KiB) Viewed 5167 times

[TNT]

Very interesting. The typeface on this one's caps seems to give it away.

As it seems, not necessarily tho. This one has "traditional" Honeywell-style caps but still ITW switches.

Which ones are better? Doesn't Chyros say ITWs are smoother?

[mmm]

So at least there're two variants existing, hall effect and ITW switches respectively?

I found out the hard way, at least three. I was convinced I would finally get my hands on a nice MS keyboard that I wouldn't know how to convert, instead I got a foam&foil keyboard I don't know how to convert instead

[dr-lipschitz]

Hottek 1PF101, these come with clicky HTK switches. its a smooth (when in good condition atleast) and light clicky switch, though they are somewhat inconsistent.

wiki/HTK_switch

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265435800957

[davkol]

keyboard from Advanced Technology Laboratories Ultramark 4 diagnostic ultrasound system (looks like Key Tronic?)

The seller also has Dell AT101W and cheap Cherry G84-4100s.

[ekeppel]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255445926465

Interesting IBM Keyboard with the old silver badge and battleship-style flip out feet. This is not one I'm familiar with. Anyone have any information on it? It doesn't appear to be buckling spring from what I can tell.

Edit: Looking closely at it, I have to assume it's an Industrial variant of some sort based on the 'action' key. I'm curious to know what it used to connect to. The square 6-pin connector is interesting.

[Bjerrk]

Congratulations to whoever got it! Quite sure it's a variant of wiki/IBM_6298389

[ekeppel]

Right you are!

I should have gone to the wiki before posting, lol. So this one should be slider over rubber dome on capacitive sensing.

[orihalcon]

So at least there're two variants existing, hall effect and ITW switches respectively?

I found out the hard way, at least three. I was convinced I would finally get my hands on a nice MS keyboard that I wouldn't know how to convert, instead I got a foam&foil keyboard I don't know how to convert instead

Haven't converted one myself, but I think you might be able to just wire the capsense matrix to either an Xwhatsit or commonsense controller depending on the layout of the columns/rows. It's times like these that PCB design skills would be priceless as it would be super simple to just replace the PCB - presuming PCB design itself could be aided by something like a scaled scan of the original PCB to place the layout of the capsense pads I would think? A project like that definitely is more doable if a lot of people have the same board that they want to convert so that you can make a batch of them to make the price and time spent each more reasonable as a group buy of sorts. Someone did this with 3277 beamspring PCBs at one time and that went pretty well.

[hellothere]

So at least there're two variants existing, hall effect and ITW switches respectively?

I found out the hard way, at least three. I was convinced I would finally get my hands on a nice MS keyboard that I wouldn't know how to convert, instead I got a foam&foil keyboard I don't know how to convert instead

One of these days, I will buy a foam and foil keyboard, just to see if it really is as bad as everyone says. Today is not that day.

Thanks for pointing out that F&F variant.

[wobbled]

Foam and Foil keyboards that have those buckling rubber sleeves are fantastic to type on. Similar tactility to a BTC Dome w/ Slider.
Linear F&F however was e-waste the moment it rolled off the production line.

[hellothere]

Foam and Foil keyboards that have those buckling rubber sleeves are fantastic to type on. Similar tactility to a BTC Dome w/ Slider.
Linear F&F however was e-waste the moment it rolled off the production line.

Hmm. I must do further research.

[hellothere]

Looks cool, but (probably) isn't. marquette keyboard on ebay for $139. Rubber dome.

Spoiler:

s-l1600 - Copy.jpg (347.05 KiB) Viewed 4654 times

s-l1600 (1) - Copy.jpg (274.07 KiB) Viewed 4654 times

[Polecat]

Another one that looks cool, but isn't:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334317457012

(Silly price too...)

edit: images added for posterity if not eternity. It's called Microangelo apparently.

[jsheradin]

Foam and Foil keyboards that have those buckling rubber sleeves are fantastic to type on. Similar tactility to a BTC Dome w/ Slider.
Linear F&F however was e-waste the moment it rolled off the production line.

These boards must age differently; I've had the exact opposite experience. I've come across two buckling sleeve Keytronic boards, both are abysmal. I've come across two Keytronic linear boards, one tall stem, one short stem. The older tall stem is one of the best linear boards I've used from the late 70s/early 80s era, easily beating out Cherry FnF, M7, SMK, etc. The newer short stem one is entirely non-noteworthy, not bad, definitely not great.

[Polecat]

These boards must age differently; I've had the exact opposite experience. I've come across two buckling sleeve Keytronic boards, both are abysmal. I've come across two Keytronic linear boards, one tall stem, one short stem. The older tall stem is one of the best linear boards I've used from the late 70s/early 80s era, easily beating out Cherry FnF, M7, SMK, etc. The newer short stem one is entirely non-noteworthy, not bad, definitely not great.

Foam and foil are quite prone to deterioration, and then there's the personal preference thing. I bought a Franklin keyboard thinking it had green Alps, but it turned out to be Datacomp foam and foil. Very nice condition, and the linear "switches" were smooth as glass. But Chyros' review example was quite the opposite. Regardless, it didn't work on any of my converters, and linear isn't my thing, so I gutted it and replaced the PC board and plate with one using Futaba MA switches. I still get a big stupid grin when I type on it, but what do I know?

[Go-Kart]

Another one that looks cool, but isn't:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334317457012

(Silly price too...)

edit: images added for posterity if not eternity. It's called Microangelo apparently.

Very pretty.

[wobbled]

Foam and Foil keyboards that have those buckling rubber sleeves are fantastic to type on. Similar tactility to a BTC Dome w/ Slider.
Linear F&F however was e-waste the moment it rolled off the production line.

These boards must age differently; I've had the exact opposite experience. I've come across two buckling sleeve Keytronic boards, both are abysmal. I've come across two Keytronic linear boards, one tall stem, one short stem. The older tall stem is one of the best linear boards I've used from the late 70s/early 80s era, easily beating out Cherry FnF, M7, SMK, etc. The newer short stem one is entirely non-noteworthy, not bad, definitely not great.

As polecat suggested, yours was quite possibly 'on the way out' as is the case with a lot of older, well used F&F boards.
The F&F board I've used with buckling sleeves was a BNIB BTC 5100, sounded a bit like topre on steroids.

[thefarside]

NEC APC-H412 with most likely NEC ovals:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-NEC-AP ... 5348761576

wiki/NEC_APC-H412

[inozenz]

NEC APC-H412 with most likely NEC ovals:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-NEC-AP ... 5348761576

wiki/NEC_APC-H412

definitely blue ovals and i can reccomand this board. its very lovely and super high quality!