Post your keyboard/keycaps!

[Muirium]

TG3 Keyboard with PBT DCS keycaps. 2010 date.
Really love this pure dark white color. I wonder what color this in SP catalogue.

UCF PC3
ACP ALC
ALB ALP

UP MG POHE
GGT GLUC LDH

What are the two rows of keys good for?

COC and METH: what could possibly go wrong? Reaches for Stop and Run!

[Maledicted]

UCF PC3
ACP ALC
ALB ALP

UP MG POHE
GGT GLUC LDH

What are the two rows of keys good for?

If you're talking about the TG3 board, they're mostly sending two scancodes together, probably for whatever propriety medical software the boards were originally meant for. They can be remapped with layer trickery with Soarer's firmware.

They're built as well as any of TG3's older boards, they're tanks. Great boards.

[browncow]

Recently managed to buy this chicony 5161 with a curious samsung VTI PERSONAL COMPUTER branding

photo_2023-06-17_20-30-55.jpg (132.16 KiB) Viewed 60516 times

The badge is simple and elegant, it's a sticker but rather high quality one.

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photo_2023-06-14_18-43-34.jpg (188.65 KiB) Viewed 60516 times

photo_2023-06-14_18-43-37.jpg (160.69 KiB) Viewed 60516 times

The switches feel pretty smooth, none are binding or feeling too scratchy. I don't think i will try to do anything with these, other than cleaning the keycaps - the case itself is in great condition besides the weird yellowing on the lock light sticker. If anyone has an idea how to fix that i'd be thankful for input. This is my first blue alps board and i can confirm the smoothness is quite something after being subjected to mostly white alps and various clones.
The board had a funny defect though when i first plugged it in: Right alt key was not working. I thought one of the switches was just broken but no, turns out the right alt was NOT SOLDERED. it didn't even look de-soldered, it just looked like the switch was not ever soldered to the board. I have fixed that and it's all working, but it's first time i see something like this.

[ITX-Fan]

Right alt key was not working. I thought one of the switches was just broken but no, turns out the right alt was NOT SOLDERED. it didn't even look de-soldered, it just looked like the switch was not ever soldered to the board.

One of the most crazy keebs related thing I've ever read. The first owner never wrote an email.

[John Doe]

[Muirium]

Is that the eBay seller’s pic?

[Borys555]

Recently managed to buy this chicony 5161 with a curious samsung VTI PERSONAL COMPUTER branding
photo_2023-06-17_20-30-55.jpg
The badge is simple and elegant, it's a sticker but rather high quality one.
photo_2023-06-14_18-43-31.jpg
photo_2023-06-14_18-43-34.jpg
photo_2023-06-14_18-43-37.jpg
The switches feel pretty smooth, none are binding or feeling too scratchy. I don't think i will try to do anything with these, other than cleaning the keycaps - the case itself is in great condition besides the weird yellowing on the lock light sticker. If anyone has an idea how to fix that i'd be thankful for input. This is my first blue alps board and i can confirm the smoothness is quite something after being subjected to mostly white alps and various clones.
The board had a funny defect though when i first plugged it in: Right alt key was not working. I thought one of the switches was just broken but no, turns out the right alt was NOT SOLDERED. it didn't even look de-soldered, it just looked like the switch was not ever soldered to the board. I have fixed that and it's all working, but it's first time i see something like this.

Nice that someone from DT bought it, i forgot about bidding it xD

[Borys555]

Oh, my lens was dirty

[browncow]

Recently managed to buy this chicony 5161 with a curious samsung VTI PERSONAL COMPUTER branding
photo_2023-06-17_20-30-55.jpg
The badge is simple and elegant, it's a sticker but rather high quality one.
photo_2023-06-14_18-43-31.jpg
photo_2023-06-14_18-43-34.jpg
photo_2023-06-14_18-43-37.jpg
The switches feel pretty smooth, none are binding or feeling too scratchy. I don't think i will try to do anything with these, other than cleaning the keycaps - the case itself is in great condition besides the weird yellowing on the lock light sticker. If anyone has an idea how to fix that i'd be thankful for input. This is my first blue alps board and i can confirm the smoothness is quite something after being subjected to mostly white alps and various clones.
The board had a funny defect though when i first plugged it in: Right alt key was not working. I thought one of the switches was just broken but no, turns out the right alt was NOT SOLDERED. it didn't even look de-soldered, it just looked like the switch was not ever soldered to the board. I have fixed that and it's all working, but it's first time i see something like this.

Nice that someone from DT bought it, i forgot about bidding it xD

Aw! well figuring you live in Poland too we could swap if you want to try it xD

[browncow]

Oh, my lens was dirty

That is a handsome board and WHAT A BACKGROUND! love it

[SquirrelMaster420]

Here's my current daily. Unicomp's Mini M with modelfkeyboards's relegendable caps. I might use a smoother font on the F keys, but I kinda like the way the sharp font looks with the clear plastic keys.

IMG_20230718_183941_0-lessblur.jpg (2.9 MiB) Viewed 59665 times

[Falkenroth]

Nice touch. Might have to get me some of those caps myself.

[panpanCircus]

Hi everyone,

I post here my very own custom keyboard, even keycaps were spray-painted and lettering was done with inkjet printed decals.
The vintage look is intentional and I used the Amiga/Atari ST numpad layout which is in my opinion much more useful than PC ones.

If you'd like to see the full build journey, here is a (hopefully funny) youtube video I made : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xmShSsnKb0

[paperWasp]

Looks nice. Those hotkeys for launching applications give a feeling of the early 2000's.
(How often does one need to launch Outlook or Teams?? )

[Muirium]

I like the no-holds-barred approach to the legends and the overall design. Very custom.

What switches are the Cut Copy Paste keys using down on the front? They’re real low.

Looks nice. Those hotkeys for launching applications give a feeling of the early 2000's.
(How often does one need to launch Outlook or Teams?? )

Function keys have to be there for something, right?

I’ve actually gotten into the habit of assigning launch keys to certain documents (via shell scripts in Karabiner) rather than apps. That’s a real time saver for instant access to regularly edited / referenced stuff. Quicker to hit a key to bring them to the front than to even bother managing windows to find them.

Think of it this way: you never misplace the A key (unless you encounter Azerty, unprepared).

[ifohancroft]

I’ve actually gotten into the habit of assigning launch keys to certain documents (via shell scripts in Karabiner) rather than apps. That’s a real time saver for instant access to regularly edited / referenced stuff. Quicker to hit a key to bring them to the front than to even bother managing windows to find them.

That's clever as fuck actually!

[Muirium]

That's clever as fuck actually!

High praise.

Give it a shot. You may be surprised at the Zen which ensues when you no longer have to think about finding them. Your fingers have already brought them right up.

[browncow]

Hi everyone,

I post here my very own custom keyboard, even keycaps were spray-painted and lettering was done with inkjet printed decals.
The vintage look is intentional and I used the Amiga/Atari ST numpad layout which is in my opinion much more useful than PC ones.

If you'd like to see the full build journey, here is a (hopefully funny) youtube video I made : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xmShSsnKb0

Very cool work, you have managed to make the keys look nice and smooth, and the colourscheme is pretty interesting too, it's a rather unique build. I do love the THICK backplate too

[paperWasp]

Function keys have to be there for something, right?

As I said launching mastodon apps like Outlook or Teams you typically start just after logging in a don't close them until the shutdown or reboot.
Volume Up/Down/Mute Play/Pause/Next/Prev make a lot of sense on easily accessible keyboard shortcuts.

[panpanCircus]

Thank you for the nice comments. As you did guess I like function over form.
I made a sort of mini "battleship"

[Falkenroth]

Watched your video on the keyboard. Awesome build! Thanks for posting it.

[panpanCircus]

Ah.. Thank you Falkenroth, at last someone is watching that video. It took me so much time to make it!

[Borys555]

APEL

IMG_1761.jpg (988.29 KiB) Viewed 58518 times

[browncow]

APEL
IMG_1761.jpg

very good looking board nice background again as well!

[paperWasp]

Very nice keyboard! Wonder if the extra space above F-keys row was meant as an area for explanatory stickers/notes or just the style of that era?

[fanf]

Yes, it’s a place for quick reference cards. The little nipples next to the escape and power keys are for stopping the card from getting wedged between the case and keycaps. You can see an example in this video: https://youtu.be/DxSpNJdwuWE

That’s also why there is a lip above the f keys on Model M and Model F boards.

[Wolfi77W]

Hi all,

I've been into vintage keyboards for a few years now but only decided now to finally go from being one of the many unregistered guests to a being a member. Anyways I'll probably make a separate topic later dedicated to my whole collection but for now I'm just gonna start here with what I currently consider the crown jewel of my collection.

Box.jpg (105.25 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

Unboxing.jpg (150.5 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

NIB Northgate Omnikey/101-I

Manual, Keycaps And Keycap Puller.jpg (119.64 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

Complete with the manual, extra keycaps to swap Caps Lock and Control and a keycap puller that's unfortunately generic. Does anyone know when Northgate started having their own custom branded keycap pullers?

Manual Content.jpg (131.57 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

If anyone is interested I could scan the contents of the manual and upload to imgur.

Top Side.jpg (173.72 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

And finally the keyboard out of the box and protective plastic wrap

Barcode.jpg (126.45 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

Has there been any other Northgates documented with this barcode? Curious as to if it's any significance or just means that it was meant for use within the company itself.

Rear Panel.jpg (113.22 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

Plastic Rear Panel unfortunately. At least it does make the White Alps in the chassis sound really thick and good, aside from the spacebar, nicer even than my Proxellent battlecruiser.

Rear Label.jpg (104.03 KiB) Viewed 58330 times

Unlisted GT6OMNIKEY03 FCC ID. 0B in the serial number means assembled sometime around February 1990?

[browncow]

That is a beautiful board. Especially in this condition. very nice!

[Wolfi77W]

That is a beautiful board. Especially in this condition. very nice!

Thanks! The feel of the White Alps in the Omnikey is far nicer compared to my 2 other white alps board, despite one also looking immaculate like the Omnikey. Gotta refrain from using it heavily though to preserve the Omnikey.

[Polecat]

Hi all,

I've been into vintage keyboards for a few years now but only decided now to finally go from being one of the many unregistered guests to a being a member. Anyways I'll probably make a separate topic later dedicated to my whole collection but for now I'm just gonna start here with what I currently consider the crown jewel of my collection.

Complete with the manual, extra keycaps to swap Caps Lock and Control and a keycap puller that's unfortunately generic. Does anyone know when Northgate started having their own custom branded keycap pullers?

If anyone is interested I could scan the contents of the manual and upload to imgur.

And finally the keyboard out of the box and protective plastic wrap

Has there been any other Northgates documented with this barcode? Curious as to if it's any significance or just means that it was meant for use within the company itself.

Plastic Rear Panel unfortunately. At least it does make the White Alps in the chassis sound really thick and good, aside from the spacebar, nicer even than my Proxellent battlecruiser.

Unlisted GT6OMNIKEY03 FCC ID. 0B in the serial number means assembled sometime around February 1990?

Very nice find, thanks for sharing! At least part of the reason for the good sound is that those are early white Alps switches. Alps made changes as time went on, and most folks who have tried the different versions including myself prefer the earliest ones. It would be interesting to compare this keyboard side by side with the metal base version.

I've been logging Northgates into a database for several years, up to almost 800 now, and the bar code label is new to me.

I'm pretty sure that Northgate added the labels after they received the keyboards from the manufacturer, because we've seen the same style labels on keyboards from several vendors including Monterey and Silitek. The 0B I believe is February 1990, but that would be when it was received or processed, not a manufacture date. I've only seen the GT6OMNIKEY03 FCC number once before, on a recent ebay listing for a 101I with the paper label missing. Most of the other 101I models on record had a GT6OMNIKEY01 ID. (GT6OMNIKEY02 was used on early 102 models) Note that this is an early 3 character FCC ID and only the GT6 part identifies the manufacturer. Later FCC codes used a 6 character identifier, but Northgate appears not to have switched to a 6 character ID.

I'd very much like to see scans of the manual. I have a nice 101I, but not a copy of the book. Looks like some kind of receipt also. Any clues about its origin there? Interesting also to see the RMA sheet with the instructions for displaying the firmware version at a DOS prompt. That works on my 101I and on most later Northgates, but apparently not on the earlier gold badge models.