IDENTIFY THE KEYSWITCH thread

[kbdfr]

Preh? They make non-mechanical point of sale keyboards.

Here's an old pic I took more than 10 years ago - you bet the keyboard has long been discarded, after all it hadn't a Lambo attached to it
.

Preh-03.jpg (161.85 KiB) Viewed 13000 times

[jensma]

I need some advice from you smart people

I just added this keyboard to the wiki:
wiki/A-2_KB-2101/2

I can't identify the switches realiably. They look like MX blues, but they feel and sound very different. I compared the keyboard to another MX blue I have (a chicony). The A-2 is WAY quiter and softer.



The keyboard with the "On Line" label is the chicony. The stems of the switches are considerably brighter and the housing is a bit glossy. The A-2 is darker and the housing is matte.

Any ideas?

[tactica]

It could be Cherry MX Dark Blue if the stem is darker than it seems on the photo.

BTW you didn't add to the wiki any picture of the keyboard depicting the darker switches.

[jensma]

It could be Cherry MX Dark Blue if the stem is darker than it seems on the photo.

BTW you didn't add to the wiki any picture of the keyboard depicting the darker switches.

Hi again!
It was pretty late yesterday and I had a second look at the switches. I put them side to side in daylight and they look _almost_ the same. I read over at geekhack that some people differentiate between modern and vintage cherry switches, like here:

https://imgur.com/a/RBH4Uq7 (c) davkol@geekhack - note the slightly different colors, glossy & matte housing & different sound profiles

Topic at geekhack, seems to be down atm:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=72626.0
archive without images:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240202185 ... ic=72626.0

So I guess they're vintage mx blues. I like them waaay more than modern mx blues.

[davkol]

derp

[thefarside]

I saw this Texas Instruments Low Profile keyboard on eBay and didn’t recognize the switch. Anyone know what it is?
Listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/167035937371

IMG_2150.jpeg (944.01 KiB) Viewed 6878 times

[keycap]

ITW magnetic valve, low profile. Neat switches. Shame it's missing caps (and return springs), though.

[jensma]

Any ideas about this one? At first glance I thought about a Mitsumi KDM - but the switch in the pic is clicky. And the cross is the same height as the ring.

Unfortunatly the keyboard is unbranded and the FCC ID seems to be generic: G4V3J7CG-101F
There's only one IC with a date code of April 1994.

[Polecat]

SMK MX mount.

wiki/File:SMK_G2_MX_clicky_--_top.jpg

Any ideas about this one? At first glance I thought about a Mitsumi KDM - but the switch in the pic is clicky. And the cross is the same height as the ring.

Unfortunatly the keyboard is unbranded and the FCC ID seems to be generic: G4V3J7CG-101F
There's only one IC with a date code of April 1994.

[jensma]

Thanks a lot! They do really feel nice. Kind of a mix between mx blue and alps white.

[fohat]

SMK MX mount.

wiki/File:SMK_G2_MX_clicky_--_top.jpg

I think these are extremely nice switches, but I have only ever seen them in crappy keyboards.

[Polecat]

Interesting description. I've played with the Alps mount version of SMK, which are probably very similar. Sounds like your keyboard is by Codegen. If you do a search here for CG101F (no hyphen) you'll find a youtube video (of the same model with Futaba switches). If the site was working right you'd find a few other references as well. But nobody has done anything to fix things in several months now, maybe longer.

Thanks a lot! They do really feel nice. Kind of a mix between mx blue and alps white.

[jensma]

Interesting description. I've played with the Alps mount version of SMK, which are probably very similar. Sounds like your keyboard is by Codegen. If you do a search here for CG101F (no hyphen) you'll find a youtube video (of the same model with Futaba switches). If the site was working right you'd find a few other references as well. But nobody has done anything to fix things in several months now, maybe longer.

Thanks a lot! They do really feel nice. Kind of a mix between mx blue and alps white.

Thanks, I spotted a codegen logo on the pcb. Documented it here: viewtopic.php?f=62&t=29441