Alps Appreciation

[Mattr567]

I now have a decent condenser microphone and a audio interface. The noise floor is not amazing but its very clear. Will upgrade to an NT1A and yamaha MG10XU eventually.

Who wants some alps sound samples ?

EDIT

So are the 725-3770 northgate bob has the black alps version with the beige caps ? Or are they the ones with the nice bright white caps ?

That man needs a new camera , and some web design form later than 1994.

I wasn't aware that there were more than 1 cap type. Might just be pictures.

[orihalcon]

There are. Have one of each disassembled and I'll try to get around to taking some keycap pictures here soon. I think Northgate bob has the beige and blacks, but he wasn't super helpful about answering my questions. Definitely still the place to go if you wan a NIB one. Think they are $125 each.

[Mattr567]

Alps under magnification The stripe is most interesting.

[seebart]

Alps under magnification The stripe is most interesting.

Nice shots but do any of you Alps enthusiasts really know anything about that stripe? It just looks like a irrelevant quick improvised factory marking to me. How come Apple keyboards never have these? How come they only show up in certain keyboards? Pretty relative really.

[Mattr567]

Alps under magnification The stripe is most interesting.

Nice shots but do any of you Alps enthusiasts really know anything about that stripe? It just looks like a irrelevant quick improvised factory marking to me. How come Apple keyboards never have these? How come they only show up in certain keyboards? Pretty relative really.

Special heavy switches like SKCL Heavy Cream, Heavy Grey, and SKCM Heavy Blue would get "lipstick", where a (usually black) mark would be put around the whole top of the stem like this:



Whereas SKCL Striped Amber is just a single vertical line, which has never been seen anywhere else. Its to differentiate them from SKCL Amber. But I think they did it differently from lipstick to signify that it isn't a heavy type, just a different type that would be used throughout the keyboard.

Either way it was to stop mixups at the factory. They did it differently than lipstick for some reason, likely what I said above. Lipstick has only been found on heavy switches.

The other running theories is that it is a special switch developed for Tandem like SKCM Amber for Apple, or that it is a precursor/prototype/predecessor to SKCL Brown.

[seebart]

Whereas SKCL Striped Amber is just a single vertical line, which has never been seen anywhere else. Its to differentiate them from SKCL Amber. But I think they did it differently from lipstick to signify that it isn't a heavy type, just a different type that would be used throughout the keyboard.

Either way it was to stop mixups at the factory. They did it differently than lipstick for some reason, likely what I said above. Lipstick has only been found on heavy switches.

The other running theories is that it is a special switch developed for Tandem like SKCM Amber for Apple, or that it is a precursor/prototype/predecessor to SKCL Brown.

Yeah that makes sense. I had a theory years ago that the actual different Alps SKCL / SKCM slider colors were also nothing more than a production related sorting / marking measure by Alps Electric because if you think about it no one else ever pulled a keycap back then after production or later possibly repair. I remember using new Apple AEK's in the late 1980's and trust me no-one paid much thought to the keyboards or the internals.

[oluigenuma]

I have just recently come to aquire a few ALPS boards and made an observation: My alps orange switches from two different boards diverse heavily in actuation distance. Some do active when only lightly touched, some activate only on bottoming out and other do not active at all or just sporadically. I have desoldered and cleaned them by taking them apart and soaking every part in dental tabs. I guess it's a bad idea to build a board with inconsistent switches. Could I do anything about it? Bending the activation plate maybe? I fear they end up even more inconsistent.

[Chyros]

Your switches are fucked. Alps switches don't feel or act inconsistent when new.

[oluigenuma]

It seems they are indeed. Have measured the resistance of a few of them. The once not working properly got resistances into the mega ohms when pressed. I should have a look for NIB boards...

[snuci]

How about these Alps switches? Thought this was pretty cool as I just came across it. For the record, it's NOT on a keyboard.

Alps DIP switch

Alps DIP switch.JPG (370 KiB) Viewed 6039 times

[Mattr567]

Black switchplate SKCM Blue Leading Edge DC-2014 chip indicates June 1985

Other pics:

[Chyros]

DAYUM that's old Oo . Very nice find indeed!

[Mattr567]

32 year peel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc2_o1wq78k

[Mattr567]

I found Chryos's Christmas present

[Chyros]

Whaaaa? XD

[Mattr567]

Whaaaa? XD

I know you love NOS Alps

but seriously wtf, these are the WORST fucking switchplates I've EVER seen. Off SKCL Green from a Multistation. Smells like battery corrosion and/or the bottom of the ocean. They were so bad I had to cut away the housing to get them out. Some of the switches won't even open its so bad.

As a result they have tactility. They actually feel a lot like SKCM Brown or Green. They feel like Browns or Greens since the switchplate is causing the tactility being rusted together and all. Like how SKCM Brown's tactile piece is based off a dummy switchplate, this is the actual switchplate! Its the shape of the switchplate leaf that causes the rounded feel.

[orihalcon]

How about these Alps switches? Thought this was pretty cool as I just came across it. For the record, it's NOT on a keyboard.

Alps DIP switch.JPG

At least some Multistation keyboards have an ALPS dip switch like that on the PCB if one were looking for one actually in a keyboard

[MrDuul]

Blue Alps all the way.

[waldorf120]

Picked up this board last week on Ebay. It appears to have linear green Alps, yet is not listed in Deskthority's SKCL Green Alps page. Are these clones? Or did I discover a new board with SKCL Greens? Also, after Chyros' videos I can't help but pronounce Zenith "ZEN-ith" and the "z" in "ZKB-5" as "Zed-Kay-Bee-Five". Makes me chuckle every time.



The board came packaged with ZEN-ith's "Easy PC" computer in the late 80s. Love that logo. Connector appears to be of the 5 pin DIN variety. Since this board was only designed to work with the Easy PC I have no idea if it has any standard like XT or AT. Layout appears to be the same as the Zenith Z-150.



Certainly looks like SKCL Green Alps, has the tabs, slits, and everything. The keycaps are nice thick double shot ABS. The feel of the switches is exquisite, like pressing a keycap through butter, again borrowing from Chyros.



It comes with a solid metal backplate and a thick, textured top plate. The build construction is very solid. It also has two flip out feet which are activated by pressing tabs at the back of the keyboard.



The label sticker is rather cheap looking, and identifies the board as a "ZKB-5".



Another interesting thing is there are no homing bars, not even deep dishes. Zenith apparently didn't anticipate touch typists using their computers.



The lock switches are also SKCL greens and have double shot housings for the window, with some other process to produce the black lettering.

[cmasontaylor]

http://microconnectors.com/d07-135stw/

Just sharing in case anyone wants an absolutely hideous, USB-enabled, Mac-friendly alternative to the AT101W. Black Alps in this one. Bought one a few years back in the *slightly* less hideous graphite color. ABS lasered black keycaps. Nothing to write home about, but a cheap way to try out black Alps, no adapter required.

[seebart]

I found Chryos's Christmas present

Pretty intense.

Love your Zenith waldorf120 (seems your cat too ) ! Typed on my favorite (and only ) Zenith. I don't think the green Alps of yours are clones but we would need to take a closer look. There is much work to be done on the wiki and few people working on it, I'm sure you "get my drift"!

IMG_20170528_101721.jpg (905.14 KiB) Viewed 5771 times

IMG_20170528_101906.jpg (1012.4 KiB) Viewed 5771 times

[Chyros]

No need for that, that Eazee PC board is just a Zed-150 with a different badge :p . More annoying is that it breaks my ZENith rule of thumb for green Alps xD .

[seebart]

More annoying is that it breaks my ZENith rule of thumb for green Alps xD .

That's just too bad [NOT].

[Slom]

Oh, nice to see that ZKB-5 resurface here

I was quite surprised by the low endprice after all the early bidding. No snipers arround this one.

Speaking of low endprice ... the promised bid war on the green alps board with z150 chassis and sphericals was disappointing. One bid only ...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

http://microconnectors.com/d07-135stw/

Just sharing in case anyone wants an absolutely hideous, USB-enabled, Mac-friendly alternative to the AT101W. Black Alps in this one. Bought one a few years back in the *slightly* less hideous graphite color. ABS lasered black keycaps. Nothing to write home about, but a cheap way to try out black Alps, no adapter required.

Now, if they did a Lime one …

It seems unlikely that it would be complicated black Alps. The iMac came out in 1998, so it's far more likely to be simplified Alps. Black simplified can be any of linear, tactile or clicky, too, as Forward were hopelessly inconsistent. Clicky could be white, grey or black (and white and grey seem to be otherwise identical). Linear could be black or (unconfirmed, but according to the technical drawing) yellow.

[waldorf120]

More annoying is that it breaks my ZENith rule of thumb for green Alps xD .

Out of curiosity, what is your rule of thumb for green Alps?

[seebart]

More annoying is that it breaks my ZENith rule of thumb for green Alps xD .

Out of curiosity, what is your rule of thumb for green Alps?

Many stickers have a big, bold letter stamped on them, J in this case. If it's got that letter, it's most likely green Alps, I've found. Although I just came across an exception, this rule has held for every other Z-150 or ZKB-2 board I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them (I'm well into Zenith boards). So it's not a golden rule, but it's pretty good.

Only applies to the Zeniths and is not proven 100%.

[cmasontaylor]

http://microconnectors.com/d07-135stw/

Just sharing in case anyone wants an absolutely hideous, USB-enabled, Mac-friendly alternative to the AT101W. Black Alps in this one. Bought one a few years back in the *slightly* less hideous graphite color. ABS lasered black keycaps. Nothing to write home about, but a cheap way to try out black Alps, no adapter required.

Now, if they did a Lime one …

It seems unlikely that it would be complicated black Alps. The iMac came out in 1998, so it's far more likely to be simplified Alps. Black simplified can be any of linear, tactile or clicky, too, as Forward were hopelessly inconsistent. Clicky could be white, grey or black (and white and grey seem to be otherwise identical). Linear could be black or (unconfirmed, but according to the technical drawing) yellow.

Truly sorry. I should have known where I was. The one I bought uses simplified tactile black Alps. I suppose in theory they could change it based on case color, or whim, but I doubt it.


And they did have a lime case at one time. When I purchased mine, they had I believe every early iMac color except for that Dalmatian print one.

[MrDuul]

All about the Blues

[fohat]

You guys get such consistent fields of blue color. My experience is that they vary considerably.