deskthority

I understand the Das Keyboard II was essentially the Cherry G80-3000 with blue switches and blank keycaps. Newegg retails the G80-3000 w/ MX blue and sets of 104 blank MX keycaps run about $40 from what I can find.

Is this a difficult modification to make for a beginner?

No, the DAS 1 was a Cherry G80-3000, not the 2, which was manufactured by costar.

But swapping the keycaps is a really easy thing to do.
This would get you a quasi DAS 1. Only thing you'll be missing would be the nkro which the original DAS had if I remember correctly.

The very first Das Keyboard was a rubber dome keyboard manufactured by Key Tronic. It was the second iteration that was a G80-3000.

http://www.xoxide.com/das-keyboard.html

You are right of course Findecanor,I always forget there was a rubberdome DAS at first...

Closest thing available still in production is G80-3000LPCXY-2. Aesthetics wise it is the same, all black with blank POM keycap. Internally it have black switch instead of blues like the DASII and like most 3000 models it is only 2KRO not 6KRO/NKRO.
G80-3494 have 6KRO/NKRO but doesn't come with blank keycap. I am running a groupbuy for blank black Cherry profile PBT.
If you might fancy a blanco version, I am selling my all white with blank white Cherry PBT customized 3494.

While blank keycap is not hard to find, finding ones that a G80 compatible is another story due to the stepped caps lock and the offset stem mounts on the spacebar unique to Cherry.

IvanIvanovich wrote:Closest thing available still in production is G80-3000LPCXY-2. Aesthetics wise it is the same, all black with blank POM keycap. Internally it have black switch instead of blues like the DASII and like most 3000 models it is only 2KRO not 6KRO/NKRO.
G80-3494 have 6KRO/NKRO but doesn't come with blank keycap. I am running a groupbuy for blank black Cherry profile PBT.
If you might fancy a blanco version, I am selling my all white with blank white Cherry PBT customized 3494.

While blank keycap is not hard to find, finding ones that a G80 compatible is another story due to the stepped caps lock and the offset stem mounts on the spacebar unique to Cherry.

Hrm. I already have a 6KRO keyboard with red switches so I wanted to try blue. Really the only other reason was to make it 'like' a das keyboard ii (current models don't appeal), actually the 'bulkiness' of the thing was actually a turn-off to begin with.

All g80-3000 models are 2KRO though?...I might abandon that idea if this is the case (It's not for gaming so I'm not sure if 6KRO is especially important for typing speed- heavy command line use)

About the keycaps:

So keycaps that are for 'cherry mx' switches will not necessarily work with G80 chassis? The keys I could find were ABS so I didn't really count on being able to find POM keys anyways.

Edit:
Did some testing of NKRO with my current mechanical keyboard (CM Storm), laptop keyboard, and a rubber dome Saitek keyboard. CM Storm definitely has 6KRO. Laptop and Saitek definitely have some blocking problems. 2KRO might not be too bad if it means no blocking.

For typing you probably won't encounter any problem with only 2KRO. For gaming, it can be a problem with FPS or other fast action game because you will get blocking after the 2nd key pressed so say you are trying to strafe WD, and want to reload... that R won't get accepted.
G80 can be cheap, but so can some other keyboard with blues be in same range depend your location or with luck in used market.

2KRO is no good if it interferes with keyboard navigation while you work. I've a 122 key Model M with 2KRO that won't reliably accept Shift+Mod+Arrows if the other mod is on the same side as Shift. Grr! Gets right in my way, that. No gaming required.

Really, only NKRO is guaranteed hassle free. 6KRO is too if the controller and matrix are still effectively NKRO, and won't block up until that limit. But a matrix without diodes is just a pain in the jacksie, guaranteed.

True it depends a lot on how the matrix is laid out. I have an old mid to late 80's Dah Yang MX that have no diodes but seems to manage 5KRO somehow without any annoying blocking. For the most part on 3000 you can't press more than 2 keys on the same row, but usually you can press 3 or 4 keys on different rows plus mods even if they are in the same column. Personally I find it perfectly useable for everything but fast action gaming that requires use of particular key combinations.

All right I'm in Will the order still go through if you don't get 400 people by Jan 15?

I think I will have to extend that buy since I haven't gotten the add on packs (more keyboards compatibility and special keys) pricing yet either. I'm not sure how much it will help but I want to try.