Talk:SGI Bigfoot series

Bigfoot is no official term, while Granite is. Just compare what you find when searching for SGI Granite and SGI Bigfoot

Hint: Make an article about all "Big foot" keyboards and link to it from the individual versions.

I started this article for the keyboards which came with the SGI Indi workstations, not about any similar keyboard.

Would be nice to discuss such changes before they are made.

Thanks!

7bit.

Bigfoot is the term for the Alps standard keyboard platform: see Alps Bigfoot, and it's no more or less official than "Granite" for one of several granite-coloured SGI keyboards. The keyboard community is global and "Bigfoot" is THE standard term in Asia for these keyboards (look up the keyboards by part number and you'll find plenty of Japanese websites that cover the SGI Bigfoot keyboards -- one of them is the reference for some of the models that the page hinted at but neglected to mention). There is no Western term for this keyboard product range from Alps Electric, leading to tedious wording comparing the Granite and AT101 to each other in circles as though they're the only keyboards ever made in this style, when in fact there are a LOT of them for many companies (again, see Alps Bigfoot for the significance of the page name). The new page name reflects the fact that SGI had a whole run of almost identical keyboards with very subtle differences, and that they are all from a very specific Alps product range.

Also as noted on the page, there is a virtually identical "Granite" keyboard that is NOT PS/2 (the only difference I can see is the absence of the function key ridge, as it appears to be an older model, possibly pre-Dell AT101). The differences between the various SGI Bigfoot keyboards do not justify separate pages for each one unless you are personally prepared to write them all out. What would be the purpose? Why would you want a whole page dedicated to a model that is singled out solely by its mottled patterning? Twee prettiness doesn't justify a page. Protocol, maybe, but there are other PS/2 ones that look the same except for the colour. It's bordering on giving beige and black Majestouch keyboards separate pages just because one is prettier. (In fact, the whole of the Majestouch range has one page!)

If you pay any attention to the wiki forum you will know that any queries about proposed changes lead to indecision and no action! If something needs doing, then it needs doing. And here, it needs doing.

Daniel Beardsmore (talk) 19:17, 25 February 2014 (CET)