Surprise from dad

[derzemel]

My dad lives in Italy and I have been telling him about my new found passion. A few days ago he phoned me to tell me he sent some stuff to me

This was in the box:





The WYSE are cherry MX Black... SMOOTH black... Vintage black

I now have switches for a TKL Project I am working on

The IBM, sadly is a rubber dome, but in a normal Model M case. I'll open it up today to see if there are usable parts.

[Redmaus]

My dad lives in Italy and I have been telling him about my new found passion. A few days ago he phoned me to tell me he sent some stuff to me


I now have switches for a TKL Project I am working on

Hisss! Don't desolder those Wyses! They have a nice layout in ISO which I have not seen before. If you want a wyse to reap the switches on, use one of the ones that have really weird and hard to use layouts. I have switches that I could sell you anyway.

Anyway, how does the IBM rubber dome feel? I am curious.

[andrewjoy]

if you do kill the wise ( the grey one) send me the case

[Findecanor]

I wonder how difficult it would be to convert that Model M to use buckling springs. Are the barrels or keycaps different?

BTW, adapter kits have been made for the Wyse keyboards with replacements for the keys on the bottom row. If you get one of those then you could use the keycaps on a modern keyboard as well.
Do also save the plate-mounted stabilisers!

[derzemel]

Hisss! Don't desolder those Wyses! They have a nice layout in ISO which I have not seen before. If you want a wyse to reap the switches on, use one of the ones that have really weird and hard to use layouts. I have switches that I could sell you anyway.

I will desolder the yellowed WYSE. I was thinking to try retrobright on it, but the caps are too shiny to really be usable and I also need the switches for the project.
Sadly I do not have access to other WYSEs this cheap (free) so, I'm stuck with this decision.
If all the switches in the yellowed one are ok and if I manage to find another 10-20 vintage black switches at a good price + shipping, then I will not desolder the gray one.
I am really thinking to use a Teensy with Soarer's WYSE Converter to make it work with modern computers.

Anyway, how does the IBM rubber dome feel? I am curious.

The Model M rubber dome actually feels surprisingly good. See the images below for more details.

if you do kill the wise ( the grey one) send me the case

If I desolder de gray one, you will be the first to know (in case you still need the case )

I wonder how difficult it would be to convert that Model M to use buckling springs. Are the barrels or keycaps different?

The barrels are not different at all. I also have a Model F AT and the keys from that one fit and accrually work with the Model M. See bellow some images

Do also save the plate-mounted stabilisers!

I'll be reaaaally dumb not to save them

So, I started cleaning the gray WYSE:

Oh, f..k:



Much better:



Keycap and case washing coming next, but not today.

The Model M rubber dome actually works:


I was very surprised when I connected it to the computer and it started right up. I am typing on it right now and I actually think it feels really good. It has a really crisp feel to it, the domes are stiff and the tactile feedback is really good. I now would really like to try a Topre to compare them.
Also, the clatter it makes: it's a constant clack clack clack clack when I release the keys. No click, ding, ping, etc.

The domes and barrels:


Next to the F1 key from the Model F AT (F1 is the left one). As you can see the stems are the same size, but verry different and they cannot be modified to buckling spring. The AT key actually fits in the Model M's barrels and it actually works on the keypress:




I am also wondering how much this rubber dome Model M is worth (all cleaned smelling nice )

[XMIT]

Rubber Dome Ms aren't worth much. They have controller boards and cases that are useful donors. (Crap, I wish I had thought of that before elecplus closed the warehouse. I have about 40 Terminal M's at home and elecplus has about 40 rubber dome M's, a controller swap would get them all working and salable.)

Topres are *way nicer* than Rubber Dome M's.

[Redmaus]

Hisss! Don't desolder those Wyses! They have a nice layout in ISO which I have not seen before. If you want a wyse to reap the switches on, use one of the ones that have really weird and hard to use layouts. I have switches that I could sell you anyway.

I will desolder the yellowed WYSE. I was thinking to try retrobright on it, but the caps are too shiny to really be usable and I also need the switches for the project.
Sadly I do not have access to other WYSEs this cheap (free) so, I'm stuck with this decision.
If all the switches in the yellowed one are ok and if I manage to find another 10-20 vintage black switches at a good price + shipping, then I will not desolder the gray one.

I have a little less than 200 blacks and 94 have built in diodes. If you need any I have plenty.

[beltet]

Nice dad!

[XMIT]

Yeah I meant to say this before especially since my last post was kind of a downer. Your dad sounds awesome.

[seebart]

Yeah really XMIT, praising Topre instead of his dad! Shame on you (just kidding).

[derzemel]

Thank you! Now I am really curios to try Topre since it seems it is that awesome

[Redmaus]

You didn't already desolder the switches did you? Because like I said before, I have extra and would be happy to sell them to you. I don't think it is a good idea to desolder the Wyse that has a very good ISO layout that I have not even seen before.

[derzemel]

You didn't already desolder the switches did you? Because like I said before, I have extra and would be happy to sell them to you. I don't think it is a good idea to desolder the Wyse that has a very good ISO layout that I have not even seen before.

no, I did not, not yet at least

I cleaned the gray WYSE and I will get a Teensy 2.0 to try and use Soarer's converter on it. I hope it works on ISO. If it works, then I'll keep it as is and I'll poke Redmaus for some vintage Blacks (if am unable to find some in EU)

I am still not convinced that I should put in the effort to retrobright the yellowed one. I also has some very shiny caps.
Also, the yellowed had an EM shield inside it which I cleaned and moved to the gray one:



Here are some pictures with the cleaned gray one:

[derzemel]

I finally took the decision to "kill" the yellowed WYSE:



Also, this was my first time using a soldering iron

I think I also killed a switch:



Is there any way to "resuscitate" it?

P.S.: I think this topic can be moved to the Workshop section.
Can any of the mods help?

[Redmaus]

Hissss!!! >:(

You can retr0brite cases!

[Muirium]

Heh, sympathy for the Wyse.

Perhaps you should start a new thread for the Wyse devastation project? With a title to explain what you're doing.

[andrewjoy]

meh its only the cream / yellowed one , plenty more of them out there

[derzemel]

Hissss!!! >:(

You can retr0brite cases!

At least I'll will keep the gray one and I'll do my best to make it work and then maybe I'll even use it as my main keyboard for a time.

Heh, sympathy for the Wyse.

Perhaps you should start a new thread for the Wyse devastation project? With a title to explain what you're doing.

For the moment I do not have any project in mind for the yellowed wyse. I just desoldered the switches for a TKL project and I thought that this was better suited to the Workshop ... maybe... cut the plate and case and make a 60% with F Row and with the big spacebar and... ok, I need to think about this one a bit.

[andrewjoy]

The grey wyse is very desirable, i have one and it looks very nice . if only it did not have the step on the side of the control key ( make alt a little wider to compensate) , it would be one of the best looking vintage cherry switch board out there. The cream ( in your case yellowed one) is less desirable. You could however TLK it and re use the plate as the plate is very sturdy on them wyse.

I killed a grey PCE once , and i was sad thats why i picked up a second one as an apology to the keyboard jesus! And the second one was ansi !

[tactica]

Rubber Dome Ms aren't worth much. They have controller boards and cases that are useful donors. (Crap, I wish I had thought of that before elecplus closed the warehouse. I have about 40 Terminal M's at home and elecplus has about 40 rubber dome M's, a controller swap would get them all working and salable.)

Topres are *way nicer* than Rubber Dome M's.

I haven't tried Topres yet, but I'd give RD Ms more credit. One of those was the first M I got (for free, BTW) and I found that typing with them is the closest you can get to a BS M using RD. The other great RD I own is an Olivetti ANK with the stiffest domes I ever touched and it pales in comparison. For me at least those Ms are the best RDs boards ever made, and I suspect they will outlive all the Topres you can throw at them. I'd consider them nearly on par with BS M's as far as value is concerned.