Osborne 1: Oak Switch Systems Full Travel Membrane Keyboard!

[pyrelink]

I know what you are thinking... "Ugh, another person posting pictures of their Macbook Air??". I know I am sick of the myriad of Macbook Airs posted to this forum myself, but give me a chance, okay? Take a look at this photo:



I know the super sleek, thin, and sexy design instantly makes you think, "ultra-lightweight, portable", but in fact, what you are looking at is no modern Apple product. It's the Osborne 1 portable microcomputer! Based on the brilliant designs over at Xerox (and thanks to their terrible business sense) this beast was the first successful portable computer. It is far better described now, as a "luggable computer". Its heavy, clunky, and isn't super fast, but without it we would not have the Kaypro 2, and many of the other popular computers that followed in the path that the Osborne blazed.



Now for some stupid reason, I seemingly forgot what I was photographing, and wound up without any good pictures of the whole board put back together, or a fully dissected switch. Since this computer is such a freaking monster, I REALLY don't feel like pulling it back out of the basement to snap a couple photos. Its already a pretty well documented computer, and the Oak Switch Systems: Full Travel Membrane keyboard, is no stranger here. I figure though, I might as well share the pictures that I do have, for anyone who is interested.



If you notice, I am also not watermarking my photos anymore. After my last post I realized that I really had no reason to claim these photos. They aren't all that incredible, but if they can be of help to someone somewhere sometime, I would much prefer they weren't all covered in a stupid watermark. So any and all my photos I put up on my Flickr, I will put up with Creative Commons. Give credit or don't I don't care.



Lets get started!



Riiiighhhtt.... Which disc?



Well obviously the one already in the system is a good choice

Alright fine... I will move onto what everyone here cares about.













So as you can see here, we have an Oak Switch Systems, Full Travel Membrane keyboard. While, I don't have any pictures of the switches taken fully apart, I am pretty sure that like other Oak FTM switches, this is a plunger over a membrane style switch. And for anyone who is blind, or just can't grasp the difference, membrane and rubber dome are not synonymous. I doubt I have to tell many of you guys that, but I still see people who don't fully grasp the difference between the classic mass produced office keyboard (dome over membrane), and a switch that uses rubber domes, or use a membrane separately.





Now the keycaps on this keyboard are actually pretty cool. They have a couple neat distinctions. They are Double Shot (what I assume to be) ABS keys, with a cross style stem. While pretty close in size, they are not Cherry MX compatible stems.







1 cool thing about these keys is that for some of the larger keys (specifically the Enter key) have a second open stem. When on the switch, another switch fits right into the open stem, and seemingly acts as a dummy switch to stabilize the key!



Another neat thing about these keys, is that the "home" keys (F, and J), instead of being "nibbed" (I guess that is the correct term for the small bump, as seen on the numpad 5 key), have a more more cylindrical sculpted profile! They actually feel awesome, in contrast to the other keys. Then for the numpad they use nibbs to indicate the home keys.





As I have discovered in a couple of my other old boards, is a locking caps lock switch. I think they are the coolest! I don't get why people aren't making their entire keyboards out of those epic locking Cherry MX switches...





The spacebar, utilizes 2 metal stabs to stabilize the key.



The keyboard has a basic connection, straight to the Osborne, that fits nicely in the small indent in the plastic of the keyboard case. The keyboard plastic casing, ALSO acts as the "lid" to the main screen, and ports of the Osborne! Of course, no pictures, of such an obvious thing to take photos of... but what ever.







So yeah! That is pretty much all I have to show off today. Again, I am trying out Flickr, since they don't seem to take ownership of your photos (yet), like other popular image hosts, and they have a Pterodactyl-Byte of storage, for me to upload shit to, so it seems like the best choice. Let me know if you have any questions.

Also I recently went to a couple HAM/Computer fests recently, and even after all that driving, the hobby is seriously waning. People are buying and selling their shit on eBay, and buying components on Mouser and Digi-key. Not even 5 years ago, these events were still packed, like they were 20-30 years ago, but people lose interest in the coolest of hobbies. So, while I found a couple of interesting finds, they aren't anything spectacular, and nothing like the keyboard, and computer history I used to always see. I do have a couple things I ordered, which may be of some interest here, so I might have more crap to take stupid pictures of.

P.S., this post was rushed, and I did not have the time to put 100% effort into it, so I apologize, if it is not up to snuff.

Oh right and the full album, with a couple of extra photos as usual, is here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjXh44eU

[mr_a500]

The first Osborne 1 keyboards had black (very dark grey?) keys. I think they look nicer than the later light grey ones. (which end up yellowing unevenly)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I doubt I have to tell many of you guys that, but I still see people who don't fully grasp the difference between the mushy shit that is rubber dome over membrane bullshit, and a switch that uses rubber domes, or use a membrane separately.

I see that mistake here, too.

If you need some reference material, see:

[wiki]Rubber dome over membrane[/wiki] (new)
[wiki]Membrane vs rubber dome[/wiki]

I am unclear as to why you would consider rubber dome over membrane, to be any more mushy than rubber dome over anything else. Membrane of course has very little if any noticeable effect on feel. I've measured a typical office keyboard at somewhere in the region of 19 cN, and the membrane travel is around 0.9 mm.

Nice photos of the Osborne, anyway. The typeface used resembles Acorn's quite a lot!

[nourathar]

thanks for those picts, I have a (later, light grey) keyboard just like this on its way to me in the mail !
bought it mostly for its looks, I think, since I find it hard to imagine these switches will be more appealing than some of the boards I already own, but that is how it goes, apparently..

[pyrelink]

I doubt I have to tell many of you guys that, but I still see people who don't fully grasp the difference between the mushy shit that is rubber dome over membrane bullshit, and a switch that uses rubber domes, or use a membrane separately.

I see that mistake here, too.

If you need some reference material, see:

[wiki]Rubber dome over membrane[/wiki] (new)
[wiki]Membrane vs rubber dome[/wiki]

I am unclear as to why you would consider rubber dome over membrane, to be any more mushy than rubber dome over anything else. Membrane of course has very little if any noticeable effect on feel. I've measured a typical office keyboard at somewhere in the region of 19 cN, and the membrane travel is around 0.9 mm.

Nice photos of the Osborne, anyway. The typeface used resembles Acorn's quite a lot!

I guess I meant that the typical office keyboard that everyone usually complains about being mushy shit, is rubber dome over membrane. I myself, am not a fan of rubber dome in general. I still can't get used to Topre. I do like Topre better then an average, rubber dome over membrane office keyboard though. I will remove the mushy part though, as I mostly meant it to describe a general office keyboard, that people dislike, rather then it being any better or worse than anything else.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The Alps integrated dome keyboard I gave Muirium felt really nice — I thought it was mechanical until I opened a switch (and it sounded metallic too, for no reason I ever figured out). I also found a Sony BVE keyboard once that I thought was some sort of perfected tactile mechanical, but chances are it was Topre (since I've never seen a tactile Omron).

Domes don't inherently feel bad — there are some very nice cheap rubberdome keyboards that are light, smooth and highly tactile, e.g. the Dell KB1421. The issue is consistency: the manufacturer of the rubber sheets is never known, and you can never guarantee that you'll be able to buy the same again. The KB522 that came with my Dell PC is the multimedia equivalent, came from a completely different OEM (Logitech), and while contemporary with the KB1421, feels absolutely terrible. Domes aren't wrong in themselves, but they're cheap, and anyone wanting cheap, is far less likely to care about quality or consistency. I have no idea who made the KB1412, but the replacement we've got here in the UK is made by Primax. Interestingly it does feel very similar, and it's a pretty decent keyboard, as far as cheap domes go.

Topre is odd — they've rounded out the force curve, which gives it a sort of "laggy" feel, but as far as domes go it's up there at the top. While the feel of a Dell KB1421 is close, it's still light and rattly, and I've already seen a key fail on one; a Topre Realforce feels solid and it sounds very smooth, with a flawless feel. I tend to prefer the "precise" feel of MX brown, but brown is a bit light; the lack of tactility in MX red actually makes red heavier and like so many people, I find it to be close to the perfect balance. Tactility isn't something I desire or need, but typical linear keyboards (ca 60 cN) feel too mushy, and MX red, for me, is light enough to not feel that way.

[7bit]

These key caps look suspiciously like from Signature Plastics!

[nourathar]

thanks for those picts, I have a (later, light grey) keyboard just like this on its way to me in the mail !
bought it mostly for its looks, I think, since I find it hard to imagine these switches will be more appealing than some of the boards I already own, but that is how it goes, apparently..

The board arrived, I like its looks, but the switches are awful ! must be among the worst ever, but that is before cleaning, so perhaps it will improve. But I'm not counting on it..

[mr_a500]

If the switches are horrible, then that's probably another reason for Kaypro's success (besides screen size and looks). The Kaypro keyboard is light and smooth.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Light? Interesting. I thought it was just a standard SMK keyboard, i.e. somewhere in the region of MX Black.

One day I'll find an MX Black keyboard cheap enough to buy just to try it for five minutes and see just how it really does compare with Futaba linear switches and then toss it on a pile …

[mr_a500]

It is just a standard SMK (and/or Maxi Switch). When I say "light", I mean compared to other linear keyboards of the period that I own. It's lighter than the (awful) "Stackpole", Honeywell hall effect, Futaba, and Keytronic foam & foil. It's about as light as vintage linear ALPS. (...yes, I regularly press the keys on all my keyboards to judge the feel... I'm crazy that way...)

But actually, I do have a WYSE WY-50, which is MX black (my only Cherry keyboard) and the Kaypro feels lighter.

[Muirium]

Hey Pyrelink, the deeper spherical shape on the home keys you're talking about is called "deep dish" by Signature Plastics. And I agree with 7bit that the Osborne's caps were probably made by them, back in the day. SP's current spherical caps come with deep dished homing keys. Spot the F and J on my Round 4 SPH set:



I wouldn't say Osborne's choice of Oak was what finished them off. Their business blunder was so infamous it even has a name:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect

[Daniel Beardsmore]

This is why I don't take switch try-out bags seriously — you can't tell how a switch feels without physically typing on it. I have an SMK right here and it feels stupidly stiff, but chances are it isn't. Oddly the spring in my SMK clone is a lot longer, but if anything it feels a touch lighter. I used Futaba linears for years — they're perfectly usable, but they just feel mushy due to their weight. The weird part is that there's no bottoming out sound, so all you hear is a clack after releasing the key, giving you "lagged" sound. MX Red brings linear down to a point where you don't feel the resulting linear mush.

I'd love to try a vintage SMK keyboard one day as a comparison. From the sounds of it, I probably don't want to try an Oak FTM ;-)

Interestingly, having just looked back at the photos, I've realised that I still don't actually know how Oak FTM works. I get that there's membrane sheets, and it appears to be pressure membrane as there's two trace sets. There's a slider. And something between the top of the slider and the membrane, and I don't know what.

Hopefully someone somewhere has found a broken one and dismantled it to see what's inside. Often it's a coil spring at the bottom of the slider. I'm still waiting to see what's inside the SMK membrane keyboard.

[pyrelink]

Ah, very cool. Those "deep dish" keys, were probably my favorite thing about the keyboard. Like Daniel was saying, this board is just plain crappy to type on. It feels a lot like there is something pushing against you as you try and depress a key. They are definitely not switches that I would enjoy typing on, that's for sure.

It does suck what happened to Osborne, but the same type of things still even happen in today's companies. Love them or hate them but Apple's policy of 0 public and customer relations, and only announcing what they are ready to put on shelves, does seem to work... Granted what works for a 60 million bajillion dollar company probably wouldn't work out for a new electronics start up -- but what ever.

And I will spend some time a little later to see if I can SAFELY dissect, and figure out what's going on in there. Since it is all tied to a membrane, it wind up being a little too risky to take apart. Since both the keyboard and computer are in fully working condition (and relatively decent physical and cosmetic condition), I think keeping it intact would prove far more viable.

Oh and I totally agree on the switch tester part. Specifically for modern Cherry keyboards, if they aren't lucky enough to have a local keyboard store, just order what ever you think you might like best, if you hate it, return it, otherwise just make your next inevitable keyboard purchase, based on your current switch experience. Switch testers have no way to give you a full typing experience. You might love the smooth linear key press of a Red switch, but then find out you can't stand typing on a keyboard that gives you no feedback as to wether you just registered a key press or not.

Speaking of which, I think I need to give MX Blacks a second chance. I
Broke out my Reds, yesterday, and I think I might like them even better with heavier springs...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I don't consider the try-and-return policy fair and honest — if I buy something, I keep it, unless it's unopened. Try-and-sell-to-someone-else is fair — I won't make my errors become the shop's problem.

I am not sure what they've done with that — it's like they've put foam pads over all the screws or something. Normally you just have several dozen screws to remove to take the backplate off the membrane assembly, but that one looks a lot harder to get apart which is why it may have to be left to someone who's found a broken one.