deskthority

A little while ago I wanted to do something with my Dell AT102W keyboard. For startes I really hated its Black Alps. I almost dislike them as much as most rubberdome keyboards.

So the first thing I did was to exchange its tactile metal leafs with the ones from my Matias Tactile Pro keyboard. This made the Dell to become super tactile in its action. It takes more force to activate them than reglar White Alps and the activation point is pretty much right in the beginning and it's pretty stiff and the keys just sort of break lose under your fingers when you type making up for a very tactile experience. It totally changed the feel of the Black Alps.

However I did not want to end the modding with that. These keyboards can be had very cheap so I figured wrecking it in the process or making something really weird with it won't be an expensive story if I mess up. So I decided to make it a bit girly and went in touch with my feminine side and put my imagination into works. Went to the local hobby store and bought lots of different plastic stuff and glued on the case as I see fitted and then painted over it with clear varnish.

Some original keycaps still on it and the rest is from an old Apple M2980.

This is insane: I LOVE IT

This is my daily driver at home

Wow, really nice.

Inspiring me with my at101w black case. Same keycap idea but swapping the switches for Matias tactile switches completely. Undecided on the case.

Is it possible to buy or order a full set of Dell-compatible keycaps? I switched most keys for PBT dye-subbed keycaps salvaged from a dead Alps AT101-102, but stabilised Alps keycaps are not compatible with the Dell...

BTW, I love those Apple keycaps. The font (Univers Condensed Oblique) is a classic.

Finding keycaps that fit the stabilized keys is the bigger issue. I have a few Alps boards but none of them have stabs that fit the Dell. I'm sure they are out therer somewhere though if you look hard enough.

There's not much in the way of a perfect match.

Very few boards were made aside from the AT101W which combine 1.25x modifiers, ANSI enter, and ALPS switches/stabilizers.

A Focus 2001 (relatively easily obtainable) will cover everything but "enter", "|\" the stepped CapsLock, and the bottom row modifiers. (Some later Focus 2001s DO have 1.25x modifiers, but some of them are pad-printed; I think there are even some lasered ones late in their production life)

An AEKII will cover everything but the bottom row, numpad plus, numpad enter, and numpad zero.

You'll probably have to cobble together two or more sets... i. e. most of the caps from a Focus 2001, then add a couple from another board, possibly an Acer 6x11, for example.

stratokaster wrote: Is it possible to buy or order a full set of Dell-compatible keycaps? I switched most keys for PBT dye-subbed keycaps salvaged from a dead Alps AT101-102, but stabilised Alps keycaps are not compatible with the Dell...

Can you take a picture? Both a Dell AT101W and an Alps-branded AT101 should use the same type of stabilizers...? Or do you just mean e.g. one board was ISO and the other ANSI?

You can get new keycaps with Alps-style stabilizers from Matias, but they’re going to be printed or lasered ABS.

jacobolus wrote:

stratokaster wrote: Is it possible to buy or order a full set of Dell-compatible keycaps? I switched most keys for PBT dye-subbed keycaps salvaged from a dead Alps AT101-102, but stabilised Alps keycaps are not compatible with the Dell...

Can you take a picture? Both a Dell AT101W and an Alps-branded AT101 should use the same type of stabilizers...? Or do you just mean e.g. one board was ISO and the other ANSI?

You can get new keycaps with Alps-style stabilizers from Matias, but they’re going to be printed or lasered ABS.

I will take a picture when I get home. But Silitek-made AT101W uses stabilizers that are completely different.

The keycap on the left is from my Silitek-made Dell AT101W, FCC ID GYUM92SK.

The keycap on the right is from an old Alps AT101-102 rubber dome keyboard, FCC ID GYIMIDAS101-102.

As you can see, stabilizer wires are different sizes. Dell's stabilizer system is detachable, while Alps uses hard-molded stabilizer mounts.

stratokaster wrote: The keycap on the left is from my Silitek-made Dell AT101W, FCC ID GYUM92SK.

The keycap on the right is from an old Alps AT101-102 rubber dome keyboard, FCC ID GYIMIDAS101-102.

As you can see, stabilizer wires are different sizes. Dell's stabilizer system is detachable, while Alps uses hard-molded stabilizer mounts.

The version on the left is the same as most Alps-mount keyboards, whether made by Alps, Silitek, or whoever else. The one on the right is some unique one-off.

What threw me off is the AT101 / AT102 name, since Alps made several very nice mechanical switch keyboards under that name, both Alps branded, and otherwise (e.g. Dell, SGI, etc.).