deskthority

Well, keep an eye on your inbox. You know what I'm talking about… as do most people on this thread!

I do indeed, I just wanted to reference it without being so oblique.

Muirium wrote: ↑What physical profile were Dasher keys? I assume we're talking an SA remake, but just out of interest are there good pictures of the originals in detail?

Tell me what angles you want and I'll take the photos. (bill for photographic services will be in the mail)

All the angles! Pop 'em on a desk and get digitising. We'll pay full market rate for jpegs of old hardware. Let me dig out the club checkbook and the vanishing ink…

Actually that helps a lot mr_a500. Do you randomly have a caliper or a reference ruler as well. Any and all info that can be gleaned would be a great asset.

SL89 wrote: ↑Regarding caps: Let's start with the 'core' set. Alphas, numerics, Nav, and numpad. Then worry about things like 60% (or 40%) Focusing on existing paradigms could help us keep constraints on the front end, and then we can custom tailor the set to match the board if / when it is finalized.

Thanks, I think you're exactly right, it makes more sense to get those basics sorted before getting too far into layout analysis.

SL89 wrote: ↑Regarding boards: I have to imagine this has a lot of potential options. If we are looking into replica, are we looking to get into handmaking pcbs (with the swoopy circuits) or handwiring? Or maybe we can talk to Matt3o and or 7bit (or anyone else) who has experience making custom pcbs for projects (especially if we plan on making more then just 2 boards.) If we decide to follow the path of existing pcbs and the like maybe you are right and the 8200 looks like a good jumping off point.

So far I've thought mainly of the two extremes - handwiring up a custom plate or using an existing PCB. Designing and making a custom PCB is beyond my current capabilities, but I agree with help it could be a good option if the interest is there.

SL89 wrote: ↑Figuring out goals and possibly milestones could be conducive to getting it all to happen.

Clearer goals are necessary, yeah. The first posting was very vague!

pyrelink wrote: ↑I think that it would probably make the most sense to focus on the Keycaps first. I like the concept of the entire replica, but if past group buys have taught us anything, getting the keyset alone produced will be a challenge in itself. I also imagine there will be a lot more interested parties in the Keycaps by themselves. If the rest of the replica is saved for after the Keycaps, it gives people a little time to recover economically from the caps too.

Having the caps lead the interest makes a lot of sense. With the timing, I'm not trying to rush ahead with the production of either caps or board, but I have been trying to pursue the design of both. Again, one at a time makes more sense, and allowing the dust to settle in between may be very helpful too.

the Mad Dasher strikes again!

I'm glad we are all on the same page. How much does it cost to get the color chips you need btw. I may just order them and say fuck it.

mr_a500 wrote: ↑

Muirium wrote: ↑What physical profile were Dasher keys? I assume we're talking an SA remake, but just out of interest are there good pictures of the originals in detail?

Tell me what angles you want and I'll take the photos. (bill for photographic services will be in the mail)

You're back!

Yes, all the angles, please! I concur entirely with Mu and SL89 on this and will add that a square, side on pic would be of particular use to see if we can get the profile angle(s), and on that subject : are the caps in each row all the same profile? They look like they might be but I'm not sure.

Also, what are the cap mounts? Key Tronic foam and foil?

Finally, can I get those colour chips sent to you now? Can we match the top plate as well?

Ooh, and how about a scan of the logo while you're at it?

SL89 wrote: ↑the Mad Dasher strikes again!

I'm glad we are all on the same page. How much does it cost to get the color chips you need btw. I may just order them and say fuck it.

The chips are now 50¢ a go plus shipping from SP, or I'll send you some for free if you can get 'em to a blue Dasher!

The codes are:
BBI BBJ BBQ BDG BDH
BE BED BEY BFJ BFK
BFL BFM BFN BFO BFP
BFQ BFR BFT BFU BGA
BO BX

Note: Melissa told me BDG and BEY are now obsolete with their vendors, but the chips were still available for BDG so I ordered them anyway for reference. I decided to skip BEY though as it's greener than bluer. With a larger enough order SP can do custom color matching, even to obsolete color chips!

Previously in color chip comparisons:

I'm gonna try to find the old computer museum i saw one at. If not that I'll try to track one down just for reference.

SL89 wrote: ↑I'm gonna try to find the old computer museum i saw one at. If not that I'll try to track one down just for reference.

Let us know how you get on!

Muirium wrote: ↑Let me dig out the club checkbook and the vanishing ink…

Hey, I thought you were Scottish. What are you doing using American spellings like "checkbook"? It's a chequebook, damn it.

Every time an American says to "send a check", I think of sending one of these in the mail.



That is a check.

This is a cheque:

Exactly. I'm Scottish, not English. We call lorries trucks up here for starters. (I assume we came up with the name and it emigrated to America.) I'm in two minds about check vs. cheque. But one spelling I much prefer the American way is cue vs. queue. What a nightmare that is in redundancy! Apt or otherwise.

Edit: or do Americans spell it that way? Maybe it's a foreign word for them. If so, I suggest "cue". At least one person already uses it! And people never seem to notice… (in a good way)

facetsesame wrote: ↑

mr_a500 wrote: ↑

Muirium wrote: ↑What physical profile were Dasher keys? I assume we're talking an SA remake, but just out of interest are there good pictures of the originals in detail?

Tell me what angles you want and I'll take the photos. (bill for photographic services will be in the mail)

You're back!

Yes, all the angles, please! I concur entirely with Mu and SL89 on this and will add that a square, side on pic would be of particular use to see if we can get the profile angle(s), and on that subject : are the caps in each row all the same profile? They look like they might be but I'm not sure.

Also, what are the cap mounts? Key Tronic foam and foil?

Finally, can I get those colour chips sent to you now? Can we match the top plate as well?

Ooh, and how about a scan of the logo while you're at it?

Yes, I'm back. Mission Accomplished. (Wait... I better not use that expression after Bush Junior changed its meaning to "Mission Totally Fucked Up")

Yes, Key Tronic foam & foil. I'll take plenty of photos tomorrow, from all angles. I'll be like Austin Powers, saying "Yes, yes, yes baby, yes, NO, NO!"

Muirium wrote: ↑But one spelling I much prefer the American way is cue vs. queue. What a nightmare that is in redundancy! Apt or otherwise.

Edit: or do Americans spell it that way? Maybe it's a foreign word for them. If so, I suggest "cue". At least one person already uses it! And people never seem to notice… (in a good way)

Americans don't really use that word. They call it a "line" or "lineup". And queue jumpers are "assholes who budded in line". (alternate swears can be used in place of "assholes", but a swear is generally mandatory)

Muirium wrote: ↑Exactly. I'm Scottish, not English. We call lorries trucks up here for starters. (I assume we came up with the name and it emigrated to America.) I'm in two minds about check vs. cheque. But one spelling I much prefer the American way is cue vs. queue. What a nightmare that is in redundancy! Apt or otherwise.

Edit: or do Americans spell it that way? Maybe it's a foreign word for them. If so, I suggest "cue". At least one person already uses it! And people never seem to notice… (in a good way)

As my better half owns/operates a venue at the Fringe and a resident of the USA, I am fully qualified to answer this question.

We would only use "cue" for a prompt, signal, or marker. If someone here is referring to a line and trying to be fancy, it would be spelled queue.

Unfortunately for me, I am "bilingual" enough to not be able to stop snickering when people are talking about their suspenders or their pants.

In other news: I have a source on borrowing a colour (snicker) ring, and just need to arrange a time to head down to the computer history museum. They are unlikely to let me take it apart, however, so the best I can do is bring color rings, a variety of SA keycaps, and a medium grey card and shoot some pictures. I could probably bring calipers as well.

Always learning…

I've heard New Yorkers say "waiting on line" for the act of queueueueueing, not to be confused with waiting on a slow internet connection. If so they are surely [mandatory farmyard animal based swear]s.


@PopePro: Bring a keypuller. Just in case!

Go back to the general chat thread that Round 5 has become!

I'm glad it's not still a "Holy shit guys, really, what if 7bit's literally dead?" thread. Again.

OK, back to the Dasher photos... sorry for the bad focus, inconsistent colour and so on:
The keycaps are not "sculpted". They're all the same profile. The top plate is metal. I think I'll repaint it when I can get a colour match. The case is a thick textured plastic that has been painted. I think I'll repaint that too. I removed the cable.

Let me know if you want more angles.

Good stuff. Now pull some caps, put em flat on a piece of white paper and shoot some angles of those. Upside down is also good.

God damn it. OK... just a minute.

Oh that color scheme... magic.

(..yes, I know the photos are mostly out of focus. I have poor lighting and no tripod. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.)

You can clearly see the yellowing. The weird thing is that it's hard to get the colour right in pictures. The colours that are picked up in photos are not the same as seeing them in real life. They're always off slightly. (or is it my eyes? or the optic nerve? Maybe I have brain damage. Who knows.)

Your pictures are fine. Really nice keycaps.

Colour balance is maddeningly difficult. That's why I asked for the white paper so we can tweak it!

Thanks for the pics. The broken cap is informative.

Muirium wrote: ↑ Thanks for the pics. The broken cap is informative.

If i didnt know better I'd swear with an adapter you could get a Cherry switch in there. (When depressed.)

Can we get a picture next to something for scale? Please and thank you mr_a500!

Scale? Keycaps are the standard (for the time) 1.8cm square tapering to 1.2cm, with 1.2cm height.

OMG, this is beautiful ! Why on Earth do I find this SEXY ?

Nevermind then mr_a500 thanks for that info instead.

Guilleacoustic. I know right?