deskthority

PM'd

Dick, I don't really have a specific question, but I always love listening to other engineers talk about their profession. It's always interesting learning what older generations of engineers have in terms of insights from their careers. I'm just starting my career as an engineer and I always enjoy ...

I recently put together a new PC. I'm not going to go into details on the specs of the system, but I wanted to make it unique. For my last PC I did this by building it in the case from a Powermac G4 (below). Unfortunately, Apple cases don't have the best cooling (I know shocker) so the system was en...

I'm glad to hear it. Congrats and enjoy the keyboard.

I'm under the impression that pretty much all old Toshiba keyboards (including their laptops) were Alps made. I haven't actually come across a Toshiba with Alps in it yet that wasn't made by Alps.

I'd look for corrosion between traces or for leaked electrolyte from capacitors. Either of these can connect parts of the circuit that shouldn't be connected and could cause this kind of failure. The fact that you have some functionality sounds to me like it can probably be salvaged. If you can't f...

I'd look for corrosion between traces or for leaked electrolyte from capacitors. Either of these can connect parts of the circuit that shouldn't be connected and could cause this kind of failure. The fact that you have some functionality sounds to me like it can probably be salvaged. If you can't fi...

If it's from this seller then I can tell you that they are clones. I picked one up myself and imo it's a good deal, but temper your expectations. While they are clones, they're pretty nice, but they're also not NOS pine white alps which are nicer. The keycaps are thin lasered ABS and don't fit the s...

If you're just looking to use it on an original system (an old Macintosh or an Apple IIgs) then you can use a standard s-video cable.

... Thanks to everyone for your help! I’ve also been wondering if the EPROM is the source of the problem and if not it’s definitely a single point of failure. I like the idea of having a backup of the EPROM image and would appreciate getting a copy of possible. I started looking in to copying the i...

I then tested the capacitors, which visually looked ok. There are blue cylinders, small pads and a silver metal square version. Is this the silver component that you're talking about? If it is then that's not a capacitor. That's the oscillator for the microcontroller. It is possible for crystal osc...

*Don't get me started on the rollover and the inherent limits in accursed ADB. And why the 3 lock lights when Macs never did support Num Lock or Scroll Lock and still don't? I kinda like the case, and the caps have a nice profile—typing on them now—but together they're a bit too flimsy for my taste...

I've actually seen one of these in a thrift store once. They wanted $120 for it though so I didn't grab it.

The forward current parameter does matter, but I doubt it will be an issue. The forward voltage they are rated at is (oversimplification) the voltage they will use when begin to flow current. In a keyboard there will most likely be an resistor to limit the current (you can think of it as using up th...

Long story short, yes you can. You can either buy a premade converter or if you have some basic electronics skills you can build one. Price will range from ~$15-$40 for a converter iirc.

This thread might be useful to you.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23939

I think this is the set you are talking about. I actually bought these about 5 years ago new. I'm happy with them. Two things to keep in mind. If you get them from Drop then you will not get a stepped capslock. If this is a problem you can order one from Taihao directly. The other thing is that the ...

One thing that I can give Matias credit for is that they're cheap. $50 (I don't remember if that's CAD or USD) for 200 switches really isn't bad. Even if you do have a couple go bad you will have a ton of replacements. You can also find them on Taobao for $0.10 per switch.

Bjerrk wrote: ↑

19 Mar 2021, 09:00

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Would one then have to desolder all switches to replace a faulty one? I sure hope not.
...

No just the faulty switch the others can be left in place.

What's the status on this - did the situation with Matias switch reliability ever improve? I've read a few threads where rumours of it being "fixed" or "improved" were mentioned, but never anything concrete. I ended up rebuilding the Acer with Matias switches and I haven't had an issue. I used it f...

Some old Toshiba laptops have Alps made doubleshots and can be had for pretty cheap. You won't get a full sized board's worth though.

Yeah that's what I thought too but I didn't see mention of an ANSI version on the wiki. The legend placement on the numpad 0 is pretty distinctive though. Especially when combined with the bold arrows. If I manage to get it then I'll try to post an update. Just checked my database, and there is a K...

Yeah that's what I thought too but I didn't see mention of an ANSI version on the wiki. The legend placement on the numpad 0 is pretty distinctive though. Especially when combined with the bold arrows. If I manage to get it then I'll try to post an update.

Anyone know what this one is? It's in my local classifieds and I'm debating picking it up.

USB and PS/2 are very different protocols. USB in general is FAR more complex. On a serial bus [USB], a single signal often includes address, control, data, and clock information. (from this site) . Basically with USB there is a lot more data encoded into a single signal. There are other hardware di...

I always used it over PS/2 so that explains it

Yeah, black alps AT102 was my first true Alps board and I hated them. But they were in pretty bad shape and linearizing them helped a ton. (they are a bit light though, lighter than my green clones) The SGI version has some unfortunate rollover, or am I misremembering? iirc on my SGI granite the on...

The obvious choice is a Dell AT-101w. They come with bamboo Black Alps (tactile) and are very common. If you do a bit of looking around you can pick them up for 20-40 USD without a problem (I managed to get one free by volunteering at an electronics recycling drive at the local community center). I ...

I have a Zenith that I rebuilt with NOS Yellow Alps and it's one of my favorite boards. I'd say if you know you like the yellows not much reason to switch to the Greens (although I have never tried them myself). I do have an AT-101w with bamboo blacks that I linearized and I don't like it quite as m...

I had to do a double take at 13:09 when you showed off //Gainsborough's Zenith project. It looks very similar to A project that I bough off of //Gainsborough a while back, but after hunting down the post I see that his was a ZKB-2 not a KBD17.

I haven't ever seen a PCIe PS/2 card, but there are several PCI cards on Newegg. If you decide to order one make sure that you get the right card for whatever computer you're using it on (PCI and PCIe are not compatible).