deskthority

You could always use a PS/2 Soarer's Converter and get all that same functionality. Depending on the model of omnikey, you might get NKRO as well, whereas the Model M will be 2KRO.

If someone wants to design the PCB that has a space to directly solder on a teensy and would support Soarer's Controller firmware, I'd consider doing a run of the actual PCBs. Would be pretty cool if there was a full case conversion kit available that had a case that fits the top. and was as low pro...

Yeah, definitely a frustrating search to find beamspring keyboards these days as everyone is looking for them. I guess the one saving grace when you're looking for a displaywriter is that they are the most common type of beamspring I think, so they tend to fetch a little less than the rest when they...

I've got a bunch of blue ALPS sliders, click leaves, and springs that you could swap into existing ALPS switches, possibly without even desoldering if you are good at it. Was thinking of listing these for about $2 per "set" eventually. PM me if interested.

I wouldn't mind doing the actual switch replacement, though cleaning a plate is pretty tedious unless you desolder all of the switches first which is much more time consuming. I don't quite recall NB's rates for repair, but I think it was something like $20 plus a certain amount per switch for gener...

Hi, I've got some beam spring Xwhatsits that didn't work from the factory, but can't tell you what parts on them don't work. If you have a way to do chase that down, probably would be much easier than actually building from scratch. Let me know if interested. Thanks!

All of this: https://abload.de/img/20190717_17410362kej.jpg Just to get these little buggers: https://abload.de/img/20190717_174355jejmg.jpg Such a waste of human resource. Packing it and transport. Why do people are so afraid to take the damn caps off :lol: Still very happy the hunt is finally ove...

Orihalcon Is that the Displaywriter that you are selling the caps for on your eBay store? Nope, the keycaps on that one actually didn't have any yellowing iirc. Got that one a long time ago and keep the picture to remind myself that it could *usually* always be worse when I find a board in bad shap...

I still have the SDL version, but the discount on those is the standard 10% ($42 each after discount) given that I have to make them with expensive SDL parts.

Hello all! Just wanted to let everyone know that all of my Soarer's Converters are now back in stock! As a promotion, I'll be selling the following Soarer's Converter adapters through PM's received on Deskthority at a 20% discount at $32 each with FREE USA SHIPPING this week only! This includes: AT/...

You got lucky! At least yours wasn't like this one I got a while back:
On yours, You could just put a light coat of rust preventing oil (like something lanolin based, though beware, your beamspring may then smell like a sheep) and wipe off the excess.

Nice specimen indeed! The dating on these is weird, sometimes they'll get refurbished and I've seen F107's with date stickers showing as late as 1996, some of them being internal stickers on the curved backplate. The F107 I listed yesterday (and which promptly sold in less than half an hour) had a d...

Yep, agree with the above, easiest solution would be just to get a parts model M 101 key and use the "in barrel" stablizer inserts and the keys that go with it. I usually like to preserve the wire stabilizers as they might feel a little bit smoother in the end, but seems like a good compromise in th...

Nice video as usual! I just got one of these myself, though mostly got it for the caps which are doubleshot + pad printed secondaries. Not sure I'm brave enough to put the durability of the pad printing to the test in any sort of heavy use scenario though, but they definitely do spruce up the overal...

All the black M122's I sold a while back had the glitter in them as well, though I didn't really list it as a selling point because you really have to be looking at it right in order to see it. I still have a couple of those M122's I believe if anyone wants one, or just the caps for a more reasonabl...

Definitely an interesting idea! I've not come across any Japanese ALPS Apple boards that have oranges that did on the US models, but here's hoping those are indeed oranges

Great find indeed! My understanding is not that the F77 was particularly rare to begin with as there were no doubt thousands if not tens of thousands made, it’s just that all 4704’s were supposed to have been destroyed per bank IT policy when they stopped being used. I guess banks worry about bankin...

I believe that regular XT innards will fit fine on a Bigfoot? Haven't actually done it myself, but even just getting a capsense PCB with the controller on it should work with the rest of your setup and then you can use your Soarer's converter to convert the XT protocol to USB.

One weak point of this design is the use of rubber spacers/bumpers to isolate the PCB from the case. They sort of snap into holes on the inside of the back of the board. Over time the rubber hardens and becomes brittle. Most of mine have broken in two pieces. I would love to find a replacement for ...

I've always loved thumb shift keyboards myself: Perhaps one day with the help of Wcass, I might bring something like it to life

Indeed a nice F107! If anyone needs an unrestored one, PM me. The restore is definitely time consuming, but you'll get to enjoy it for a lifetime!

I saw those as well! Main disadvantage I would say is seemingly being unable to change the layout. I'm half curious as to what the original speaker in a Displaywriter actually sounds like as I've never seen a video with that working with the original system, though probably is one out there somewhere.

Very nice indeed! I've only seen a Lotus Elise once in a parking lot, and other than the exotic look, the second thing you notice is just how "space saving" of a car it is! I'm glad that you got to experience the car and that you now have an awesome keyboard to commemorate it!

Amazing! How did you performed such a clean cut over the areas with the copper mask? Just used a Dremel with a cutting wheel attachment actually. I think you could probably also use a bench grinder, but grinding the entire controller off would probably make a lot more potentially harmful dust ;)

The full size 3277 variant doesn't come up often, but beware, requires a replacement PCB which I believe there are public drawings out there somewhere for: https://www.ebay.com/itm/173838879554 That layout gets a few extra points for the appropriately placed shift keys. The fact that they are steppe...

Would have to say there's probably some dust causing an issue, so a full restore or at least completely blowing out all the dust with the back cover off and wiping down the capsense pcb with microfiber cloth would be in order. It's kind of a pain to do it because getting the keyboard back together (...

I have one of those Merlin boards, though the top case is cracked that I’ll eventually be posting for sale if anyone is interested. It is indeed Fujitsu leaf spring. The area in the top right corner is actually a small matrix display and the logo has a kind of “foil” look to it in person which is pr...

I have full keycap sets for the 5140 if you're interested.

Also have Model 4704 cables which I believe are pretty similar to the NOS Pingmaster cables, but not NOS obviously , and I might even have a Pingmaster cable or two as well.

Will PM you.

By the numbers, the most reliable in terms of continuing to work (though feel will definitely be impacted if there's industrial dust present) would be Honeywell Hall Effect. They even work underwater! Most aren't super easy to convert to USB if you are working with vintage hardware, but a lot of pro...

Can’t forget the blue ALPS M clone!

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