Best vintage keyboard or relic

Best vintage keyboard or relic

Poll ended at 06 Dec 2017, 20:00

REVENGE's 4412501 / 4978 Display Station Keyboard
30
18%
JP!'s fat brown Alps board
40
24%
IBM 6112884 "Pingmaster"
29
17%
JP!'s IBM 3741 Data Station / System 3 Barn Find
51
30%
Hansichen's G80-2100 HAO prototype find
19
11%
 
Total votes: 169

User avatar
webwit
Wild Duck

01 Dec 2017, 20:07

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Round 3 rules:
Please vote for the vintage keyboard or relic of 2017.

This is the final round. See the first round and second round for reference.

The final round ends on Wednesday 6 December, 19:00 UTC. You can change your vote until the end of the round by resubmitting the poll. The winner and full results will be released soon after the vote closes.

Official nominees:

REVENGE's 4412501 / 4978 Display Station Keyboard
REVENGE posted a teardown of his IBM 4412501 / 4978 Display Station Keyboard. It took him a few years looking high and low to finally get one on these beamships. This might be one of the most impressive and rare beam spring keyboards.

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Normally such an artifact can only be found in a computer museum.

JP!'s fat brown Alps board
JP! received a Texas Instruments Business-Pro Keyboard with customizable layout. Morever, it sports a newly discovered switch variant made by Alps Electric Co, currently dubbed Fat Brown Alps. The switches are clicky and tactile - nice and smooth with a light clicky sound.

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This keyboard is one big array of switches! Removing one of these plastic caps reveals the extra switches. One can experiment with different layouts.

IBM 6112884 "Pingmaster"
IBM's 6112884 keyboard is a vintage board with Chinese or Japanese legends, double-shot keycaps, and clicky green Alps, which, with the plate, produce an extreme pinging noise, hence its nickname "Pingmaster". Many have found their way to keyboard enthousiasts, and a lot ofthese were even new in box!
IBM 6112884 "Pingmaster" review by Chyros

JP!'s IBM 3741 Data Station / System 3 Barn Find
Another collector's dream, the IBM 3741 Data Station has a beam spring keyboard which is integrated into a desk. JP! found one in a barn and is in the process of restoring it to former glory. Wouldn't this look great in your living room? I'm sure your significant other would agree!

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The IBM 3741 Data Station in yet unrestored state.

Hansichen's G80-2100 HAO prototype find
Hansichen obtained a Cherry G80-2100 HAO, which is a rare prototype which features HAO caps with English sublegends. The build quality of the board is insane, the PCB is screwed to the case, the metal backplate is screwed to the case too. In total this boards has 23 screws until everything is build together.

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This G80-2100 HAO prototype from 1989 is a G80-2100 in a G80-2000 case.

User avatar
Haaaaaandrew

04 Dec 2017, 15:13

The caps on that IBM 4412501 / 4978 Display Station are beautiful :shock:

User avatar
Chyros

04 Dec 2017, 15:26

Haaaaaandrew wrote: The caps on that IBM 4412501 / 4978 Display Station are beautiful :shock:
It's a bit like a 5251, but bigger (and therefore better Image ).

User avatar
webwit
Wild Duck

04 Dec 2017, 16:24

Haaaaaandrew wrote: The caps on that IBM 4412501 / 4978 Display Station are beautiful :shock:
10 posts, you made it! :lol: Good luck with the draw.

User avatar
webwit
Wild Duck

05 Dec 2017, 23:09

Less than a day left to vote. Currently, one nominee is ahead a bit but it's not over yet! The results will be announced Wednesday 6 December from 19:00 UTC.

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