Secret Santa 2016! Pairings sent! Shipping early November, e.g. NOW!

andrewjoy · 20 Dec 2016, 12:44

If somone got a beamspring it would make my gift look a bit shit. Sure its a useful gift thats not that easy to get a hold of ( well at least one part of it ) but a beamspring ... WOW

hypkx · 20 Dec 2016, 12:50

andrewjoy wrote: ↑If somone got a beamspring it would make my gift look a bit shit. Sure its a useful gift thats not that easy to get a hold of ( well at least one part of it ) but a beamspring ... WOW

I know what you mean, I have also send not a beamspring, or keyboard at all, I hope my recipient will be still happy with my gift(s).

Nuum · 20 Dec 2016, 12:59

Don't worry about that, we're not children anymore and hopefully won't be jealous about other gifts. We're doing this for fun and not to exceed each other with the value of our presents.

Five-year old Tommy wrote:Mommy, Mommy, James got a Beamspring and I just got another cheap rubberdome!

andrewjoy · 20 Dec 2016, 13:01

If somone got a IBM 3279 trust me i would be

alh84001 · 20 Dec 2016, 13:52

It's now so tempting to troll with a pic of beamspring when reveal time comes

hypkx · 20 Dec 2016, 13:58

Five-year old Tommy wrote:Mommy, Mommy, James got a Beamspring and I just got another cheap rubberdome!

[/quote]
Sending rubberdomes out would be really evil

I got last year a keyboard with hi tek switches which was really nice and smooth (but I gifted it later to some other community member, because I hadn't the will or time to make a converter). I am really excited about this secret Santa, I got a secret Santa package in a unusual flat and large shape. Last year it was easier to choose a present because I don't know the specific member, this year I already know that my giftie had most of the stuff I wanted to send, but to my luck there was also the r/mk secret Santa so I had to recipients (from which one was new in the scene) so I adjusted what I wanted to gave away a bit and I think everybody will be happy.

Scarpia · 20 Dec 2016, 14:09

Nobody's getting a beamspring, obviously. I am just wondering what kind of keyboard related thing weighs almost 5 kgs. It's certainly heavier than a Bigfoot. And from what others have posted, I'm not the only one with a box this heavy. Color me intrigued...

(and since I stayed within the $50-ish Santa budget myself, I'd feel pretty embarrassed if I got something really excessive in return)

Nuum · 20 Dec 2016, 14:50

Maybe it's 200g rubberdome board and 4.8kg of sweets?

Alkhar · 20 Dec 2016, 15:04

gogusrl wrote: ↑Got the package it's freaking huge ... 5.5 kg. did anyone send me a beamspring ?!

Yeah maybe someone sent potato

HzFaq · 20 Dec 2016, 15:36

Mine is a pretty heavy/big box, doubt it's a beamer but I'm pretty sure there's a keyboard in there.

kbdfr · 20 Dec 2016, 16:29

Mine is a round box, so I think I know what it is…

Spoiler:

mecano · 21 Dec 2016, 14:11

"Perfect to store" they nailed it perfectly!
Warming the deer chariot…

vsev · 22 Dec 2016, 08:55

Visited at home yesterday evening by my very (not so anymore) Secret Santa !
Made him drink a couple of beers before letting him going further to his marvelous end-of-year task.
Have to get a proper camera to shot what's in the box, now spotted in the living room for a few days,
Childish happiness !!

Scarpia · 23 Dec 2016, 00:04

We are leaving for the Christmas holiday tomorrow and we won't be back for a week, so I had to open my Secret Santa present a few hours early -- and it's a good one!

But I promised not to post images until the 23rd, which happens to begin ........... just now, in my time zone

So without further ado, let's kick this off:

http://imgur.com/a/d8E1Z

Yup, I got THREE!

Including Montereys!!!

mike52787 · 23 Dec 2016, 00:10

Holy shit! What a gift! Still waiting to open mine.

XMIT · 23 Dec 2016, 00:32

Awesome, thanks for posting Scarpia! I knew you wouldn't be disappointed.

I'm really looking forward to vsev's photos as well. I know what he got and can only say, everyone else should be excited!

ohaimark was visiting Texas this week helping elecplus with some stuff. He visited me at home Tuesday evening and we opened my inbound package then. No photos for another 6.5 hours but I was really glad to get what I got!

Come on European folks, it's past midnight for you...

mike52787 · 23 Dec 2016, 01:22

Just opened my box, thanks Alkhar! Pics to come at midnight.

chuckdee · 23 Dec 2016, 02:22

I actually opened it earlier- I didn't realize it was secret santa, until I posted it on MD.

https://www.massdrop.com/talk/832/an-awesome-gift

The mail lady came today, and left only bills. I'd been dealing with Comcast all day, so that made a dreary day even drearier. Then she came back- it turns out she'd forgotten a package. I opened it up, and thought it was Royal Navy at first. Then, I realized that there was a note and a notebook in there. My next thought was that I'd ruined secret Santa. But then, I read the letter... and looked at the keyset!

I love LOTR, and the Granite set. But I got into MK after the drop, and couldn't see paying that much for keys, so figured I'd resign myself to the standard Granite. Thank you @YanboWu! You made a sucky day very bright!

hypkx · 23 Dec 2016, 02:34

So here are my presents:

a mechanical keyboard calendar 2017 (a really nice present, I am really happy with it , sadly I can't find the pictures I made on my phone, but I will take tomorrow some new ones and will post them then)
a bag of haribo sweets - already in my stomach (they were even some of the ones I really like)
a clubmembership for 2017 (I thought the year multiple time about getting on, so perfect )

http://m.imgur.com/a/ea0DI
Thanks my secret santa

I will post many pictures from the calendar when I find them or take new ones.

Ratfink · 23 Dec 2016, 06:54

Here's mine! I just couldn't wait until morning to open it.

A pingmaster! I had been thinking of getting one of these for a while. Thanks Mike, for making the decision for me.

XMIT · 23 Dec 2016, 15:03

My gift arrived nearly a month ago. ohaimark and I opened it together on Tuesday evening. Here it is...

: A box from Norway has arrived!; DSCF1469.jpg (135.99 KiB) Viewed 5253 times

: Brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things...; DSCF1471.jpg (113.87 KiB) Viewed 5253 times

: Greetings from Norway!; DSCF1474.jpg (98.41 KiB) Viewed 5253 times

: A Tandberg board! Siemens switches! These are uncommon in the US.; DSCF1477.jpg (131.6 KiB) Viewed 5253 times

: Top hat shaped PBT spherical dye subs.; DSCF1478.jpg (123.71 KiB) Viewed 5253 times

: Helpful information on the rear.; DSCF1479.jpg (103.48 KiB) Viewed 5253 times

Thank you so much Secret Santa! I've never even seen one of these in person before after many trips to the recycler. What a special board in such a usable layout! I look forward to cleaning it and using it for a while.

andrewjoy · 23 Dec 2016, 15:29

I got this fantastic space invader board

Thanks santa , it will go in the rotation soon.

The tactile grey space invaders are quite fantastic.

gogusrl · 23 Dec 2016, 15:37

That space invaders board looks amazing.

Here's what I got : A factory sealed WANG 725-3370-US

and ...

Spoiler:

kbdfr · 23 Dec 2016, 18:24

My Secret Santa beautifully fulfilled his (admittedly difficult) task

Thanks a lot!

: Secret Santa 2016 - 02.JPG (415.58 KiB) Viewed 5195 times

See the whole story here:

http://i.imgur.com/N5IfD4a.jpg

mike52787 · 23 Dec 2016, 18:37

Opened it up! Thanks Alkhar!!! Ive been wanting to try acer switches for awhile. Also wanting to try those french christmas cookies! looks delicious!

What language are these keycaps in? They look really cool!

Thank you so much!!!

mike52787 · 23 Dec 2016, 18:42

Ratfink wrote: ↑Here's mine! I just couldn't wait until morning to open it.

A pingmaster! I had been thinking of getting one of these for a while. Thanks Mike, for making the decision for me.

Hope you like it! Should be easy to reprogram the layout if you dont like what I have on there.

Ratfink · 23 Dec 2016, 19:17

mike52787 wrote: ↑
Ratfink wrote: ↑Here's mine! I just couldn't wait until morning to open it.

A pingmaster! I had been thinking of getting one of these for a while. Thanks Mike, for making the decision for me.
Hope you like it! Should be easy to reprogram the layout if you dont like what I have on there.

Oh, I love it so far! It took me a bit to figure out the layout (I accidentally turned on caps lock and couldn't figure out how to turn it off

), but I think I've mostly figured it out now. I did have to make a minor repair to your adapter though. The only two pins left exposed on the Teensy were VCC and GND, which caused bad things to happen when they both touched the metal case. A piece of electrical tape fixed that, at least temporarily. I'll probably 3D print a better mounting solution eventually.

Thanks again! I've been enjoying finally having a proper keycap puller now, too.

mike52787 · 23 Dec 2016, 19:31

Ratfink wrote:
mike52787 wrote: ↑
Ratfink wrote: ↑Here's mine! I just couldn't wait until morning to open it.

A pingmaster! I had been thinking of getting one of these for a while. Thanks Mike, for making the decision for me.
Hope you like it! Should be easy to reprogram the layout if you dont like what I have on there.
Oh, I love it so far! It took me a bit to figure out the layout (I accidentally turned on caps lock and couldn't figure out how to turn it off ), but I think I've mostly figured it out now. I did have to make a minor repair to your adapter though. The only two pins left exposed on the Teensy were VCC and GND, which caused bad things to happen when they both touched the metal case. A piece of electrical tape fixed that, at least temporarily. I'll probably 3D print a better mounting solution eventually.

Thanks again! I've been enjoying finally having a proper keycap puller now, too.

Yeah, my adapter was a bit tossed together, sorry bout that! The teensy probably got shifted around during shipping. Glad you like it!

snuci · 23 Dec 2016, 20:29

My Secret Santa gift arrived and I was wondering how a keyboard fit into a 9" x 6" padded envelope. As it turns out there was a slight issue with the original Secret Santa but XMIT came to the rescue and made sure we all had gifts.

: Secret Santa 2016 - The package; Secret Santa 2016 - the package.JPG (175.58 KiB) Viewed 5125 times

I know I toiled for a while trying to figure out the perfect Secret Santa gift and had to rethink my selection a few times because my Secret Santa giftee had a fabulous collection already so I had thought in the back of my mind, I think whoever got me is going to have issues

As you may have guessed it, it's not a keyboard but what I did discover when I opened it was an early edition (First edition, third printing) of "The TV Typewriter Cookbook" by Don Lancaster. More info is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Typewriter Well, I have been on the hunt for an actual TV Typewriter (among other things) but the cool part of this book is that it originally purchased from the Byte Shop back in 1975.

: Secret Santa 2016 - TV Typewriter Cookbook; Secret Santa 2016 - TV Typewriter Cookbook.JPG (152.42 KiB) Viewed 5125 times

The Byte Shop was very early computer store owned by Paul Terrell and is famous for being the computer store that sold the first 50 Apple 1 computers. More info on the Byte Shop at Paul Terrell's Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Terrell There is a parallel to something I do have and that is the Exidy Sorcerer. It has a Key Tronic foam and foil keyboard so you guys wouldn't be interested. Naturally, I am into history so this is very cool! Well, I am into history and early computers so the TV Typewriter Cookbook is a "must have" for anyone's collection so...

: Secret Santa 2016 - The Byte Shop Edition Front; Secret Santa 2016 - The Byte Shop Edition Front.JPG (181.12 KiB) Viewed 5125 times

My first copy is a First Edition, sixth printing and is clearly not from the Byte Shop so this book is still a fantastic addition to my collection because of it's origin. There are even differences in look to the back cover.

: Secret Santa 2016 - The Byte Shop Edition Back; Secret Santa 2016 - The Byte Shop Edition Back.JPG (221.26 KiB) Viewed 5125 times

I want to personally thank XMIT for stepping in and thank the original Secret Santa for trying. I know they were trying to find something special but it fell through. I think we should all be thankful to XMIT for coordinating this. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thisishowilurk · 23 Dec 2016, 21:50

My gift arrived quite early and since people at my work are used to opening my packages... someone opened it quite early too.

But I did resist really looking for quite a while!

Box came with a cool stencil

Whati s this, a stealthy Belkin?

Ctrl key shortcuts are pretty important to me

Now this is an interesting keyboard!

The Alps SKCM Black switches feel pretty awesome. I always felt alps / matias had really great tactility. They are pretty awesome switches.

Thank you so much Santa for this gift. This is actually my first "older" keyboard. Going to clean this baby up and start using it!