Old ebay Black OEM Omnikey Photos - Anyone?

Polecat · 02 Oct 2017, 07:33

A couple years back there was a Northgate Omnikey listed on ebay, black with some custom blue key caps. It was mentioned here,

other-external-f66/great-interesting-fi ... ck#p230833

but of course the ebay photos are long gone. Did anyone here happen to buy that board, and/or save the photos from the listing? I almost bought it at the time, but it was too pricey for me. Now I just want to identify it (was it an Avant? an OEM Omnikey? something else?) and convince myself I didn't need it. Thks.

0100010 · 10 Oct 2017, 05:35

Probably an Avant board. https://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/in ... mitstart=4

Polecat · 10 Oct 2017, 06:56

0100010 wrote: ↑Probably an Avant board. https://archive.benchmarkreviews.com/in ... mitstart=4

Thanks, interesting link! Says the Avant came with Cherry switches!? Every one I've seen had Alps or Alps-type switches.

I was hoping someone saved the photos from the specific keyboard that was on ebay. It was some sort of OEM board with several blue custom key caps. Part of a security system, or something like that, I don't remember exactly. I thought I had saved them, but that was two or three computers ago and I haven't found them yet. Chances are we'll never see another one like that, but I'd like to know what it was, just in case...

Daniel Beardsmore · 10 Oct 2017, 09:19

I do save photos from eBay of anything that interests me personally, but I don't generally look at the eBay listings posted in the forum. Owing to lack of clarity regarding copyright fair use, I don't ever post the images to the wiki, and I only post them to my own website once they're gone from eBay (either the images or the entire listing).

A better arrangement is likely possible, but interest in the wiki is too low for that to ever happen, so knowledge doesn't so much slip away but rather pour down the drain.

orihalcon · 10 Oct 2017, 16:58

There was a user here that bought or has one, I remember seeing photos somewhere, maybe even in the photos/videos section if you look back far enough possibly?

Engicoder · 10 Oct 2017, 18:31

I think it was a version of the Avant Stellar. There was one posted on Geekhack a while back

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=83 ... msg2210646

Polecat · 11 Oct 2017, 03:59

Engicoder wrote: ↑I think it was a version of the Avant Stellar. There was one posted on Geekhack a while back

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=83 ... msg2210646

Thanks for all the replies on this. Most of these appear to have Alps-type switches including mine. Apparently the Avant boards came in two layouts - Stellar, which was the equivalent of the Omnikey Ultra, and Prime, which was the equivalent of the Omnikey 101. And both versions came in beige or black. I don't know about the beige versions, but the black ones came with ink stamped caps with a blob of clear over the printing. I'm in the process of replacing as many of those as I can <attached> but it's not easy due to the layout.

I did some more searching, but I haven't found any photos or info on the odd OEM one with the custom blue caps.