Who else has a Multitech branded board? (KB-101A)

[twinrotor]

There is lots of discussion of its successor, the re-branded Acer-KB101A, but only a few mentions of Multitech.


Who else lucked into one of these like I have?

[Polecat]

There is lots of discussion of its successor, the re-branded Acer-KB101A, but only a few mentions of Multitech.

Who else lucked into one of these like I have?

Nice. Mine is missing the front logo, but says Multitech on the back label. It was badly yellowed, but the guys here talked me into saving it. Now redone with blue/black caps and dark gray case and has been my main keyboard for the last month or two.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

twin_rotor, looks like you might have to document it.

[twinrotor]

...

Nice. Mine is missing the front logo, but says Multitech on the back label. It was badly yellowed, but the guys here talked me into saving it. Now redone with blue/black caps and dark gray case and has been my main keyboard for the last month or two.

Yours was the first Multitech I found searching for it online. It came out quite nice! I really like the caps you have with the case color. Mine was/is in about the same condition as yours, as far as scale of grime found. Its been sitting, long forgotten, in a bin at my shop. One thing I never saw, or missed; what are the date codes on your case and PCB? My case is 5/87, PCB 2/87 or 25th week of '87 (not sure if that is how that date code works), with a ROM born on date of what i think is 12/87. All other chips also have 1987 date codes. The switches are believed to be "early" blues; grey plate, no top plate logo.

twin_rotor, looks like you might have to document it.

Working on it! I have a post on another forum that I will copy over to here. There seem to be more people that appreciate these old guys here a bit more The whole "holy grail" thing is kinda why I wanted to contribute here. There is no Wiki entries for these keyboards.

My cell camera turns everything lighter than it actually is, in whatever light. I'm going to re-do some pictures with a better camera.

The yellow factor is great with this one. I'm not a purist, but I'm not going to use this as a guinea pig for RBing, as I have no experience with the whole RB process. Seems simple, until you see all the bad results. I'd rather leave it original, but I might reconsider if I continue to use it daily (frankly, I have no intention of changing keyboards ATM). I don't know why, as I have a huge collection of yellowed plastics from the last 40 years, with absolutely no desire to RB any of it. Maybe because I enjoyed that stuff when it when it was new? Now that I'm remembering what its like to use a keyboard like this, I kinda want it to be nice. I surly can't afford a NOS version of any blue Alps boards. I'm on about two months using it daily, moderately. I don't really game anymore. I can tell you that right now, this chick-let notebook keyboard I'm using is horrid when actively thinking about the Multitech...

[Polecat]

Yours was the first Multitech I found searching for it online. It came out quite nice! I really like the caps you have with the case color. Mine was/is in about the same condition as yours, as far as scale of grime found. Its been sitting, long forgotten, in a bin at my shop. One thing I never saw, or missed; what are the date codes on your case and PCB? My case is 5/87, PCB 2/87 or 25th week of '87 (not sure if that is how that date code works), with a ROM born on date of what i think is 12/87. All other chips also have 1987 date codes. The switches are believed to be "early" blues; grey plate, no top plate logo.

Mine was actually very clean, almost pristine inside, but very yellowed. Stored in my spare room for twenty-plus years, almost no wear on the original caps and switches. The inside photos were taken after brushing off a bit of dust, but otherwise as I found it. Third photo is the label. I think I have the case and PC board dates written down, or I can get them next time I have it apart.

Working on it! I have a post on another forum that I will copy over to here. There seem to be more people that appreciate these old guys here a bit more The whole "holy grail" thing is kinda why I wanted to contribute here. There is no Wiki entries for these keyboards.

My cell camera turns everything lighter than it actually is, in whatever light. I'm going to re-do some pictures with a better camera.

The yellow factor is great with this one. I'm not a purist, but I'm not going to use this as a guinea pig for RBing, as I have no experience with the whole RB process. Seems simple, until you see all the bad results. I'd rather leave it original, but I might reconsider if I continue to use it daily (frankly, I have no intention of changing keyboards ATM). I don't know why, as I have a huge collection of yellowed plastics from the last 40 years, with absolutely no desire to RB any of it. Maybe because I enjoyed that stuff when it when it was new? Now that I'm remembering what its like to use a keyboard like this, I kinda want it to be nice. I surly can't afford a NOS version of any blue Alps boards. I'm on about two months using it daily, moderately. I don't really game anymore. I can tell you that right now, this chick-let notebook keyboard I'm using is horrid when actively thinking about the Multitech...

As the old saying goes, "A purist is someone who won't pee in the shower."

Mine was a choice between using the blue Alps switches somewhere else, or making it presentable. I never took before photos of the case, but it was much worse than yours. I've never tried the RB thing, for the same reason. Far as I know all the blue Alps SKCM switches were unbranded on top, as were some of the early whites. I have a Northgate with the unbranded whites.

[twinrotor]

I've mistaken yours for another, sorry! There was another posted in the same thread I found your pics at. Yours is very clean!

Looks like 8724 on your PCB, which I'm thinking is a week code now. They might have only produced them in small batches anyways, which would put ours a week apart, making a bit of production sense.



Same PCB, different date code on this chip. I think your ROM has the same date code as mine.

Thanks for posting that! I think I might be on the right track with the date codes.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Blue Alps with a logo apparently exists … pretty sure I've seen them somewhere. Possibly different production lines changed the different characteristics at different times and in a different order.

[mike52787]

Blue Alps with a logo apparently exists … pretty sure I've seen them somewhere. Possibly different production lines changed the different characteristics at different times and in a different order.

I believe I have seen them on a packard bell keyboard, They had short switchplates and logos on the top housing.

[twinrotor]

The later blue Alps indeed have logos. From what I've researched, they started the logo tops sometime in 88-90, in the Acer KB-101A...

Here are mine, 1987 or earlier:

[Polecat]

I've mistaken yours for another, sorry! There was another posted in the same thread I found your pics at. Yours is very clean!

Looks like 8724 on your PCB, which I'm thinking is a week code now. They might have only produced them in small batches anyways, which would put ours a week apart, making a bit of production sense.

...edited to remove image...

Same PCB, different date code on this chip. I think your ROM has the same date code as mine.

Thanks for posting that! I think I might be on the right track with the date codes.

The year/week date codes are definitely correct on the chips, and probably also on the PC board. Interesting that the Multitechs used a separate EPROM. By 1988 many or most keyboards had the scan code map in the ROM part of a dedicated controller chip.

What's the serial number on your Multitech? If ours are indeed a week or so apart that would give us a (very approximate) number built in that time period if the last five or six digits of the serial were consecutive unit numbers.

Interesting on there being branded blue Alps switches. I have several blue Alps boards here, all with unbranded upper housings. Two different sizes on the bottom side logo, no blank bottoms so far on the blues. My Multitech also has 3x mold numbers. I'll be making up a list of those to see if there's any correlation to keyboard dates.

[twinrotor]

MK101007759. Also note some passive components are different. Mine has a different film capacitors. If they were making 1-3000 a week, that would make sense. Case codes will tell us if they were made in batches or as needed. I think batches, however that's a whole lot of keyboards if the serial numbers correlate. Interesting!

I have not seen a ROM on any of the early Acers, but they didn't change the PCB much at all.

From my case dates, and the chip numbers, it was born in May. The top and bottom case are a few days apart. I'll post my exact dates when I'm at a real computer

[Polecat]

MK101007759. Also note some passive components are different. Mine has a different film capacitors. If they were making 1-3000 a week, that would make sense. Case codes will tell us if they were made in batches or as needed. I think batches, however that's a whole lot of keyboards if the serial numbers correlate. Interesting!

I have not seen a ROM on any of the early Acers, but they didn't change the PCB much at all.

From my case dates, and the chip numbers, it was born in May. The top and bottom case are a few days apart. I'll post my exact dates when I'm at a real computer

Batches would make more sense. These were sold as part of a system, not separately like some brands, and Multitech (which became Acer) was a big player.

[twinrotor]

Having one of the original computers would be cool. I'm a sucker for old machines as it is, but I've limited myself to specific machines over the years to keep the hoarding to a minimum. I do keep a working 486 on my desk and wouldn't mind at least having the case.

If i had more time, money, space, sanity, ect, I'd like to have all my collection up and running and accessible to the public. As it is, I still have not mounted my teensy into an enclosure and do something about the looks of my Microtech. I'm still on the fence about doing anything. Yellowing doesn't bother me too much. The original cable has a short as well and needs replacing. I might end up going to the shop and doing something about that this afternoon. That gets annoying since I move it around quite a bit throughout the day. I was going to order/make a new coiled cable, but right now I just need stability. Other than that, I love these switches!!!!

I almost bought the black and grey DOLCH key cap set recently sold on massdrop, but even being double-shot, people complained they were thin caps. I'm pretty sure the Microtechs are thicker just by pictures (I believe they are thicker than the Acer caps as well, but have not measured to confirm). Also, its was a 104 set being produced; CTRL and ALT keys are the wrong size. They were also rather cheap at $19.99 at the end of the drop. If I do end up with another set of caps, I will do something with my case. Most likely a paint job to a darker color. My only reservation is preserving the original top logo.

Now that I've turned this into a ramble, it doesn't seem many of these keyboards have survived, compared to other blue Alps equipped keyboards. I guess quite a few have fell to modders as well. I fully support the modding community, but not when the keyboards are still in good shape/usable. But that's coming from a guy who still owns a 5150

[Polecat]

Having one of the original computers would be cool. I'm a sucker for old machines as it is, but I've limited myself to specific machines over the years to keep the hoarding to a minimum. I do keep a working 486 on my desk and wouldn't mind at least having the case.

If i had more time, money, space, sanity, ect, I'd like to have all my collection up and running and accessible to the public. As it is, I still have not mounted my teensy into an enclosure and do something about the looks of my Microtech. I'm still on the fence about doing anything. Yellowing doesn't bother me too much. The original cable has a short as well and needs replacing. I might end up going to the shop and doing something about that this afternoon. That gets annoying since I move it around quite a bit throughout the day. I was going to order/make a new coiled cable, but right now I just need stability. Other than that, I love these switches!!!!

I almost bought the black and grey DOLCH key cap set recently sold on massdrop, but even being double-shot, people complained they were thin caps. I'm pretty sure the Microtechs are thicker just by pictures (I believe they are thicker than the Acer caps as well, but have not measured to confirm). Also, its was a 104 set being produced; CTRL and ALT keys are the wrong size. They were also rather cheap at $19.99 at the end of the drop. If I do end up with another set of caps, I will do something with my case. Most likely a paint job to a darker color. My only reservation is preserving the original top logo.

Now that I've turned this into a ramble, it doesn't seem many of these keyboards have survived, compared to other blue Alps equipped keyboards. I guess quite a few have fell to modders as well. I fully support the modding community, but not when the keyboards are still in good shape/usable. But that's coming from a guy who still owns a 5150

Funny, I'm running a 486 also, to support my ancient 3200 dpi/$5K page scanner (no windows drivers past 3.1).

Most of the Dolch set will work on the Multitech, but not the bottom row. The Dolch spacebar is 6u instead of 7u, and the ctrl and alt are 1.33u instead of 1.5u. Also the caps lock won't work because the stem is off-center on the Multitech. I thought the Dolch caps were thinner, but the digital caliper says otherwise. The Dolch caps measure .034 inch at the lower edge, while the Multitech ds caps measure .032 inch. The Multitech caps are thicker at the top edge, because the inner ds layer covers the whole top surface. A Dell AT101 (not the 101W with windows keys) makes a good cap donor for the Multitech if you don't need ds caps.

[twinrotor]

Thanks for pointing out the other size differences. I just quickly glanced at the pics and could tell for sure what wasn't correct.

The 486 just kinda hangs out and confuses my customers lol I built it a few years ago the way I wanted one when they were new, minus SCSI. All my SCSI drives are dead I used an older PCI IDE RAID controller instead.