Looking at buying a Omnikey Ultra T with whites, but I have no idea if they are simple or complicated switches

[consensual-penis]

does anyone know this for sure?

[Polecat]

Not for sure. If you have the numbers from the bottom label I can tell you approximately when it was built. It's probably a Gen3 Northgate, with dipswitches under the emblem on the upper left corner. Most of those will have complicated white Alps, but very late Gen3 or Gen4 could have simplified Alps instead.

[consensual-penis]

Well I just got the keyboard a few minutes ago, and compared to what it shows on the wiki, It looks like I got the proper complicated switches.

I will say, I didn't expect the iso layout and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

[consensual-penis]

Not for sure. If you have the numbers from the bottom label I can tell you approximately when it was built. It's probably a Gen3 Northgate, with dipswitches under the emblem on the upper left corner. Most of those will have complicated white Alps, but very late Gen3 or Gen4 could have simplified Alps instead.

here is the picture with the numbers, at this point I would just like a general time frame of when it was made.

[Polecat]

Well I just got the keyboard a few minutes ago, and compared to what it shows on the wiki, It looks like I got the proper complicated switches.

I will say, I didn't expect the iso layout and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

I have notes on 38 Ultra-T Northgates, all Gen3 with serial numbers beginning with "4". Yours is at the later end of the series, with only two on my list having higher serial numbers. Those run from 4000042 to 4052004. I would guess 1993 for the year it was made. And it should indeed have complicated white Alps switches.

By ISO do you mean BAE, or is it a European version? I just found a folder of my keyboard notes from the '90s, and in one of the Northgate User Guides they say, "Many international versions of the OmniKey keyboard are available." I've seen the legends on the PC boards where the switches for alternate versions would have been mounted, but I haven't yet seen even a single example of an actual "international" Northgate.

[consensual-penis]

Well I just got the keyboard a few minutes ago, and compared to what it shows on the wiki, It looks like I got the proper complicated switches.

I will say, I didn't expect the iso layout and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

I have notes on 38 Ultra-T Northgates, all Gen3 with serial numbers beginning with "4". Yours is at the later end of the series, with only two on my list having higher serial numbers. Those run from 4000042 to 4052004. I would guess 1993 for the year it was made. And it should indeed have complicated white Alps switches.

By ISO do you mean BAE, or is it a European version? I just found a folder of my keyboard notes from the '90s, and in one of the Northgate User Guides they say, "Many international versions of the OmniKey keyboard are available." I've seen the legends on the PC boards where the switches for alternate versions would have been mounted, but I haven't yet seen even a single example of an actual "international" Northgate.

Probably the BAE one your talking about, I'm used to ansi. So any keyboard with a large enter key, is automatically ISO to me.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of notes do you have on these boards? I would like to learn more about them but I really don't know how to find the information. I wouldn't mind having a few more of these boards, but I don't know what I'm looking for or how to even partially date them to know exactly what I'm looking at.

[Polecat]

Probably the BAE one your talking about, I'm used to ansi. So any keyboard with a large enter key, is automatically ISO to me.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of notes do you have on these boards? I would like to learn more about them but I really don't know how to find the information. I wouldn't mind having a few more of these boards, but I don't know what I'm looking for or how to even partially date them to know exactly what I'm looking at.

I've been using Northgate and other Alps keyboards ever since I saw the ads for the Northgates when they first came out. I worked at a surplus/recycling place at the time and I rescued what I thought were the best of what came through, including 14 or so Northgates of various types. I had no idea there was a keyboard community online until a couple years back, when I found this site while deciding whether to save or part out a Multitech KB-101A. I was amazed by the info and knowledge here, but I was really surprised that there was almost no info on the Northgates, even though they were well respected and represented. Coming from the old school I decided to do something about that, rather than just complaining millennially about it. So I started making a list of notes on every Northgate (and Focus and Monterey and selected other) keyboard I came across, in person or online. I log all the numbers on the labels, plus physical descriptions of the layout, switch type, dates, and anything else of interest. And photos. Anyone here could do exactly the same thing, just look at all the info in the wiki on so many other keyboards. I would share the info there, but I don't have the slightest clue about how to do that. I've tried to read the how to stuff a couple times, but I just got a headache and gave up. I haven't really understood computers since Billy took away my DOS prompt.