Today I'd like to do something that I've never done before, which is to share some pictures and comments about two keyboards that I've recently bought and that have arrived today. If anyone has an idea on how I could convert these, please share it
Fujitsu N860-8002-T06501A
The first one is a keyboard manufactured by Fujitsu for Fanuc, which is a company specialising in automation. It has some light scratches on a few keycaps, but otherwise it seems to be NOS. It comes with fujitsu magnetic reed switches in three varieties: linear, tactile and latching. The numpad has linear switches, F0-F7 are latching (weird, I know) and everything else is tactile. The linears are very light, smooth as can be and have absolutely no binding whatsoever. The tactiles are smooth and non-binding as well and have a tactility that's comparable to undamped cream alps or ultra light BKE redux domes, which I both really like. I haven't seen any latching fujitsu mag. reeds before, so if someone is interested I could desolder one and make some more pictures. Most keycaps are the lovely thick double-shots that these switches usually come with and some are infilled (but still double-shot inside).
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I got the second one because DT user Slom posted them in the Great/Interesting Finds thread, thanks again! It's really dirty and needs a clean, thankfully the switches are really, really easy to open, no soldering required. It comes with Micro Switch SW hall effect switches and lovely blue keycaps. These keycaps and the Fujitsus are definitely among the best keycaps ever made. The PCB itself is a piece of art too, the traces were definitely made manually. Most ICs start with 69, so I guess this keyboard should be from 1969/1970, which makes it by far the oldest keyboard that I've ever come across. The switches themselves are a bit heavy for my taste (has anyone ever tried a spring swap with these) and way less smooth than the Fujitsu mag. reeds (but it's kind of an unfair comparison since I haven't cleaned it yet).
Also for anyone wondering what's going on with the numpad, it has some kind of foam and foil sliders, but no PCB or anything and they have a different mount (which would be MX compatible, if the stems wouldn't be so deep inside the keycap).
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