New to the hobby, what to look for?

[Zeig]

Hey everyone! new to the hobby, but over the past year i've started collecting beige keyboards to match my sleeper PC and i don't see it stopping anytime soon.

Curious what things to look out for as hidden gems, what to inspect, etc etc... any advice appreciated!

Currently have/refurbishing...

• AFFIRMATIVE Unicomp 1220T

• Cherry MY 1800

• Dell AT101W

• IBM KB-8923 -I'm not a mechanical purist

[Dr.Medic]

Personally, I would look around the local second-hand stores and sites, if you want to get more keyboards for the lowest prices.

[Findecanor]

There are a lot of good vintage keyboards that are not even well-known among collectors.

The Wiki is a great resources for when you find a keyboard on an action site and want to know more.
The label on the back contains things to search for. The FCC ID is especially useful. Some articles about keyboards in the Wiki contain the full FCC IDs. The first three characters in the ID tells the manufacturer.

If the back is sunken in, is curved or if the "plate" in-between the keys is beige plastic, then it is more likely to be a rubber dome/membrane keyboard, and maybe not worth your attention.
Do look for multiple colours on the modifier keys: those are more likely to be double-shot moulded.

[Rayndalf]

Hey everyone! new to the hobby, but over the past year i've started collecting beige keyboards to match my sleeper PC and i don't see it stopping anytime soon.

Curious what things to look out for as hidden gems, what to inspect, etc etc... any advice appreciated!

Currently have/refurbishing...

• AFFIRMATIVE Unicomp 1220T

• Cherry MY 1800

• Dell AT101W

• IBM KB-8923 -I'm not a mechanical purist

If it's an older G81-1800 (doubleshot keycaps) then you can replace the MY module with an MX compatible PCB and have a really cute retro board with NKRO and QMK. Unless your PC doesn't support USB. Not sure how old school your sleeper is.

[ddrfraser1]

Get you a BTC 51 series board ie, packard bell keyboard - Great feeling dome with slider.

[Jan Pospisil]

I'd second that. They can be had for very cheap and beat quite a few "mechanical" keyboards. (I like them a lot better than black Alps, for example. I'm typing this on one right now, btw.)

[hellothere]

I'll third that. BTC 51 series domes are good and inexpensive. Make sure you don't get a 6-pin DIN plug, though.

The Unicomp 122 (Model M) you have / are refurbishing should be fun to play with. Everything cleans up well on these. If you need parts, Unicomp is still around. Heck, I need to order some parts from them. The only thing to look out for is when you open up the case, see how many plastic rivets are left in the metal plate. Lots = good. Few = a bit more work than what you might want.

Oh. Look through the Marketplace on this forum. I've bought four or five keyboards from other members.

[Zeig]

Get you a BTC 51 series board ie, packard bell keyboard - Great feeling dome with slider.

Is there one without the Big Ass Enter key? Not being cheeky, i was told thats what most people call it.. is that true lol?

[ddrfraser1]

Get you a BTC 51 series board ie, packard bell keyboard - Great feeling dome with slider.

Is there one without the Big Ass Enter key? Not being cheeky, i was told thats what most people call it.. is that true lol?

That is true. That's what it's called and no, I don't think there is.

[Jan Pospisil]

Get you a BTC 51 series board ie, packard bell keyboard - Great feeling dome with slider.

Is there one without the Big Ass Enter key? Not being cheeky, i was told thats what most people call it.. is that true lol?

The wiki has many ISO examples, and my 5169 is Czech ANSI, with a small enter.
https://imgur.com/a/P6FYRAA