deskthority

Went to a liquidation sale of a four story technical museum today, unfortunately it was the second day so much of the best stuff was long gone. Don’t think there was anything keyboard related anyway.

Still, managed to get this Odhner calculator (arithmometer) from 1927-29 for less than $25 (found out they go for >$300 online :-O guess I made a good deal!)

Apologies for the potato pic:

Scarpia wrote: ↑

17 Jan 2021, 17:57

Went to a liquidation sale of a four story technical museum today, unfortunately it was the second day so much of the best stuff was long gone. Don’t think there was anything keyboard related anyway.

Still, managed to get this Odhner calculator (arithmometer) from 1927-29 for less than $25 (found out they go for >$300 online :-O guess I made a good deal!)

Apologies for the potato pic:

748164BB-09B3-4D41-9208-8E28CEE48FF4.jpeg

That's a really nice piece. Old adding machines are really cool, especially when they've been maintained (the old linkages and stuff are hell to work on).

I recently (a few hours ago) found an old typewriter by a local dumpster. Not quite as cool, and needs a little work, but I can't complain for the price.

The thing weighs a ton, with lots of cast iron and lined with felt. My hands were still pretty tired when I took the first pic.

Just ordered these:




Facitman was very kind in providing documentation for them (they are rebrands of Facit machines as far as I can tell) so I have a list of strong possibilities but still don't know for sure what they will have. Regardless of what they have I really like the layout and the look of the caps is very good (though there are even nicer looking ones) so basically no matter what these will be cool.

I'll just link to the wiki. Better pics, although my keyboard is in similarly good shape. Seijin Electron EAT-1010 badged "6000SX by Leading Technology Inc." Futaba MA clicky. Chyros did a couple videos on the switches ("Mmmm. Hmmm. Yummy. It is yummy").

Chyros' typing demo sounds a ton higher pitched than the one I have. It's about as loud and bassy as my Kailh Box Jades. It also almost feels like I have a solenoid in the case.

Keycaps are thick double-shot inverse cross mount, as in the the Wiki. It also has this great font that's possibly bold Helvetica. Slashes through both of the zeros.

So far, it's a pretty nice driver. However the back side (south side) of the spacebar is very high and that's getting a tad painful. It's not like I can go out and just buy another spacebar for this thing, so I'll see if I can adjust my typing to the keyboard.

Bought on a whim. Had been wanting to own a topre board without the price and mx stems and the price sold me.

Ghnnn, I've been holding out on buying that exact one. I do love the idea of the switch, its sound etc. But I really really hate the modern case height with exposed switches at the bottom. (also the silver thing...)

hellothere wrote: ↑

07 Feb 2021, 03:12

So far, it's a pretty nice driver. However the back side (south side) of the spacebar is very high and that's getting a tad painful. It's not like I can go out and just buy another spacebar for this thing, so I'll see if I can adjust my typing to the keyboard.

Is flipping the spacebar an option? I had the same problem with my NMB and doing that made a huge difference.

Well, if you flip it, you will be *judged*. So bear that in mind!

Jan Pospisil wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2021, 08:49

Ghnnn, I've been holding out on buying that exact one. I do love the idea of the switch, its sound etc. But I really really hate the modern case height with exposed switches at the bottom. (also the silver thing...)

At that price, very tasty indeed! Costs a good bit more over here, and then there's getting held up at imports…

I've never actually tried a Topre clone myself. But from the NovaTouch experience, I can tell you the feel can get messed up really easily by design details. CM and Topre teamed up on that board, and it just wasn't right. The cloners better know what they're doing!

But, again, that price is worth a peek.

I bought a ‘Nopre’ board a few years back and used it as my daily driver for a long time — a nice cherry-compatible TKL branded as Royal Kludge RC930-87.

I don’t know about any of the other Topre clones, but this one was pretty great, especially since I could dress it up with nice keycaps like Dolch DSAs:

xxhellfirexx wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2021, 09:47

hellothere wrote: ↑

07 Feb 2021, 03:12

So far, it's a pretty nice driver. However the back side (south side) of the spacebar is very high and that's getting a tad painful. It's not like I can go out and just buy another spacebar for this thing, so I'll see if I can adjust my typing to the keyboard.

Is flipping the spacebar an option? I had the same problem with my NMB and doing that made a huge difference.

B...But I'll be judged!

The most accurate answer is "I don't know." I took it out of service because I finished up a AEK II that I installed orange Alps in and wanted to make sure all the keys were working right. I do remember that the last several keyboards I worked on had a pillar to the left (west) of the switch, so you couldn't flip the spacebar. I don't know why companies don't/didn't standardize on just rounded edges. That sounds like it'd be an easy solution. Well, screws for the case would be logical, too ...

Muirium wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2021, 10:04

Well, if you flip it, you will be *judged*. So bear that in mind!

Jan Pospisil wrote: ↑

22 Feb 2021, 08:49

Ghnnn, I've been holding out on buying that exact one. I do love the idea of the switch, its sound etc. But I really really hate the modern case height with exposed switches at the bottom. (also the silver thing...)

At that price, very tasty indeed! Costs a good bit more over here, and then there's getting held up at imports…

I've never actually tried a Topre clone myself. But from the NovaTouch experience, I can tell you the feel can get messed up really easily by design details. CM and Topre teamed up on that board, and it just wasn't right. The cloners better know what they're doing!

But, again, that price is worth a peek.

Chyros actually did a review of the tkl version of this board 10 months ago, though i think it was the v1. He spoke of it favorably when compared to realforce boards. I'll get the board tonight. Excited to test it out. My only other topre exp was on a type heaven 4 years ago.

I like to think I coined the term "Nopre". I thought I came up with it independently but maybe I heard it from someone else. I was using this term in 2016.

The key was to do a 55g Korean dome swap, and try to find a board with the revision two polycarbonate (crystal clear) sliders. They were much smoother. My nicest "Nopre" boards are on the level with a Realforce RGB.

In fact I brought my nicest board to HaaTa himself and we got a force curve on it.

https://chart-studio.plotly.com/~haata/573

hellothere wrote: ↑

07 Feb 2021, 03:12

<I just bought a> Seijin Electron EAT-1010 badged "6000SX by Leading Technology Inc." Futaba MA clicky. Chyros did a couple videos on the switches ("Mmmm. Hmmm. Yummy. It is yummy").

<snip>

However the back side (south side) of the spacebar is very high and that's getting a tad painful. It's not like I can go out and just buy another spacebar for this thing, so I'll see if I can adjust my typing to the keyboard.

So, I bought another Seijin with Futaba MA switches. Here's the pic after retr0brighting the white keys ... I do need to wait for more cream developer to come in so I can also do the grey keys, as they're very slightly yellow. One to two week wait.

The mounting plate was just mildly dusty and compressed air fixed that problem. It's like someone used this thing for a week in 1990 then put it on a shelf.

The spacebar on this one is even more sloped. I first rotated the spacebar 180 degrees to see if that helped (it's an odd stabilizer mount, but you can flip it easily). Nope. Now it just feels weird, man. I tried rotating the original spacebar. Not any better. *Deep sigh.* I really want to like this keyboard because the typing feel is fantastic.

Cherry black, very huge,

and yellowed..

A Micro Switch avionics keyboard

John Doe wrote: ↑

20 Apr 2021, 15:53

Cherry black, very huge,

and yellowed..


04BEABA7-72DF-4763-A6CC-2D32073CAB0D.jpeg

Oh god, so many buttons don't even fit on my screen!

John Doe wrote: ↑

20 Apr 2021, 15:53

Cherry black, very huge,

and yellowed..


04BEABA7-72DF-4763-A6CC-2D32073CAB0D.jpeg

Glad to see another.
If for any reason you need a replacement keyboard assembly let me know. Mine uses a lan cable style connector but supposedly uses USB.

Just got a Cherry NCR G80-0528HAD for the equivalent of 10Eur.

It is yellowed, most of the keycaps are shiny, clearly has been smoked around (it actually has a light smell), but it is unexpectedly clean (not really that much dirt or dust in it).

Blue Alps on a vintage NEC portable?

This may be the most boring-looking keyboard I have bought of late. Not even vintage either. I needed a quiet, full size for work that won't induce any fatigue over a normal working day.

Enter the RF R2 PFU Edition. I would have preferred the white version but for the price I got it for new, particularly with it ticking all the other boxes, I cannot complain.

Ninja-grey Topres aren't really my style, either, but I bet that one types right satisfying and heavenly-like. It's not a shower, it's the kind of keyboard you just somehow always seem to actually use.

JP! wrote: ↑

05 May 2021, 21:51

Spectacular board, JP! Reminds me of something… Got any plans to *use* it? A little more challenging than just plugging it in, unless you've a Honeywell terminal lying around.

Muirium wrote: ↑

08 May 2021, 15:13

Ninja-grey Topres aren't really my style, either, but I bet that one types right satisfying and heavenly-like. It's not a shower, it's the kind of keyboard you just somehow always seem to actually use.

I've been using it for about an hour and it's brilliant. Although, I must admit, I've already thought, "Maybe I should take Mu up on one of those cap sets..."

JP! wrote: ↑

05 May 2021, 21:51

Spectacular board, JP! Reminds me of something… Got any plans to *use* it? A little more challenging than just plugging it in, unless you've a Honeywell terminal lying around.
[/quote]

Thanks for sharing that link. Always a good read. What you can't see from these pictures is the bottom of the PCB. This example is further modified with an additional EPROM so I'm not even sure it would work with a Honeywell terminal if I had one. I will propabably interface with the primary controller on the PCB or replace it.

So… it works now? With the original circuitry intact?

I remember talking to Haata about converting mine but he said it'd need to be destructive. The controller is really bad: not even true 2KRO, depending on the keys if I recall.

Industrial gray Monterey K104. Long story, but I had been looking for one of these for thirty years after owning a badly and unevenly yellowed one in the early '90s. Big thanks to the generous person here who spotted this one and let me have first shot at it. It's very dirty inside and out, but no yellowing, and the (early white Alps SKCM) switches still feel decent. Doubleshot light/dark gray caps, with no shine and no yellowing. I went over my usual $50 limit to get this one, but no regrets, I can't wait to start restoring it.

Nice colourway. A board like that would have caught my eye 30 years ago, too. (And maybe got me into keyboards earlier… and cheaper… note to self: still waiting on that time machine.)

Good luck with the restoration!