deskthority

hellothere wrote: ↑

26 Jun 2021, 20:48

Pet peeve: cut keyboard cables. Why? If you're going for real security, you need to completely chop up the keyboard. Well, I guess I'd rather have the cable cut than have no keyboard at all.

I have cut off a cable myself.
It was too trashed to save, pulled out of the keyboard part-ways and the insulation was falling off in big chunks, looked like someone had thrown it out a window at the dumpster but forgot to unplug it.

Same. My Marquardt Mini had a cable that was crumbling to bits. The outer insulation was decomposing into irritating plastic dust, which left the super cheapo inner cords all strained and snagged. So I yanked it off.

Still need to convert that little board. It's actually quite a nice form factor, and the caps are very pronounced feeling PBT. It's one I pull out every so often and think: "if I were nerdier, I'd convert you to Bluetooth somehow, ya wee bugger!" It's almost as small as my HHKB in two dimensions, but thinner in the third. Quite a compelling wee thing.

Just bought this weird thing - a BTC 5100 (the foam and foil variant, obvs.) with a bizarre layout I've not seen before.
So the only 5100s I've ever seen were ANSI. This has a bigass enter and...well, everything else, like one unit TAB and so on.
Also notably - only 2 lock lights! (but it does have a numpad distributed over the nav cluster. How do you get to those?!)
The FCC is the same on the back as other 5100s.
The little notch on the left on the number row and the squished narrow F keys remind me of SIIG Minitouch, but I doubt it has SMKs or Alps.
(I'll investigate and report more when I get it in...probably a few weeks at least.)

Oh, so you're the one who bought this! I was umming and ahing but in the end didn't pull the trigger. However, I have just updated the wiki to include this variant. It was its unreportedness that intrigued me. Let us know about the switches (though presumably foam and foil.)

Palatino wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2021, 16:16

Oh, so you're the one who bought this! I was umming and ahing but in the end didn't pull the trigger. However, I have just updated the wiki to include this variant. It was its unreportedness that intrigued me. Let us know about the switches (though presumably foam and foil.)

Hah, I was wondering if someone else was eyeing it. I will report back, no worries.

PS Those keys on the right hand side are surely harvested from another board's numpad, because that would explain (a) the weird placing of the digits, (b) the lack of a "5", and (c) the impossibility of accessing them due to the lack of function key.

PPS I hope my wiki amendment is up to scratch - it's my first.

Oh I wonder about the keys - do the profiles not match their rows? (they wouldn't if they were harvested from a numpad, right?) And the font looked BTC-like to me.
We'll see when I get it, of course.

A very good point: the profiles do seem to match their rows - and the font is a match too. And I suppose the placement of the digits could be explained by the tooling already existing to print those combinations, e.g. Page Up and 9. But the lack of a 5 I don’t get. Maybe they didn’t have the tooling for that already as the numpad 5 is usually without a sublegend, but one of the keys on the keyboard other than on the number row does actually output a 5 when pressed in combination with - well, maybe Alt? Looking forward to you finding out the answers.

This bad boy arrived today (Nixdorf TA/22 a.k.a. Cherry G80-0528):






The case is kinda flimsy and thin and as far as I am aware the Switches (vintage Cherry Blacks) are PCB-mounted, but I love the look. Plus, those integrated lock lights are always nice. I always wanted a vintage cherry terminal board and this one delivers imo. Hadn't had a chance to take it apart yet, but the overall condition is nice. I think I'm not even going to exchange the switches. Normally I don't like Cherry MX Black, but these feel great.

Chicony KB-5192, Taiwan white and black shaft Cherry MX clone switches



Sejin SKR-1033, Sejin Futaba-mount dome

Both bought in the hopes that they had Futaba MA switches, both of which disappointed me. I spent three hours dismantling and cleaning the Chicony only to to find that the top panel was warped and it caused the whole board to wobble when reassembled. Ridiculously thin plastic and flexes like nobody's business.

Focus FK-2002 with Blue Alps in pretty decent condition


Honeywell Terminal Keyboard with Hall effect SD:


This was a lucky find as it was really cheap - will need proper restoration, as the switches are very scratchy and the bottom plate is missing.

Hey! I recognise that model!

The case is super flimsy, right? Real strange match for such a solid inner assembly and superb thick caps.

Muirium wrote: ↑

09 Oct 2021, 15:17

Hey! I recognise that model!

The case is super flimsy, right? Real strange match for such a solid inner assembly and superb thick caps.

Yess it is! Luckily tho it's fine and nothing is broken or anything - some keys are really stuck and from what I've heard SDs are a huuuuge pain to clean

Really stuck? Like totally jammed? These boards have a few latching keys in strange places, mind. Can't remember off the top of my head, but I recall a couple maybe up in the function row.

Unknown keyboard

John Doe wrote: ↑

09 Oct 2021, 15:47

Unknown keyboard


DF92BEAF-DE0B-40DA-AA3E-250562D15CC3.jpeg

That thing is b r e a t h t a k i n g

Muirium wrote: ↑

09 Oct 2021, 15:44

Really stuck? Like totally jammed? These boards have a few latching keys in strange places, mind. Can't remember off the top of my head, but I recall a couple maybe up in the function row.

Yep, totally jammed. The latching keys are fine but the three normal ones under the nav cluster don't move at all

Lalaland124 wrote: ↑

09 Oct 2021, 16:35

Muirium wrote: ↑

09 Oct 2021, 15:44

Really stuck? Like totally jammed? These boards have a few latching keys in strange places, mind. Can't remember off the top of my head, but I recall a couple maybe up in the function row.

Yep, totally jammed. The latching keys are fine but the three normal ones under the nav cluster don't move at all

Some SD switches also have these collars (I do not know what their official name was).

Needs a bit of work but I'm excited to cross this one off my list.

John Doe wrote: ↑

09 Oct 2021, 15:47

Unknown keyboard


DF92BEAF-DE0B-40DA-AA3E-250562D15CC3.jpeg

I remember seeing something like this, but without the case on eBay like 2 years ago. I think it is a Fujitsu Handamen with Fujitsu reed switches.

Go-Kart wrote: ↑

10 Oct 2021, 00:43

Needs a bit of work but I'm excited to cross this one off my list.

PXL_20211003_163132593.jpg

Very nice! You got greens or yellows?

Green, I believe.


viewtopic.php?p=224381#p224381

Muirium wrote: ↑

10 Oct 2021, 13:19

Green, I believe.


viewtopic.php?p=224381#p224381

Greens indeed! ...with a stray yellow in there They'll be getting the paraffin treatment after I've finished cleaning them. Hats off to Mr. Anachronism and his live stream yesterday - it didn't take much more than him getting excited at discovering a good water/wax ratio to sell me on the idea.

Going to do a resto thread on this board. It doesn't require too much work but the prettiest girl deserves the attention.

Where’s the yellow? I last pulled the caps for a clean back in 2015, so don’t remember. Can’t recall having replaced any switches myself.

The switch for the spacebar was a heavy cream one on mine. Are you talking about that one?

Well, technically they're all Green. Muir, you kindly included a spare Yellow you had into the deal to replace the damaged switch on the Num Pad. I have got the Green slider though so I may Frankenstein it.

Aha! The creative power of forgetfulness! Yes, I'd keep it green if you can, but experience makes me wary of what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps.

Palatino wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2021, 18:48

A very good point: the profiles do seem to match their rows - and the font is a match too. And I suppose the placement of the digits could be explained by the tooling already existing to print those combinations, e.g. Page Up and 9. But the lack of a 5 I don’t get. Maybe they didn’t have the tooling for that already as the numpad 5 is usually without a sublegend, but one of the keys on the keyboard other than on the number row does actually output a 5 when pressed in combination with - well, maybe Alt? Looking forward to you finding out the answers.

Just got it. The caps are printed and the printing is..ehm, poor. They do seem original with that board. The switches are tactile foam and foil, the tiny top F row is something else with an external linear spring. (very pingy when pressed with some force)
Just now I couldn't get it to work with a Soarer's, we'll see more about the layout and insides later when I open it up.
Overall it's a fun addition to the wiki, but not something I'd use, unfortunately. (because I do like the layout a lot)

Yeah, it's a fun layout. Like my Monterey K110. Which at one point looked like this:


viewtopic.php?p=194579#p194579

If only I still had those adapters. MrInterface asked me to send them to someone else who'd asked for them, and I heard nothing about them ever again. They weren't perfect, but real plastic ones would be fun!

Ew, what have you done to that poor K110, all lumpy and flat like a Vortex Race. It won’t be able to breathe under there! I hope that ‘one point’ didn’t last long!