Life is like an Omnikey 101...
- alh84001
- v.001
- Location: EU-HR-ZG
- Main keyboard: unsaver
- Main mouse: logitech m305 / apple trackpad
- Favorite switch: BS
- DT Pro Member: -
...you never know what you're gonna get.
It may have some PBT keycaps
You will obviously get SKCM whites, but will it have a black plate?
Maybe it will have some SKCM blacks too
But that's a bit black and white. Hopefully it will have some color as well
Orange is nice, but it would be nice if something balanced it a bit
Of course, spacebar should be clicky, and what's more clicky than SKCM Amber
But it may be too heavy for regular keys, so if white is to bland and amber is too heavy, what do we put in for regular keys...
So, really, you never know what you're gonna get
And one pic with all keycaps off except stabilised ones - shifts have greens, numpad keys have whites, backapsace and enter have blues. Those orange switches in the F key positions sound _really_ deep. I simply love them.
Now, in a perfect world, this would be it, and I'd be typing on it right now. (Keen eyes might note that I still have to glue back spacebar dampeners as well). However, of those ~60 blue switches, only about a third is working. They were in horrible condition to start with, but I think I managed to clean them quite well, so they are, if not excellent, still quite nice. Also, most of them had upstroke click, and I went through a lot of combinations of slider/top housing/click leaf when assembling them to get them to be quiet on the upstroke, which was _really_ tedious. On a couple, upstroke click has actually returned, but I don't think it will be unfixable. That's the reason why whites are on the numpad as well. And the fact, that I don't use numpad anyway. I thought they would drown in all the colors around them, but they turned out to be brightest of them all
For now though, I will either try to clean switchplates (hammer and contact leaf especially), try to get some working grey switchplates or get a whole other set of SKCM blues (I have ambers to trade ).
Oh, and I almost forgot
I was thinking of putting orange/green/blue where the blacks are, to keep up with the RGB theme, but right now, I'm missing a green switch. Would be fun to check how Matias red slider would fit in as well.
It may have some PBT keycaps
You will obviously get SKCM whites, but will it have a black plate?
Maybe it will have some SKCM blacks too
But that's a bit black and white. Hopefully it will have some color as well
Orange is nice, but it would be nice if something balanced it a bit
Of course, spacebar should be clicky, and what's more clicky than SKCM Amber
But it may be too heavy for regular keys, so if white is to bland and amber is too heavy, what do we put in for regular keys...
So, really, you never know what you're gonna get
And one pic with all keycaps off except stabilised ones - shifts have greens, numpad keys have whites, backapsace and enter have blues. Those orange switches in the F key positions sound _really_ deep. I simply love them.
Now, in a perfect world, this would be it, and I'd be typing on it right now. (Keen eyes might note that I still have to glue back spacebar dampeners as well). However, of those ~60 blue switches, only about a third is working. They were in horrible condition to start with, but I think I managed to clean them quite well, so they are, if not excellent, still quite nice. Also, most of them had upstroke click, and I went through a lot of combinations of slider/top housing/click leaf when assembling them to get them to be quiet on the upstroke, which was _really_ tedious. On a couple, upstroke click has actually returned, but I don't think it will be unfixable. That's the reason why whites are on the numpad as well. And the fact, that I don't use numpad anyway. I thought they would drown in all the colors around them, but they turned out to be brightest of them all
For now though, I will either try to clean switchplates (hammer and contact leaf especially), try to get some working grey switchplates or get a whole other set of SKCM blues (I have ambers to trade ).
Oh, and I almost forgot
I was thinking of putting orange/green/blue where the blacks are, to keep up with the RGB theme, but right now, I'm missing a green switch. Would be fun to check how Matias red slider would fit in as well.
Last edited by alh84001 on 29 Sep 2016, 22:36, edited 2 times in total.
- fohat
- Elder Messenger
- Location: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- Main keyboard: Model F 122-key terminal
- Main mouse: Microsoft Optical Mouse
- Favorite switch: Model F Buckling Spring
- DT Pro Member: 0158
Sweet!
Before you blame the switches, however, check the PCB. I have wrecked more than 1 PCB from Omnikey 101s and have found them to be particularly fussy and easily damaged.
Before you blame the switches, however, check the PCB. I have wrecked more than 1 PCB from Omnikey 101s and have found them to be particularly fussy and easily damaged.
- alh84001
- v.001
- Location: EU-HR-ZG
- Main keyboard: unsaver
- Main mouse: logitech m305 / apple trackpad
- Favorite switch: BS
- DT Pro Member: -
I did. When I connect any of the switch pins with a piece of wire, they give a code in the hid_listen utility (when connected through Soarer). Also, I tried cleaning a tilde key, which previously wasn't working, but now gives a signal intermittently. So, they can probably be fixed, but it will be pretty time consuming.
Where did you get a stash of 101s so that you managed to wreck more than 1? They're completely dead or just some traces?
Where did you get a stash of 101s so that you managed to wreck more than 1? They're completely dead or just some traces?
- fohat
- Elder Messenger
- Location: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
- Main keyboard: Model F 122-key terminal
- Main mouse: Microsoft Optical Mouse
- Favorite switch: Model F Buckling Spring
- DT Pro Member: 0158
Hardly a "stash"alh84001 wrote: ↑
Where did you get a stash of 101s so that you managed to wreck more than 1?
They're completely dead or just some traces?
Over a period of about 5 years I managed to buy about 5 of them at prices varying from about $45-$85 + shipping.
A couple of months ago I got the nicest one of all, for something under $70 shipped as I recall.
I transplanted blue Alps into one (my "prime specimen"), Matias Quiet Clicks into one (which I sold to Terrapin), I have not touched the new one (into which I plan to install orange parts into the existing white switch bodies - from the top, without de-soldering), and then I messed up the 2 others by damaging pads and traces. They are probably repairable but I have not attempted it (yet).
Seeing the threads with the Omni-Franken-Keys makes me wonder whether someone would buy them, ha ha.
- vivalarevolución
- formerly prdlm2009
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: IBM Beam spring
- Main mouse: Kangaroo
- Favorite switch: beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0097
I especially love the RGB on the lock key lights. What a subtle little features.
- Lynx_Carpathica
- Location: Hungary
- Main keyboard: Apple Keyboard M0118
- Main mouse: ROG Sica
- Favorite switch: SKCM Salmon
- DT Pro Member: -
Real Beauty! It's not a keyboard any more. It's a piece of art!
- Hypersphere
- Location: USA
- Main keyboard: Silenced & Lubed HHKB (Black)
- Main mouse: Logitech G403
- Favorite switch: Topre 45/55g Silenced; Various Alps; IBM Model F
- DT Pro Member: 0038
Quite fun. Thanks for the post. Now for transparent keycaps so that you can continue to appreciate the multicolored switch stems. Of course, you will know they are there anyway.
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
That's the most awesome mix of Alps I have ever seen. Impressive.