Silicon Graphics Granite ISO Part number 9500904
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
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nothing new here.Several members here own this keyboard. I have wanted one of these for a long time. Thanks to a fellow DT member I was albe to buy this recently. The overall condition of this SGI is mediocre. As you can see there is yellowing on the case, for some reason in this case more green than yellow? The plate has little rust spots on it, nothing big. Switches are Alps SKCM Cream Damped. There is one slider that has a differrent color! Looks salmon, strange. This is like the deluxe version of the Dell AT 101. The keycaps are real nice. The controller chip reads Philips. I have yet to test the keyboard for function. Notice how ISO layout has the legendary Mµ cap.
http://deskthority.net/wiki/SGI_Bigfoot_series
http://deskthority.net/wiki/SGI_Bigfoot_series
- Muirium
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Main keyboard: HHKB Type-S with Bluetooth by Hasu
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
- Favorite switch: Gotta Try 'Em All
- DT Pro Member: µ
Yeah, he's just teasing me!
Is this PS/2 or SGI protocol? The former is easy to convert, of course, but the latter is a different story. I found the spec, and it isn't even 5 volt like USB, AT, XT and ADB. How does + and - 12 volts sound to you?
Jings!
Is this PS/2 or SGI protocol? The former is easy to convert, of course, but the latter is a different story. I found the spec, and it isn't even 5 volt like USB, AT, XT and ADB. How does + and - 12 volts sound to you?
Jings!
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
Yes you're right that cap is nothing special. Regarding that green on the case I'm not sure either. I've never encountered that before myself.HzFaq wrote: ↑Mµ's cap is standard fare on DE ISO boards I thought...
Candidate for retrobrighting? Not sure if it will un-green the case though.
Of course I had to emphasize the Mµ cap! I do not know what protocol it speaks yet. I'll try it later. I do still have a Dell AT102 in the basement, is that controller usable?Muirium wrote: ↑Yeah, he's just teasing me!
Is this PS/2 or SGI protocol? The former is easy to convert, of course, but the latter is a different story. I found the spec, and it isn't even 5 volt like USB, AT, XT and ADB. Jings!
- Muirium
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Main keyboard: HHKB Type-S with Bluetooth by Hasu
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
- Favorite switch: Gotta Try 'Em All
- DT Pro Member: µ
Looking at the wiki (which is hard to do, this page is crashing my old iPad 1 so much) you've got the traditional "Granite" PS/2 model so you should be fine.
Andy mentioned a Dell controller swap for my SGI protocol model, but I don't know if they're compatible at all. Mine came from Cindy in great shape, not even needing much cleaning, and the only peek I took inside confirmed it's a nice looking PCB in there behind a giant EMI shield. Feels well built. Although the chances of getting around its daft protocol are slim, so I'll probably have to take it out eventually.
But my spacebar and case are unyellowed, so there!
Andy mentioned a Dell controller swap for my SGI protocol model, but I don't know if they're compatible at all. Mine came from Cindy in great shape, not even needing much cleaning, and the only peek I took inside confirmed it's a nice looking PCB in there behind a giant EMI shield. Feels well built. Although the chances of getting around its daft protocol are slim, so I'll probably have to take it out eventually.
But my spacebar and case are unyellowed, so there!
- HzFaq
- Location: Windsor, UK
- Main keyboard: Phantom
- Main mouse: CST L-Trac
- Favorite switch: MX Clears
- DT Pro Member: -
Ah ok, teasing Mu is fine.
If it does run a silly protocol, couldn't you just gut-swap in a Dell AT10*? Or are they just similar enough to look the same but not similar enough to be compatible?
If it does run a silly protocol, couldn't you just gut-swap in a Dell AT10*? Or are they just similar enough to look the same but not similar enough to be compatible?
- chzel
- Location: Athens, Greece
- Main keyboard: Phantom
- Main mouse: Mionix Avior 7000
- Favorite switch: Beamspring, BS, Vintage Blacks.
- DT Pro Member: 0086
While on the subject, can someone explain to me why on earth the Germans need the μ on their layout?seebart wrote: ↑Of course I had to emphasize the Mµ cap!
- chzel
- Location: Athens, Greece
- Main keyboard: Phantom
- Main mouse: Mionix Avior 7000
- Favorite switch: Beamspring, BS, Vintage Blacks.
- DT Pro Member: 0086
I think the insides are the same, if you want I can snap a pic of my AT101W's PCB to compareHzFaq wrote: ↑If it does run a silly protocol, couldn't you just gut-swap in a Dell AT10*? Or are they just similar enough to look the same but not similar enough to be compatible?
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
The connector on mine looks identical to PS/2. I'll try it later. I don't know if a Dell AT102 swap would work, I remember Andrew mentioning something about that recently.
don't bother, I'll take a look at mine. Well the μ cap is for all those german scientists who never figure out anything usable in real life but get paid top cash for their "research" work.
Last edited by seebart on 31 Mar 2015, 17:58, edited 1 time in total.
- jou
- Location: Switzerland
- Main keyboard: Ergodox
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Trackpad
- Favorite switch: Not sure yet
- DT Pro Member: -
When you only need to receive, RS232 can be converted quite easily: http://www.kmitl.ac.th/~kswichit%20/ap275/ap275.htm. I used that to build the converter for the trackball part of my Marquardt HEROS keyboard and it worked fine.Muirium wrote: ↑ I found the spec, and it isn't even 5 volt like USB, AT, XT and ADB. How does + and - 12 volts sound to you?
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
thank you for that link jou!
Thanks scottc, the granite look actually obscures the yellowing a little.
Thanks scottc, the granite look actually obscures the yellowing a little.
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
I did clean it already! That yellowing / green will not come off with just regular cleaning in my opinion. That little rust on the plate is fine. I'll leave it.zts wrote: ↑This should be a beautiful board after some heavy-duty cleaning and spot-detailing ... but it's a beauty.
- 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 what guk said too. This will not be my first retrobright test candidate though!chzel wrote: ↑The greenish tint is most likely the result of yellowing over the original bluish-grey, so I'd think only retr0bright will reverse it!
- Chyros
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: whatever I'm reviewing next :p
- Main mouse: a cheap Logitech
- Favorite switch: Alps SKCM Blue
- DT Pro Member: -
Looks nice, I hope I get a PS/2 one of these someday . About the salmon switch; I'm guessing that's an actual SKCM Salmon switch, right? That's interesting; this board hasn't been reported to come with Salmons. In some Alps boards, the switches are a smattering of switches the board came with over its lifetime, but I guess it's not common to see a switch it never shipped with to begin with Oo .
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
It could have been a replacement switch. But why salmon? Strangeness.
- Chyros
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: whatever I'm reviewing next :p
- Main mouse: a cheap Logitech
- Favorite switch: Alps SKCM Blue
- DT Pro Member: -
You mean someone manually replaced that switch? Should be easy to determine, the soldering will look different in that case. Either that or the slider somehow got lost and someone replaced the slider with a spare Salmon one...seebart wrote: ↑It could have been a replacement switch. But why salmon? Strangeness.
-
- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
- DT Pro Member: 0011
Are there any scratch marks on the salmon switch?
It should be PS/2. The SGI-proprietary protocol keyboards has a different case that is smooth around the function keys and with two ports with detachable cable - like Apple ADB keyboards.
It should be PS/2. The SGI-proprietary protocol keyboards has a different case that is smooth around the function keys and with two ports with detachable cable - like Apple ADB keyboards.
Because it is uncultured and barbaric to use u instead of µ.chzel wrote: ↑While on the subject, can someone explain to me why on earth the Germans need the μ on their layout?
- Mal-2
- Location: Los Angeles, CA
- Main keyboard: Cherry G86-61400
- Main mouse: Generic 6-button "gaming mouse"
- Favorite switch: Probably buckling spring, but love them Blues too
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
Then why don't we all have Å and Δ and π and ħ and «» and — on our keyboards? I had to jump through flaming hoops to get them all (along with ♭♮♯ ¥₤₩£€₠₱₽₹฿)...Findecanor wrote: ↑Because it is uncultured and barbaric to use u instead of µ.
μᵥ
Oh, I also think the greenish tint to the case looks rather cool, even if it's not the original and correct color.
- Halvar
- Location: Baden, DE
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M SSK / Filco MT 2
- Favorite switch: Beam & buckling spring, Monterey, MX Brown
- DT Pro Member: 0051
µ is the only Greek character commonly used with SI units, it's also the only one that has been part of the DOS and Latin-1 8-bit codes and thus available in every font on a German PC before Unicode.
The yellowed case doesn't that look good "in person" compared to the original look. I retrobrighted mine, but the yellow/green is already coming back a bit.
The yellowed case doesn't that look good "in person" compared to the original look. I retrobrighted mine, but the yellow/green is already coming back a bit.
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
This SGI is PS/2 indeed, I'm typing on it now. Interesting how these cream Alps feel slightly different from those in my AEK2.
Yes the µ has been in ISO layout for a long tile IMO. I have no idea why though.
hmm I don't know about that but I'll live with it for now. At least the caps are nice with the exception of the creamy spacebar!
Yes the µ has been in ISO layout for a long tile IMO. I have no idea why though.
It does not look so bad due to the darker base color of the case and the SGI granite "pattern".Halvar wrote: ↑The yellowed case doesn't that look good "in person" compared to the original look. I retrobrighted mine, but the yellow/green is already coming back a bit.
- Chyros
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: whatever I'm reviewing next :p
- Main mouse: a cheap Logitech
- Favorite switch: Alps SKCM Blue
- DT Pro Member: -
Might be a function of the case, or the switches might have been different marks. The black Alps in my AT101 feel and sound completely different from those in my AT101W, for example (both in excellent condition).seebart wrote: ↑This SGI is PS/2 indeed, I'm typing on it now. Interesting how these cream Alps feel slightly different from those in my AEK2.
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
obviously the same switch in different keyboard altogether can feel quite different, but sometimes a comparison is possible and the "feel" is similair.Chyros wrote: ↑Might be a function of the case, or the switches might have been different marks. The black Alps in my AT101 feel and sound completely different from those in my AT101W, for example (both in excellent condition).seebart wrote: ↑This SGI is PS/2 indeed, I'm typing on it now. Interesting how these cream Alps feel slightly different from those in my AEK2.
- Chyros
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: whatever I'm reviewing next :p
- Main mouse: a cheap Logitech
- Favorite switch: Alps SKCM Blue
- DT Pro Member: -
Indeed.seebart wrote: ↑obviously the same switch in different keyboard altogether can feel quite different, but sometimes a comparison is possible and the "feel" is similair.Chyros wrote: ↑Might be a function of the case, or the switches might have been different marks. The black Alps in my AT101 feel and sound completely different from those in my AT101W, for example (both in excellent condition).seebart wrote: ↑This SGI is PS/2 indeed, I'm typing on it now. Interesting how these cream Alps feel slightly different from those in my AEK2.
In case you want to see my comparison video (made it a week ago or so): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6OIXkd5oRg
- seebart
- Offtopicthority Instigator
- Location: Germany
- Main keyboard: Rotation
- Main mouse: Steelseries Sensei
- Favorite switch: IBM capacitive buckling spring
- DT Pro Member: 0061
- Contact:
ahh but the Dell on the right is the older revision with salmon Alps or also back Alps? Overall they're both much louder than the damped cream Alps, which I had forgotten since it's been ages that I used my Dell.
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Dell_AT101
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Dell_AT101