My impressions on some vintage keyboards

stratokaster · 11 Nov 2015, 20:31

Muirium wrote: I was nodding along in agreement — mmm, yes, complicated Alps, juicy, subtle, glorious things, hear hear — then I read your earlier post where you don't like salmons as much as whites. And by jove old boy, I don't know where you're coming from now!

Kidding aside, complicated Alps are a complicated world I'm exploring myself as well. You're on the right track. Found yourself some blues yet, old bean? The legend…

I have not managed to find anything with blue Alps yet. So far I have tried blacks, salmons, whites and SMK Montereys. I like Montereys and whites the most, with salmons being second and blacks dead last.

Oh, I have also tried an unlabeled Alps clone, but it was really awful, gritty and sticky.

Muirium · 11 Nov 2015, 20:34

Montereys are nice. Blues are a deeper sounding click, and a bit richer tactility. Montereys have a wonderful crisp snap to them. Blues are a bit meatier… excuse me while I descend into a wine tasting!

seebart · 11 Nov 2015, 20:35

stratokaster wrote:
Muirium wrote: I was nodding along in agreement — mmm, yes, complicated Alps, juicy, subtle, glorious things, hear hear — then I read your earlier post where you don't like salmons as much as whites. And by jove old boy, I don't know where you're coming from now!

Kidding aside, complicated Alps are a complicated world I'm exploring myself as well. You're on the right track. Found yourself some blues yet, old bean? The legend…
I have not managed to find anything with blue Alps yet. So far I have tried blacks, salmons, whites and SMK Montereys. I like Montereys and whites the most, with salmons being second and blacks dead last.

Oh, I have also tried an unlabeled Alps clone, but it was really awful, gritty and sticky.

I see you're advancing fast in your Alps experience. They did produce large numbers of most so finding some is not impossible.

stratokaster · 11 Nov 2015, 20:44

seebart wrote: I see you're advancing fast in your Alps experience. They did produce large numbers of most so finding some is not impossible.

I have discovered that Alps-style keyboards are much more common on the second-hand market than anything else.

I also happen to like Alps better than Cherry MX. I have read somewhere that Cherry MX switches are inherently linear with tactility and "click" added only as afterthoughts — it certainly explains why Alps are so much more satisfying (at least to me)!

Muirium · 11 Nov 2015, 20:48

That might well have been me. I say it because it's true! Mind, it's just as true for Alps too. And space invaders, which I also love. The key is implementation.

IBM switches are inherently clicky. They still have the lead, for me. But there's some strong contenders out there, once you forget all about MX.

Chyros · 11 Nov 2015, 21:11

stratokaster wrote: The layout is French AZERTY; I expected doubleshot keycaps, but sadly they are pad-printed.

Really?! That's VERY unexpected Oo. To my knowledge Focus didn't start phasing out their doubleshotting in favour of pad-printing until well into their x200 series, and the 2002 was cut out as early as the early 90s. Are you sure it has genuine Alps? What connector does it have? Does it list a manufacturing date inside (the little inky paper sticker is NOT one)? Could you put up some pictures? I'm kind of a Focus fanatic so I need to know as much about this board as possible

.

I agree with you on the sound of the Alps; the whole family bar the later version of SKCM Black sounds amazing. And the 2002 looks gorgeous, it' possibly my best-looking board

. Congrats on the nice find!

stratokaster · 11 Nov 2015, 21:29

Chyros wrote:
stratokaster wrote: The layout is French AZERTY; I expected doubleshot keycaps, but sadly they are pad-printed.
Really?! That's VERY unexpected Oo. To my knowledge Focus didn't start phasing out their doubleshotting in favour of pad-printing until well into their x200 series, and the 2002 was cut out as early as the early 90s. Are you sure it has genuine Alps? What connector does it have? Does it list a manufacturing date inside (the little inky paper sticker is NOT one)? Could you put up some pictures? I'm kind of a Focus fanatic so I need to know as much about this board as possible .

I agree with you on the sound of the Alps; the whole family bar the later version of SKCM Black sounds amazing. And the 2002 looks gorgeous, it' possibly my best-looking board . Congrats on the nice find!

I'm pretty sure those are genuine Alps because they are marked so. It's already dark here, I will disassemble the board and make pictures tomorrow (need to clean some switches anyway).

stratokaster · 12 Nov 2015, 08:19

Some photos, as promised.

The keyboard itself looks just like any Focus FK-2002.

: fk2002 - 0.jpg (805.76 KiB) Viewed 3465 times

: fk2002 - 01.jpg (365.12 KiB) Viewed 3465 times

The date stamp inside the case. It was made in November 1991, it seems.

: fk2002 - 1.jpg (763.07 KiB) Viewed 3465 times

DIN-5 connector...

: fk2002 - 2.jpg (897.84 KiB) Viewed 3465 times

Switches are clearly branded as ALPS (and the mounting plate is a bit rusty).

: fk2002 - 3.jpg (926.58 KiB) Viewed 3465 times

The keycaps follow the traditional Focus color scheme, but they are pad-printed.

: fk2002 - 4.jpg (699.24 KiB) Viewed 3465 times

: fk2002 - 5.jpg (726.01 KiB) Viewed 3465 times

Chyros · 12 Nov 2015, 10:47

AT plug, check, no later than early 90s, check, complicated Alps, check, made in Taiwan, check - at least the rest still all follows the normal pattern.

Baffled by the pad printing. Maybe they ran out that week or something. Or it's from the absolute last batch of 2002 before they discontinued it and couldn't be bothered to extend their contract for ISO caps anymore. Fucking weird.

stratokaster · 12 Nov 2015, 11:07

Is it possible that their AZERTY keycaps had always been pad-printed?

Chyros · 12 Nov 2015, 13:19

Quite possible, that. No-one else has reported pad printing on their AZERTY Focus before that I know of, but then again, the vast majority of Focuses came with international legends, not localised ones.

HzFaq · 12 Nov 2015, 13:25

My PT ISO FK2001 is pad printed (apart from the left shift which is doubleshot). It's a fairly late one though so they might have just moved on from doubleshotting then anyway.

seebart · 12 Nov 2015, 13:27

"ESCOM" branded, I had not seen one of those before. The warranty sticker looks like mine. I'll have to check the production dates on both my FK-2002's again. Both are German ISO but no pad printing. My FK-2000 Plus does have pad printing, at least on some keys. Very interesting. Also notice the strikethrough "0" on numpad, not like that on mine!

stratokaster · 12 Nov 2015, 14:32

I thought ESCOM was just another early 90s PC maker, but as it turns out, they were the company who bought Commodore in 1995!

Seebart, yes, the strikethrough "0" looks nice. (Here you can clearly see that the letters are raised because the paint is very thick.)

: DSC_4490.jpg (412.1 KiB) Viewed 3399 times

Chyros · 12 Nov 2015, 15:44

HzFaq wrote: My PT ISO FK2001 is pad printed (apart from the left shift which is doubleshot). It's a fairly late one though so they might have just moved on from doubleshotting then anyway.

Must be a REALLY late one then because Focus were still doubleshotting part of the caps on their very last FK models Oo .

The strikethough 0 appears to be a specific manufacturer. The caps on NTC also have it, and I think I've seen it on some similar doubleshots from another board too. My guess is that company also makes pad printed keys (could this be Tai-Hao?)

HzFaq · 12 Nov 2015, 16:26

I'll get a date off the case when I'm back at home. I assumed it was a late one as it has OA2 switches and winkeys.