NMB/Hi-Tek ANSI Space Invaders

Engicoder · 06 Apr 2016, 17:27

Finally found myself an ANSI Space Invaders board.

andrewjoy · 06 Apr 2016, 17:32

That is very sexy

Apart from your stepped caps and the bottom row having a space between control and alt that is almost identical to my ADDS terminal board. It even has the heavy yellow space bar switch and the same stabilisers . Let me guess its linear right ?

Engicoder · 06 Apr 2016, 17:46

Yes, linear whites, which seem to be common in OEM boards, especially terminal boards, but somewhat unusual for 4th generation NMB/Hi-Tek boards. This one has mold dates of mid 1991.

seebart · 06 Apr 2016, 17:53

Hmm very nice Engicoder! Aside from the layout there was a reason I jumped on Chyros offer when I bought the Taran from him:

: IMG_20160207_165744.jpg (931.98 KiB) Viewed 5607 times

andrewjoy · 06 Apr 2016, 17:58

Thats quite new , mine is late 80s early 90s its hard to tell .

How do they feel ? Mine are silky smooth but one or 2 are dirty and need a clean.

And i need to fix the converter i broke too ( USB port snapped off.)

Nice one on yours too seebart but its no ansi !

You know you want one

Chyros · 06 Apr 2016, 18:01

I wasn't aware they made the original RT-101 in ANSI format Oo . That's quite an impressive find!

Engicoder · 06 Apr 2016, 18:01

Seebart, that is a very nice board. The 102 key is very uncommon as well, probably impossible to find here in the US. I hope to find one someday.

seebart · 06 Apr 2016, 18:02

Chyros wrote: I wasn't aware they made the original RT-101 in ANSI format Oo . That's quite an impressive find!

Right, even more rare than the Taran. Of course it's not ANSI Andrew, but with NMB I gotta be content with what I can get.

Engicoder · 06 Apr 2016, 18:08

Chyros wrote: I wasn't aware they made the original RT-101 in ANSI format Oo . That's quite an impressive find!

I think the RT-101 model keycaps are the best looking made by NMB. They were used on the 3rd gen and some 4th gen keyboards. The green alt and brown sublegends on the numpad are nice. The stepped edges on the mods are not popular with everyone, but I am fond of them as they are unique to NMB/Hi-Tek boards.

Engicoder · 06 Apr 2016, 18:12

andrewjoy wrote: Thats quite new , mine is late 80s early 90s its hard to tell .

How do they feel ? Mine are silky smooth but one or 2 are dirty and need a clean.

And i need to fix the converter i broke too ( USB port snapped off.)

Nice one on yours too seebart but its no ansi !

You know you want one

You need to post a picture of yours all cleaned up!!

seebart · 06 Apr 2016, 18:15

I think that's XMIT's picture actually but I'm not sure.

andrewjoy · 06 Apr 2016, 18:39

Its from the sale listing . I will post a pic at some point.

Chyros · 06 Apr 2016, 18:56

seebart wrote:
Chyros wrote: I wasn't aware they made the original RT-101 in ANSI format Oo . That's quite an impressive find!
Right, even more rare than the Taran. Of course it's not ANSI Andrew, but with NMB I gotta be content with what I can get.

I think I've seen way fewer ISO space invaders boards than ANSI ones tbh, but never a 3rd-gen one...

Touch_It · 06 Apr 2016, 19:42

Close to my holy grail space invader board. Ideally I'd want ANSI with normal enter, windows keys and a split spacebar. I'm relatively sure that doesn't exist. But I can dream....Or make one.$$$

Chyros · 06 Apr 2016, 19:58

Touch_It wrote: Close to my holy grail space invader board. Ideally I'd want ANSI with normal enter, windows keys and a split spacebar. I'm relatively sure that doesn't exist. But I can dream....Or make one.$$$

I think it already become impossible at "windows keys" xD .

seebart · 06 Apr 2016, 20:04

Engicoder wrote: Windows keys!!

I have one of these dated 1997.I think they were available until around 1998.

I stand corrected!

Engicoder · 06 Apr 2016, 21:16

Windows keys!!

I have one of these dated 1997.I think they were available until around 1998.

andrewjoy · 07 Apr 2016, 10:44

Oh if that was ansi you would get all them split spacebar fanboys very excited!

Chyros · 07 Apr 2016, 11:19

Oh yeah, I think you showed that one before actually, I forgot. That's definitely bound to wet someone's pants xD .

cookie · 07 Apr 2016, 16:00

Space invaders are on my list of boards I'd like to try one day.

Chyros · 07 Apr 2016, 16:27

cookie wrote: Space invaders are on my list of boards I'd like to try one day.

They tend to be very heavy, although lighter variations have also been reported. Clicky space invaders are pretty fun, and the linear ones are quite competitive as well. The tactile ones tend to get mixed reviews.

seebart · 07 Apr 2016, 16:57

cookie wrote: Space invaders are on my list of boards I'd like to try one day.

You most definitely should! Worth searching for.

andrewjoy · 07 Apr 2016, 17:12

Chyros wrote:
cookie wrote: Space invaders are on my list of boards I'd like to try one day.
They tend to be very heavy, although lighter variations have also been reported. Clicky space invaders are pretty fun, and the linear ones are quite competitive as well. The tactile ones tend to get mixed reviews.

THey are heavy , but if you don't jam on them to bottom out they are not that heavy at all in my opinion.

cookie · 07 Apr 2016, 17:39

Ohh I thought they were very light, I am more into light switches but if I see a good opportunity to grab a keyboard with space invaders, I surely will.

seebart · 07 Apr 2016, 17:47

I don't find them very "heavy", but that's relative right? If you do grab one cookie and then don't like it I will take it off your hands.

Chyros · 07 Apr 2016, 17:51

andrewjoy wrote:
Chyros wrote:
cookie wrote: Space invaders are on my list of boards I'd like to try one day.
They tend to be very heavy, although lighter variations have also been reported. Clicky space invaders are pretty fun, and the linear ones are quite competitive as well. The tactile ones tend to get mixed reviews.
THey are heavy , but if you don't jam on them to bottom out they are not that heavy at all in my opinion.

I measured the click to occur at 80 gf in my clicky boards, but I bottom out on almost everything so my perception is a bit skewed in that regard I guess xD . I should really be using bottoming-out forces to relate everything for myself, but that's harder to measure, and not as much data is available on it, sadly.

jacobolus · 07 Apr 2016, 20:01

The clicky space invader switches I have in a split-spacebar board are pretty light, a bit stiffer than MX blue but not too much stiffer.

I also have some uncomfortably heavy tactile switches, which I’m not a fan of; the way they were made tactile is roughly the same strategy Cherry used for MX, and it generally sucks in my opinion.

The linear switches I’ve tried are not quite as stiff as black MX, but stiffer than green Alps. Still pretty nice to type on though, very smooth and stable.

Touch_It · 17 Apr 2016, 23:45

My board has black click switches. Feels awesome but is fatiging and heavy. More so imo than my Model M boards. Also the spacebar fits into my thumbs.

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jacobolus · 18 Apr 2016, 01:34

Just noticed the ANSI discussion up-thread.

I got this Televideo terminal ANSI/IBM-101-layout board a year and a half ago, which I someday intend to take the keycaps from to put on a smaller-format custom keyboard:

Fohat got the other one from the same seller, and I think he was interested in converting it as-is, but it’s not clear what the protocol is, some terminal thing going through some 6P6C-type connector

fohat · 18 Apr 2016, 01:50

jacobolus wrote:
Fohat got the other one from the same seller, and I think he was interested in converting it as-is, but it’s not clear what the protocol is, some terminal thing going through some 6P6C-type connector

Yep, it's still sitting on the shelf waiting to be awakened. It will be great when and if I ever do.

I keep pinging these types of threads hoping that someone will crack the code ....