Ortek MAK-105TB ADB Trackball Keyboard

JP! · 28 Feb 2018, 03:32

I just got this odd-ball Ortek MAK-105TB in the mail today. I was going to disassemble it but I think there is a screw hidden underneath the label on the bottom. I love the feel of new Alps. I just need an ADB to usb converter now. Anyone have an adapter recommendation? Also is anyone here familiar with the adapters from Drakware? https://drakware.com/

: 1.JPG (1.26 MiB) Viewed 2912 times

More Photos:

Spoiler:

mike52787 · 28 Feb 2018, 03:44

Interesting to see that one came with pine switches. I had a few ortek AEK clones in the past and they were all bamboo white.

Daniel Beardsmore · 28 Feb 2018, 09:33

Grr … There's a wiki page for the [wiki]Ortek Mac-105[/wiki], and although this isn't a confirmed model, some PCBs do say "MAC-105". It seems that "MAK-105" is the official model then (which could be a transcription error, or maybe it means "Macintosh Keyboard").

Does the manual give any switch specifications?

Curiously, the keycaps look almost the same as those that many Acer keyboards used, and the printing method may even be the same. I did once find a Wentek (Ortek) keyboard virtually identical to an Acer 6311/6312, and I really should have bought that to see if there was any relationship between Ortek and Acer.

green-squid · 28 Feb 2018, 09:53

Nice find JP morgan. I wish I had a trackball too!

JP! · 28 Feb 2018, 14:41

@Daniel Thanks for that wiki link. I was surprised to see so many variants there but not an Ortek labeled one. The manual only gives some specifications for the trackball.

@green-squid Heh, that's funny. I had a co-worker nickname me that. You can get one just like this one in fact for a reasonable price. Check out a recent post of mine under "great / interesting finds".

green-squid · 28 Feb 2018, 14:47

JP! wrote: ↑@green-squid Heh, that's funny. I had a co-worker nickname me that. You can get one just like this one in fact for a reasonable price. Check out a recent post of mine under "great / interesting finds".

Haha thanks

. As for the Amazon link, I'm not in the US and A, so shipping would be a fortune.

Funny thing, I have a Macintosh Performa that would be compatible with it. But I haven't had the time to set it up (needs a new clock battery)

mike52787 · 28 Feb 2018, 19:06

Daniel Beardsmore wrote: ↑Grr … There's a wiki page for the [wiki]Ortek Mac-105[/wiki], and although this isn't a confirmed model, some PCBs do say "MAC-105". It seems that "MAK-105" is the official model then (which could be a transcription error, or maybe it means "Macintosh Keyboard").

Does the manual give any switch specifications?

Curiously, the keycaps look almost the same as those that many Acer keyboards used, and the printing method may even be the same. I did once find a Wentek (Ortek) keyboard virtually identical to an Acer 6311/6312, and I really should have bought that to see if there was any relationship between Ortek and Acer.

the stem may look the same but I had these in the past and I could swear the acer caps were quite a bit thinner than the ortek ones.

Daniel Beardsmore · 28 Feb 2018, 22:54

mike52787 wrote: ↑the stem may look the same but I had these in the past and I could swear the acer caps were quite a bit thinner than the ortek ones.

The pictures on the wiki don't look so different. However, I took the X keycap (and some other keycap that pinged off into oblivion) off my 6312 T1U/VI/UK from 1994, and yes, a lot thinner — 1 mm.