deskthority

Recently I was going through my deceased grandfather's items and found what I believe to be a buckling spring Model F but I cannot find an exact match out there. I believe it was used in combination with an editing station as he was a broadcast engineer and has piles of old computers and peripherals. This would explain the completely non-functional plastic insert that shows the F keys (in their now standard positions vs. the usable columns on the left hand side), I imagine whatever program this keyboard was intended to be used with allowed F keys to be set and the user to mark the shortcuts on that replaceable insert.

Image below:



The keyboard also has an X | A selector on the back, which I assume is for XT vs. AT. The F11/F12 keys are above the rest of the F keys instead of top->bottom ascending order like the rest of the F keys as well. There are no brand markings, on the bottom a sticker that includes a serial no., quality certification by F.E. and a one year warranty.

Thanks for your time!

Doesn't look like an IBM to me. Have you tried pulling a cap?

Looks like Alps. I'd bet Northgate or Focus. Definitely not IBM.

Fast moving forum! Awesome and pulled a key, definitely ALPS. My bad guys. I'll look at Focus/Northgate!

Convinced it must be Focus, as Focus Electronics matches the F.E. on the bottom.

The colour of Alps matters. Are the sliders (the bit the cap snaps into) black or white or something more interesting?

Looks just like a badgeless Northgate Omnikey. It appears that Focus made Northgate's old keyboards such as the FK-555; maybe this is a Focus-made forerunner to the Omnikey. Do we even know who actually made the Omnikey?

Yeah, that's definitely a Focus keyboard. It's a very nice find if it has Blue Alps, but I'm betting on White Alps. White Alps aren't bad at all, but they're definitely not as good as Blue Alps.

Yep, looks like a Northgate Omnikey 102. Perhaps it just lost its badge?

No idea who made the Omnikey, but I wouldn't be surprised if Focus had a hand in it, considering so many similarities, including the multiple layouts and the key caps being from the same company, and especially the design similarities between the FK-555 and Omnikey.

I don't think they were simple clones, and if we look at the FCC labels, there's a lot of similarities between Focus' and Omnikey, which isn't something you see much across different keyboards. Just my thoughts.

E3E wrote: Yep, looks like a Northgate Omnikey 102. Perhaps it just lost its badge?

No idea who made the Omnikey, but I wouldn't be surprised if Focus had a hand in it, considering so many similarities, including the multiple layouts and the key caps being from the same company, and especially the design similarities between the FK-555 and Omnikey.

I don't think they were simple clones, and if we look at the FCC labels, there's a lot of similarities between Focus' and Omnikey, which isn't something you see much across different keyboards. Just my thoughts.

Indeed, there is surely a connection. There's way too much evidence for it to be coincidence. It's be terribly ironic if Focus made something as amazingly well-built as the Omnikey considering how mediocre the build quality of their own boards was xD . The Omnikey and Focus boards share so many similarities though.

Doesn't the 102 have a DIP switch hole under the badge rather than a case, though? If it does, my money's on a forerunner .

keycap wrote: Yeah, that's definitely a Focus keyboard. It's a very nice find if it has Blue Alps, but I'm betting on White Alps. White Alps aren't bad at all, but they're definitely not as good as Blue Alps.

If it IS a forerunner of the Omnikey or an early version it almost certainly has blue Alps.