deskthority

I have really wanted to try out some tactile alps switches recently, but since i have been unable to find any (except blacks of course), it makes me wonder, did they even make any EU keyboard with them?
Also, in case they don't, should i try my luck with blacks or are they really as bad as everybody says?

Your best bet are Apple keyboards, although the AEK 1 is rarer in Europe. Alps SKCM feel lousy when heavily used and dirty.

wiki/Apple_Standard_Keyboard

wiki/Apple_Extended_Keyboard

wiki/Alps_SKCL/SKCM_series

There's plenty of EU keyboards with salmon and orange keyboards! Like Seebart said, easily the most forthcoming source is Apple keyboards, but old Wangs (:P) and Alps-made AT101s also have them.

Black don't feel lousy really, but they're generally regarded as the worst compared to other Alps switches. The best thing is that you can either click-mod them or linear-mod them, both of which make them better IMO. I made videos about both if you're interested .

The Dell AT101 is a good cheap source for black Alps SKCM.

wiki/Dell_AT101

The primary reason i wanted this is to find an alternative to my blue alps board (my roomate has been complaining alot recently about The noice) and i dont like cherries, nor do i want linears.

You are saying though, that outside of modding, black is The only way for a PAL board?

Jimi14 wrote: The primary reason i wanted this is to find an alternative to my blue alps board (my roomate has been complaining alot recently about The noice) and i dont like cherries, nor do i want linears.

Yes blue Alps are quite noisy, your roommate has a point.

Jimi14 wrote: You are saying though, that outside of modding, black is The only way for a PAL board?

Errr...no?!? You should be able to find an ISO keyboard with black Alps, not sure if you can get an PAL keyboard.

Yes blue Alps are quite noisy, your roommate has a point. Errr...no?!? You should be able to find an ISO keyboard with black Alps, not sure if you can get an PAL keyboard.

This might be of interest to you, or it may not:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Tastatur-DELL-26 ... SwaB5XjQhE

All of you seeing this funky page view? Houston, we have a (slight) problem. Webwit, go to yellow alert.
It's getting better by the minute:
This is the Alps vortex. Everyone be very careful now.

seebart wrote: All of you seeing this funky page view? Houston, we have a (slight) problem. Webwit, go to yellow alert.

Spoiler:

Unbenannt2.JPG

It's getting better by the minute:

Unbenannt3.JPG

This is the Alps vortex. Everyone be very careful now.

OH NOOOOOOOOO

seebart wrote:

Jimi14 wrote: The primary reason i wanted this is to find an alternative to my blue alps board (my roomate has been complaining alot recently about The noice) and i dont like cherries, nor do i want linears.

Yes blue Alps are quite noisy, your roommate has a point.

Jimi14 wrote: You are saying though, that outside of modding, black is The only way for a PAL board?

Errr...no?!? You should be able to find an ISO keyboard with black Alps, not sure if you can get an PAL keyboard.

pattern_palref.png

Oops, might have gotten my acronyms messed up. What i meant is a keyboard with 102 keys. (which is ISO right?)

Also, yea i can get a black easily, it was the other 3 i was curious about.

I know what you meant Jimi14, this thread of yours is being sucked in the Alps vortex. Don't worry about it that's just a DT internal joke.

This particular page is all over the place! Not getting any better either! Alps vortex indeed...

seebart wrote:

Jimi14 wrote: The primary reason i wanted this is to find an alternative to my blue alps board (my roomate has been complaining alot recently about The noice) and i dont like cherries, nor do i want linears.

Yes blue Alps are quite noisy, your roommate has a point.

Rubbish, the noise is glorious, he has no reason to complain! Punish him for his insolence!

seebart, you might want to move the end quote tag out of the spoiler field. This seems like a common syntax issue in most bboard sites.

Chyros wrote:

seebart wrote:

Jimi14 wrote: The primary reason i wanted this is to find an alternative to my blue alps board (my roomate has been complaining alot recently about The noice) and i dont like cherries, nor do i want linears.

Yes blue Alps are quite noisy, your roommate has a point.

Rubbish, the noise is glorious, he has no reason to complain! Punish him for his insolence!

Blue Alps aren't noisy

When I (attempt) to use it, there's peace and quiet in my house for days.

seebart wrote: All of you seeing this funky page view? Houston, we have a (slight) problem. Webwit, go to yellow alert.

You need to edit the posting before, seebart. Your [quotes] and [spoilers] don't pair.

Or leave it as it is for something different.

It's the old problem of trying to use regular expressions to handle a SGML.

Fixed! Indeed those pesky little tags, thanks for the tip OleVoip & webwit. Of course I now know how to reproduce this.

Damn...such a small mistake fucks up the page! I reproduced it too. The knowledge shall be kept secret (although I guess it's common knowledge among you filthy software guys!)

Jimi14 wrote: The primary reason i wanted this is to find an alternative to my blue alps board (my roomate has been complaining alot recently about The noice) and i dont like cherries, nor do i want linears.

If noise is the issue then Cream Alps might be the best.

Matias does make some keyboards with his Quiet Click switches (Alps Cream clones) in Nordic layout.

If you do get hold of a AEKII, then Hasu has written adapter firmware from ADB to USB as part of his tmk keyboard firmware suite. The vintage Apple keyboards to have locking Caps Lock switches that may need extra config or modding.
You could also transplant the sliders and/or tactile leaves to any other Alps board: Alps can be opened from the top without desoldering. (I have done that into a Dell AT101W)

Besides the AEKII I don't know of any other vintage keyboard with them either than the SGI bigfoot/"Granite" keyboards, but those are rare and especially in ISO and with PS/2 support.

Findecanor wrote:

Jimi14 wrote: The primary reason i wanted this is to find an alternative to my blue alps board (my roomate has been complaining alot recently about The noice) and i dont like cherries, nor do i want linears.

If noise is the issue then Cream Alps might be the best.

Matias does make some keyboards with his Quiet Click switches (Alps Cream clones) in Nordic layout.

If you do get hold of a AEKII, then Hasu has written adapter firmware from ADB to USB as part of his tmk keyboard firmware suite. The vintage Apple keyboards to have locking Caps Lock switches that may need extra config or modding.
You could also transplant the sliders and/or tactile leaves to any other Alps board: Alps can be opened from the top without desoldering. (I have done that into a Dell AT101W)

Besides the AEKII I don't know of any other vintage keyboard with them either than the SGI bigfoot/"Granite" keyboards, but those are rare and especially in ISO and with PS/2 support.

Ok, thanks, think i´m going to try a black alps board after all or maybe try out one of those dampened cream/white ones if i can find one.