deskthority

Hi all,

I had the good fortune of stumbling upon the biggest collection of older keyboards that I’ve personally seen to date.

Here is a teaser picture. I purchased this entire pile for $550.



I spent 3 hours going through the inventory. I bought about half of what was there. I kept every Cherry MX and Alps, I think there were 8 or 9. After that I kept switch types I didn’t have in my collection. After that I kept solid build quality cases or keycaps that I liked.

I plan on posting info about each one later this week.

I turned down epson Fujitsu peerless, I have enough. There were a bunch of FKB4700. I turned down NMB, don’t particularly like them.

kralcifer wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 19:56 I turned down epson Fujitsu peerless, I have enough. There were a bunch of FKB4700. I turned down NMB, don’t particularly like them.

JP! wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 20:11

kralcifer wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 19:56 I turned down epson Fujitsu peerless, I have enough. There were a bunch of FKB4700. I turned down NMB, don’t particularly like them.

Haha. I posted that so people would tell me why that may have been a mistake. Feel free to tell me why I shouldn’t have passed on them.

kralcifer wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 20:28

JP! wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 20:11

kralcifer wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 19:56 I turned down epson Fujitsu peerless, I have enough. There were a bunch of FKB4700. I turned down NMB, don’t particularly like them.

Haha. I posted that so people would tell me why that may have been a mistake. Feel free to tell me why I shouldn’t have passed on them.

It was actually quite a challenge being faced with so many. It’s just a hobby. I’m not trying to sell stuff. How many do I need? How many can I store? I don’t want any to get melted down but don’t see a way that I can save them all, etc

ntv242 wrote: 10 Aug 2020, 20:31 See some toshiba t1200, potential donator for a custom 65% alps project for sure. Good one man

Thanks! I love waiting to see what people can spot in a pic like that. Like I said, details coming once I get back home later in the week.

Woah! Congratulations! I'd certainly like to see the stuff in more detail.

Some of those old Toshiba laptops have really nice keycaps awesome find!

Well it was time consuming and tedious to document but it was also fun.

TL;DR - Alps SKCM Blue, Omron B3G-S amber, Alps SKCM Orange, Buckling spring, 2 vintage Cherry MX black, 4 sets of double shot alps keycaps, 6 total Alps keyboards, Stackpole, 2 Space Invaders

Here's the Imgur post: https://imgur.com/gallery/ioANdmo

2 Kaypro PCs:

Only took pics from one without box. One is new in box with plastic around the keyboard to pc connector still. The other wasn't in box but but looks unused and only has dust from that side facing up on the storage shelf for past 30 years.

Kaypro 1 PC - SMK vintage linear switches
3 vintage laptops:

Toshiba T1200 laptop - Alps low-profile oval slider switches - double shot keycaps Zenith Supersport laptop - Alps mount round slider - double shot keycaps Tandy 1400 LT laptop - Mitsumi miniature mechanical switches
Vintage Keyboards:

DEC-2000 - Fujitsu Peerless switches Zentec 8392 - Stackpole low profile switches Arche - Hi-TEK Series 725 switches - black two-eye tactile Gateway 2000 - Maxi Switch dome with slider - Cherry MX compat double shot keycaps AST Research KB101 - one with Foam and foil, one with NMB dome with slider switches Epson T026A - Fujitsu Peerless switches HP C1405A - Rubber dome over membrane switches - Red on white keycaps Compaq Enhanced II - Keytronic foam and foil and rubber dome tactile switches Wyse PCE - vintage Cherry MX black switches - double shot keycaps Memorex Telex - Hi-TEK Series 725 switches - black two-eye tactile No Name DEC VT clone - vintage Cherry MX black switches, cool tan case color Dell AT101 Bigfoot - Alps SKCM Black tactile switches Lite-On SK-0002 - Alps SKCM White switches - double shot keycaps AT&T KBD 305 - Buckling spring switches - two piece keycaps Apple AEK M0115 - Alps SKCM Orange switches Nan Tan Computer Co (NTC) KB-6251ER - Omron B3G-S amber gen 2 clicky switches SIIG Suntouch K84 (Chicony) - Alps SKCM Blue switches - double shot keycaps

Pretty sweet haul and a nice variety of switch types. I scored a Kaypro 1 myself along with a couple extra keyboards a couple years ago. I even have a new in box dot matrix printer with it. Pretty cool you have one new in box. Kinda of funny though the model 1 was one of the last ones they made rather than the first.

Nice. I got one of those toshiba laptops for a future build. Great caps.

JP! wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 02:09 Pretty sweet haul and a nice variety of switch types. I scored a Kaypro 1 myself along with a couple extra keyboards a couple years ago. I even have a new in box dot matrix printer with it. Pretty cool you have one new in box. Kinda of funny though the model 1 was one of the last ones they made rather than the first.

Maybe we should donate my NIB kaypro and your NIB dot matrix to a worthy museum?

JP! wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 02:09 Pretty sweet haul and a nice variety of switch types. I scored a Kaypro 1 myself along with a couple extra keyboards a couple years ago. I even have a new in box dot matrix printer with it. Pretty cool you have one new in box. Kinda of funny though the model 1 was one of the last ones they made rather than the first.

Didn't know that about Kaypro 1. I believe the NIB is Kaypro 2.

kralcifer wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 03:08 Maybe we should donate my NIB kaypro and your NIB dot matrix to a worthy museum?

I have mixed feelings about many museums tbh. Museums are an expensive endeavor and many times fail to get started or eventually end up going out of business even in good times. A lot of this commodity / mass produced stuff is better suited to collectors in many cases.

It is quite unfortunate though that many museums are having to shut their doors for good and it is only going to get worse.

See:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2 ... 490482002/

And:
https://rottedbits.blogspot.com/2020/07 ... newsletter

It would be nice if some tech billionaires would step in to fund such endeavors and establish solid organizational and financial structures so such organizations can thrive in perpetuity.

JP! wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 03:53

kralcifer wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 03:08 Maybe we should donate my NIB kaypro and your NIB dot matrix to a worthy museum?

I have mixed feelings about many museums tbh. Museums are an expensive endeavor and many times fail to get started or eventually end up going out of business even in good times. A lot of this commodity / mass produced stuff is better suited to collectors in many cases.

It is quite unfortunate though that many museums are having to shut their doors for good and it is only going to get worse.

See:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2 ... 490482002/

And:
https://rottedbits.blogspot.com/2020/07 ... newsletter

It would be nice if some tech billionaires would step in to fund such endeavors and establish solid organizational and financial structures so such organizations can thrive in perpetuity.

Wow. That's very sad. I guess it's up to us collectors to keep the old stuff alive and in use.

kralcifer wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 03:58 Wow. That's very sad. I guess it's up to us collectors to keep the old stuff alive and in use.

Please protect and maintain these machines for future generations. I assign this responsibility upon thee

So the the AT&T essentially a rebadged Model M?

Coeus wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 15:21 So the the AT&T essentially a rebadged Model M?

That's what it looks like to me. OEM is IBM with AT&T getting an italic font on the keycap shell.

Can't imagine AT&T doing it themselves by copying.

ntv242 wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 08:31 Congrats on the wyse. Thicc dcs keycaps can be hard to come by. I have like 8 so far and only one comes with those thicc caps.

Oh. I didn't realize that the Wyse had different sets. I just looked at a previous Wyse in my collection and the keycaps are super thin. Thank you for pointing that out!

kralcifer wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 19:43

Coeus wrote: 17 Aug 2020, 15:21 So the the AT&T essentially a rebadged Model M?

That's what it looks like to me. OEM is IBM with AT&T getting an italic font on the keycap shell.

Can't imagine AT&T doing it themselves by copying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJjKM3fKYrQ

Chyros' video. Could be that they really are made by AT&T.