deskthority

There is an interesting keyboard posted on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... Track=true

It is a Telex205232-002 952455-002. Does anyone here know what type of switches this uses and if it would require a different controller to function with a modern computer?

5 pin DIN, so hopefully XT or AT:

AT is the same protocol as PS/2, so a simple adapter does the trick. XT is not so easy. But both of them are fully supported by Soarer's Convter, of course!

As for the switches, interesting:

Nothing I recognise. Could be pretty cool.

Might it be a Hall effect switch by any chance?

Smells like rubber dome.

Yeah, doesn't look like the Hall Effect switches I've seen…

It looks familiar, like something I tossed out. Maybe not. Closest I could find was this Compaq rubber dome:



Oh wait, here we go:





http://webwit.nl/input/ergonomic/ergologic/

Oh wow, open the hatch!

This is one of the first ergonomic keyboards of the nineties. NIB. Unfortunately rubber dome.

Those are not even listed under [wiki]Switch recognition[/wiki]!

[wiki]Key Tronic foam and foil[/wiki]

I thought everyone knew those …

(Not the Compaq though, though Key Tronic did make foam and foil keyboards for Compaq in the past.)

I stand corrected. Mostly I remember it feels like shit.

Foam and foil: feels as bad as it sounds? Or were there ever good ones?

I've surely heard of it, and probably even played with a few, but failed the ID test. Bugger…

Muirium wrote:Foam and foil: feels as bad as it sounds? Or were there ever good ones?

I've surely heard of it, and probably even played with a few, but failed the ID test. Bugger…

When they were new they might have been decent for a while. All the Keytonic foam and foils I tried have always been awful. Sandy's legendary quote "typing on wet newspaper" is pretty fitting to describe them. The problem is that the foam does not age well at all. So when you have an already mediocre system and add 30 years of the foam rotting away to it... yeah.

Time can be cruel. Speaking of foam: did Model Fs feel different when new, or younger at any rate? My Kishsaver's foam is so flaky I daren't pull apart the plates to replace a bent spring.

Muirium wrote:Time can be cruel. Speaking of foam: did Model Fs feel different when new, or younger at any rate? My Kishsaver's foam is so flaky I daren't pull apart the plates to replace a bent spring.

If only people had had the foresight to store their keyboards under dry Argon, these things wouldn't happen!

webwit wrote:It looks familiar, like something I tossed out. Maybe not. Closest I could find was this Compaq rubber dome:

What model is that?

Clearly we have a point of confusion where someone might mistake that for being foam and foil. Not that I imagine it would be for the worse, but still.

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:Those are not even listed under [wiki]Switch recognition[/wiki]!

[wiki]Key Tronic foam and foil[/wiki]

I thought everyone knew those …

(Not the Compaq though, though Key Tronic did make foam and foil keyboards for Compaq in the past.)

You have to be careful with these. Alphameric used the same keycap mount (or slider) for their keyboards, but they are entirely different underneath.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111309448784

dorkvader wrote:You have to be careful with these. Alphameric used the same keycap mount (or slider) for their keyboards, but they are entirely different underneath.

Interesting... Added to the Wiki.

dorkvader wrote:

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:Those are not even listed under [wiki]Switch recognition[/wiki]!

[wiki]Key Tronic foam and foil[/wiki]

I thought everyone knew those …

(Not the Compaq though, though Key Tronic did make foam and foil keyboards for Compaq in the past.)

You have to be careful with these. Alphameric used the same keycap mount (or slider) for their keyboards, but they are entirely different underneath.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111309448784

Key Tronic foam and foil is a "semi-discrete" switch. That Alphameric board has a moulded slider guide plate, just like that Compaq. That's a good starting point.

Still, that's what [wiki]Switch recognition[/wiki] is for, once enough switches get added to it! Obviously I can't add Alphameric right now.

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:

webwit wrote:It looks familiar, like something I tossed out. Maybe not. Closest I could find was this Compaq rubber dome:

What model is that?

Clearly we have a point of confusion where someone might mistake that for being foam and foil. Not that I imagine it would be for the worse, but still.

One of the Compaq Enhanced III variants.

Btw, my Racal-Norsk KPS-10 Lisp Prototype Keyboard also has the Key Tronic foam and foil switches, or something similar (there are some visual differences). Info about this keyboard here:
http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/photo/1525710
Pictures here:
http://webwit.nl/input/kps/

webwit wrote: One of the Compaq Enhanced III variants.

Btw, my Racal-Norsk KPS-10 Lisp Prototype Keyboard also has the Key Tronic foam and foil switches, or something similar (there are some visual differences).

I was hoping for something a little less vague.

Still, I did find this:

http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8 ... t3862.html

Lots of very detailed disassembly shots. That keyboard has since been added to the wiki, but with exterior shots only.

As for the visual differences in the Racal-Norsk, there were lots of design changes to those foam and foil switches.