deskthority

http://www.twindata.com/cli/clikeyboard.htm

Looks like a rebranded Unicomp. If so, why does Unicomp not sell black keycaps with legends to the general public (because the legends don't hold up?), but they are selling them to CLI?

Anyone here own this keyboard? Is it Soarer-ready?

The curved backplane is a good sign. There's only so much you can tell from a picture, of course, but it really does look like a modern black version of my 122 key terminal M, which has buckling springs, an RJ45 jack and works via Soarer.

Anyone know more about the terminals this keyboard is listed as compatible with?

If you look at the legends (check left shift for example), you can see that they are not Unicomp style. Chances are that the keycaps are sourced elsewhere or at least printed elsewhere.

Here's a nice big version of the picture that really shows this:



Whoever's making this thing might also want to consider a black SSK!

It's Unicomp OEM.

I don't think it is Unicomp. On a Model M, a vertical return Key should be a rectangle with a step, not with the entire touch-surface an upside-down L. Also, the keycaps don't look quite high enough, although that might just be image scaling.
There should also be a rectangle in the case to the left of the function keys.
LED windows are wrong.

It's the Affirmative line:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110212071 ... 5250k.html
Then search for "Affirmative Computer Products" and "unicomp":
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sou ... roducts%22
Also check out the images. Shows buckling springs and Unicomp labels.
Affirmative itself also sells the boards:
http://www.affirmative.net/

The only thing I'm missing in the board above, is the rectangle in the case at the top left, where the Lexmark logo used to go.

Maybe, it is an earlier model.

It could be they couldn't afford a-class anymore and ordered an OEM to take the design and make one of those cheap Cherry knockoffs!

So, not a Model M?


OT: Unicomp seems to have APL key caps in stock again: http://pckeyboard.com/page/Buttons/USAPLSET

Good good. Now you can pick up your APL bot programming again and finally ditch perl.

Check out this order page: http://www.twindata.com/shopping/Index.htm. Many of those are clearly Unicomps with gray keys (a color scheme I never cared for). This one, however, is clearly different and is claimed to be made by CLI. Is a sexy (if huge) buckling spring keyboard too much to hope for?

webwit wrote:Good good. Now you can pick up your APL bot programming again and finally ditch perl.

I will write a code line which generates Perl scripts automatically, according to certain parameters set.


Once written, it never needs to be touched again. An ideal application of APL.

Hmm, I always thought I would go with an Endurapro for the compactness and the pointing stick, but this 122-key layout is kind of exotic and cool. How programmable are all those extra keys?

If it works on Soarer's Converter like my IBM version: they all show up fine and can be programmed like every other key. But that assumption needs tested.

One limit from the ancestor to bear in mind is poor rollover. My 122 key is 2KRO, the worst of all my Model Ms, which is ironic given its wealth of keys!

2KRO meaning the most simultaneously held keys it always reliably register equals 2. It can often pick up 3 and maybe a few 4s, if I remember, depending on how well spread they are around the board. But KRO = the worst number you can be sure of. I hit the 2 key limit quite a bit because the matrix is poorly designed for chorded bottom row mods.

Same thing turned up at Geekhack — the one pictured above has been found to be a Taiwan-made dome keyboard:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=57727.0

This CLI 122-Keyboard is NOT manufactured by Unicomp. It is manufactured by Maple in Taiwan and is a rubber dome keyboard. It is modeled after a Unicomp for it's appearance.
It will only work with Terminals via PS/2.
It works with CLI Thin Client Terminals, CLI Twinax Terminals and Affirmative Thin Client Terminals.
It will NOT work properly with a USB adapter on PCs. It has unique scan codes for the upper command keys (F13 to F24) and a few other keys that the USB interface does not recognize.

I wish this board was buckling springs for those keycaps! I'd love to see Unicomp make a set like that.

Dat blue on black. Looks sharp as "heck"

PS I totally agree with you Xonar.

I wish Unicomp could do dyesub white legends...

Dye-sub legends can only go darker than the plastic that they're applied to.

Double-shot (not practical for Unicomp), lasering (for whatever reason, Unicomp doesn't want to go that way), and pad printing (Unicomp doesn't seem to have a good process, and they stopped doing it when they saw the terrible legend durability) are the three ways to go.

You could dyesub the whole keycap apart from the letterin though.

Ye$, ¥ou can d€finite£y do that:



http://keycapdiy.blogspot.de/2014/12/te ... mario.html

Go right ahead!

Muirium wrote: Here's a nice big version of the picture that really shows this:



Whoever's making this thing might also want to consider a black SSK!

This keyboard is NOT a Unicomp Keyboard. It was offered by CLI and manufactured by Maple in Taiwan. It is a rubber dome keyboard and not a buckling spring keyboard.

It is compatible with an Affirmative 1225T keyboard which IS OEM manufactured by Unicomp.

Also it should be Soarer capable. I tried but do not know how to do the programming.