deskthority

Where did the name "Peerless" come from?

Everyone just takes this name as fact, yet thus far, I've seen no mention of this name in any official context. Does anyone have any references for Fujitsu themselves using this name to refer to their spring-over-dome-over-membrane switch system?

All that's written on the wiki (under [wiki]Fujitsu Leaf Spring[/wiki]) is:

"It is believed that production of keyboards with these switches stopped in the late 1990s or perhaps early 2000s. Fujitsu later pushed its Peerless switch."

That seems odd, as my FKB4700 is from the early 90s, and I've never seen any evidence of Peerless being used around the turn of the millennium — I thought Peerless was mid 90s at the latest.

I don't know where this information came from, so I cannot verify it for myself.

For what it's worth, on their US site at least, versions of the FKB4726 was still offered in August 2008:
https://web.archive.org/web/20081015232 ... keyboards/
But by October 2009 all versions were discontinued:
https://web.archive.org/web/20091106125 ... /keyboards
(Fujitsu US's keyboard page today:
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/edev ... keyboards/ )

The datasheet for these final variants, marked as Discontinued, has a last revision date of 20th August 2009.

I have seen its package uses that word(in English).
(The word "Peerless" is not familliar(or rarely used) in Japan, and I think most of people don't know this word including myself.)

Later, I'll search and post a pic.

EDIT: this page has a pic of the package.
http://online.plathome.co.jp/item/detai ... KB4725-651

OK, so the name is confirmed, but we don't know what it means yet.

We now know that there is at least one keyboard using these switches that's not FKB4700-shaped — we don't know whether "Peerless" meant the FKB4700 series keyboards (or just those as sold under Fujitsu's own brand, as there are OEM versions), or the switches.

Here's the Windows key version with a simpler box, manufactured around December 2000:

http://kbd.rzw.jp/fujitsu/peerless_fkb4725-501/

Comparitively, the box photo on the Plat'Online website calls it a "Peerless Windows 95 Keyboard", suggesting a manufacture date between 1995 and 1998.

I always thought it was just "Peerless" as in "without peer; unrivaled". Like a way of saying "great switch".

The first time I saw this name appear, it was from Sandy in 2009 or something. I thought the name was related to it being a unique design branch of switches, ie not like a Cherry MX which comes from years of history. But I might be wrong.

Maybe this explains why the case contains three or four different model numbers:
(And you thought Peerless sucked …)