Just been offered two giant boxes of "Proper" Keyboards...

glossywhite · 05 Mar 2012, 16:15

Just called an old time PC contact, who says he has, and I quote "Two boxes FULL, of proper old school beige CLUNKY keyboards, the type you could use as a weapon". The boxes are 1.5ft square, jammed full of old Dell & others. My questions are these:

1/ Which Dell keyboards (bar the AT101/102W) are the best old ones?

2/ How do I ID the switches, without taking every single one apart, or removing caps?

Thanks.

Charlie_Brown_MX · 05 Mar 2012, 16:31

glossywhite wrote:How do I ID the switches, without taking every single one apart, or removing caps?

Googling them by model number may be your best bet, if you really don’t want to take them apart to look for yourself.

Tarkoon · 05 Mar 2012, 16:42

Taking a single keycap off is not really hard work.
And if you see boards with identical modell numbers you can even leave that step...

Ascaii · 05 Mar 2012, 16:42

Stop asking questions without informing yourself first. Dell AT 101/102/104 are the only mechanical boards we know of (next to model M boards with dell branding).
And as for question 2...seriously, what kind of a lazy person are you, expecting everyone to deliver you answers you don't have the 5 min to read up on. The answers are in the Wikis man. And no, you won't get around getting your hands dirty and pulling caps.

glossywhite · 05 Mar 2012, 16:43

Ascaii wrote:Stop asking questions without informing yourself first. Dell AT 101/102/104 are the only mechanical boards we know of (next to model M boards with dell branding).
And as for question 2...seriously, what kind of a lazy person are you, expecting everyone to deliver you answers you don't have the 5 min to read up on. The answers are in the Wikis man. And no, you won't get around getting your hands dirty and pulling caps.

Nothing like a kind and gracious person.

Ascaii · 05 Mar 2012, 16:47

I have read every single one of your threads...and have held myself back long enough. Start acting like an adult or gtfo.

kbdfr · 05 Mar 2012, 16:47

koralatov wrote:
glossywhite wrote:How do I ID the switches, without taking every single one apart, or removing caps?
Googling them by model number may be your best bet, if you really don’t want to take them apart to look for yourself.

Or just ask in a forum. Cheap and effort-saving - others do the work.

glossywhite · 05 Mar 2012, 16:48

Ascaii wrote:I have read every single one of your threads...and have held myself back long enough. Start acting like an adult or gtfo.

I've never come across such a bunch of aggressive, short-tempered folk in my life. Okay, my approach has maybe not been ideal... but we're all different, and given time, I am sure there are aspects of ALL of you that I could nitpick at, and find to be MUCH more annoying... but what does that serve? Nothing.

I'm sorry I have been lazy. Let it go? I'll do more reading, and less interacting with short tempered people. I'm interested in keyboards, not arguing the toss, after all.

Thank you

kbdfr · 05 Mar 2012, 16:55

This was your first posting in this forum - three and a haf days ago:

glossywhite wrote:Hello!

I joined here, due to the fact that having only been a member of "geekhack" for a few hours, it seems I have already encountered the resident trolls/abusers, and I heard great things about <---this place--->

So decided the vibe was a little more relaxed.

Au revoir... for now!

If you are experiencing a déjà vu, perhaps you should ask yourself why.

Trent · 06 Mar 2012, 14:37

glossywhite wrote:
Ascaii wrote:I have read every single one of your threads...and have held myself back long enough. Start acting like an adult or gtfo.
I've never come across such a bunch of aggressive, short-tempered folk in my life. Okay, my approach has maybe not been ideal... but we're all different, and given time, I am sure there are aspects of ALL of you that I could nitpick at, and find to be MUCH more annoying... but what does that serve? Nothing.

I'm sorry I have been lazy. Let it go? I'll do more reading, and less interacting with short tempered people. I'm interested in keyboards, not arguing the toss, after all.

Thank you

Glossy don't take anything too personal. The attitude presented is to prevent unexperienced users that won't go and find independent research every once and a while coming in and asking: HOW DO I KEYBOARD?! -- or I WANT MODEL M EXPLAIN THIS TO ME PLEASE!! Ascaii has been kind to me in all of my threads as I have tried to ask questions presenting research I have done on a topic. Granted we all have posts where we don't know wtf to ask. I had asked a question regarding how to whiten keycaps and webwit gave me a one url answer from deskthority that I probably should have seen. Just spend a few hours reading the basics of the wiki and forum.

On a second note, just catch yourself in the act. I found myself spamming webwit with simple questions and then after four or five messages simply said "Don't respond to this, I am going to do more research before I consult you again. I should be able to find the answers"

On the note of the keyboards, get a keycap puller and rummage through them. You may get lucky, may not. With a whole boatload your guaranteed to get a bunch of bad boards.

And if you end up getting them show us what you get because I may be interested in some of them

ripster · 06 Mar 2012, 16:20

kbdfr wrote:This was your first posting in this forum - three and a haf days ago:

glossywhite wrote:Hello!

I joined here, due to the fact that having only been a member of "geekhack" for a few hours, it seems I have already encountered the resident trolls/abusers, and I heard great things about <---this place--->

So decided the vibe was a little more relaxed.

Au revoir... for now!
If you are experiencing a déjà vu, perhaps you should ask yourself why.

QFT!

Isn't he banned here?

Trent · 06 Mar 2012, 17:01

ripster wrote:Isn't he banned here?

As of now, yes.

Party time

Ascaii · 06 Mar 2012, 19:45

Trent wrote:
ripster wrote:Isn't he banned here?
As of now, yes.

Party time

ironically, his last post before he was banned linked to the exact same youtube video.

Mrinterface · 06 Mar 2012, 19:54

I finally got the joke with that vid. I just had to watch it from start to (almost) finish.. Har har har.....

ripster · 06 Mar 2012, 20:26

Americans invented the yodel.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Kx2sRe5l8[/youtube]

ripster · 06 Mar 2012, 20:26

Hey, I'm with the OP.

Why doesn't that JUST WORK?

Yes, we all still dress like that. Especially where ItlnStln lives.

glossywhite · 10 Mar 2012, 04:12

Turns out that the only decent keyboards in the batch were six Dell AT102W types. Love these boards.

Ascaii · 10 Mar 2012, 10:53

my first true mechanical keyboard was a Dell at104w. They feel amazing at first, but once you get around to trying some other switches you will soon find them to be less enjoyable.
Its like test driving a Mazda sports car after driving in a Mini for 5 years. It feels great, but once you can sit in a Porsche, that Mazda just won't feel like it did before.

captain · 10 Mar 2012, 19:16

glossywhite wrote:Just called an old time PC contact, who says he has, and I quote "Two boxes FULL, of proper old school beige CLUNKY keyboards, the type you could use as a weapon". The boxes are 1.5ft square, jammed full of old Dell & others. My questions are these:

My question is: Is that 1.5 sq.ft. or 1.5' squared? It's mistakes like this that kill astronauts.

ripster's video made me think back to song session days where we would sing this:

glossywhite · 11 Mar 2012, 00:39

captain wrote:
glossywhite wrote:Just called an old time PC contact, who says he has, and I quote "Two boxes FULL, of proper old school beige CLUNKY keyboards, the type you could use as a weapon". The boxes are 1.5ft square, jammed full of old Dell & others. My questions are these:
My question is: Is that 1.5 sq.ft. or 1.5' squared? It's mistakes like this that kill astronauts.

ripster's video made me think back to song session days where we would sing this:

These keyboards could easily kill someone, or be used as riot shields. They don't make things so tough these days, it's all crap.