20th Century Family Reunion

[Evilcamels]

Here are all of my keyboards from before the turn of the century.
I just finished restoring th H412 and I figured it was as good a time as any to post all of these.
The yellow light in the room along with the white background makes all of the keyboards more yellow than they are.
An example of this is the Minitouch, which is NIB and white.

NEC APC-H412:
NEC Blue Oval switches | PS2

Great board that I am starting to use more because I am done with its restoration/remodel.
I love the black and grey look, I am surprised that the grey keycaps did not yellow at all compared the alphas.

Spoiler:

You can really see how well the keycaps took the dye.
The spacebar was the hardest to dye, as it is just so long, it almost gives the XT a run for its money.




You can also see my biggest error in the paint to the left of the 4 key.


You can see where I taped the feet to hang them while painting.
I am OK with this as I keep the feet recessed when in use.

NMB RT8255CW+:
Black Space Invaders | DIN

One of, if not, my favorite keyboards.
This is my go-to keyboard for coding because of the split spacebar and amazing switches.

Spoiler:

Here are the instructions on the back to switch backspace and space.
I prefer them in the stock configuration with backspace on the left.






I LOVE how the colored F-keys look on this board.
I am so grateful that I was part of the suprisebox tour this time around, even though I went at the beginning.


See, I really like them.

IBM Model F XT:
Buckling Spring | USB (via Teensy w/ Soarer's Converter)

Got this as a high school graduation gift from a family friend who had gotten it with his first IBM XT.

Spoiler:

One fashion I wish didn't go out of style, F-keys on the side.




The XT is fairly dirty right now but it is also my daily driver so it sees a lot of use.




This is my only board with an internal Teensy, you will see later how I use the rest of my boards.

IBM Model F4704 107 key:
Buckling Spring | USB (via Xwhatsit's Controller)

Got this from Cindy and I love it. It weighs a ton and is next in line for restoration.
I replaced all of the keys outside the alpha section with Unicomp keys.

Spoiler:

Again, F-keys to the side are a godsend.




Here you can see the difference in color between original one piece and Unicomp 2 piece keycaps


This is the volume control for the internal speaker. I have it just audible when typing with vigor.

SIIG Minitouch:
SMK "Monterey" Alps mount switch | DIN

Just got this guy NIB in February for my birthday.
My one problem with the board is that I am afraid to damage the keycaps, so I am waiting for alps->cherry stems to put granite on it.

Spoiler:

I find the blue for the numpad very striking




My Minitouch happens to have a fully connected numpad port. Some have a unconnected port, some completely lack it.

Chicony KB-5181:
SMK "Monterey" Alps mount switch | DIN

My only gapped winkeyless keyboard, probably why it is my least favorite.
Also, the case was extremely yellowed so I gave it a second rate plastidip paint job which I will remedy with my new painting experience.

Spoiler:

You can really see how bad the plastidip is on the seams.






Bigass enter and no Windows key? No wonder I almost never use this board

My Teensy box:

Spoiler:

PS2 female port with USB out the back. I was tired of putting a Teensy in each board with different profiles.
I also wanted to be able to retain the original cables, especially in the case of the Minitouch.
My solution was a little black box running Soarer's Converter with my preferred layout for almost all of my keyboards.

Matching switch photos
Buckling Springs

Spoiler:

SMK "Monterey" Alps mount switch

Spoiler:

Imgur Album: http://imgur.com/a/EbCYB

[seebart]

Impressive collection you got. Funny that you and me have the same taste in keyboards. I own a NEC APC, a Minitouch and an XT also. My Minitouch does have the numpad port, not sure if its active.

[Redmaus]

I like your collection a lot man. The minitouch is something that intrigues me.

[Muirium]

They're very cool, so long as they have blue Monterey switches. Mine does, and its numpad port is present and connected. But I don't have the nice dyesub caps version that's the best of all.



I put PBT Granite on it with Mr. Interface's Alps adapters. Felt great. But even Granite can't quite handle the K110/Minitouch's goofy layout. That slim-fatty Return! That daft tab key…

[seebart]

Yeah the Minitouch's funky layout makes a real cap swap almost impossible. I tried out some nice doubleshouts on mine a while ago:

IMGP9509.JPG (1006.28 KiB) Viewed 3688 times

[002]

But I don't have the nice dyesub caps version that's the best of all.

Man...does it even exist? I always thought webwit's was dyesub and then my world was shattered when he revealed it was pad-printed. I don't think dyesub MiniTouch even exists. I would obviously be happy to be proven otherwise.

[chzel]

We definitely need a rerun of the DT stickers!

[seebart]

But I don't have the nice dyesub caps version that's the best of all.

Man...does it even exist? I always thought webwit's was dyesub and then my world was shattered when he revealed it was pad-printed. I don't think dyesub MiniTouch even exists. I would obviously be happy to be proven otherwise.

Yes the cap printing is the disapointing part of the Minitouch. I've thought of removing the printing on the command keys alltogether for a better look. I have never seen a dyesub cap version of the Minitouch.

[Evilcamels]

Thanks all! Mu, your minitouch is why I want to get alps adapters, looks so good.

[Muirium]

Hopefully rsbseb's batch is up to the task. The 3D printed ones were… not without problems! But the concept is sound.

[twohumps]

That's a real nice collection. You have mad skillz too!

[jbondeson]

Absolutely love the NMB RT8255CW+. That bottom row with an ANSI layout would be just perfect. There's not a great head-on shot, but is that two 3x spacebars and a 1.5x right-control to compensate for the extra 0.25x?

I would really have to drain my wallet to put together get an ANSI and RT8255CW+ keysets and then wire it together onto a custom plate with some nice clicky black space invaders...

I just need to keep telling myself "Too many projects right now" "Too many projects right now"

[Evilcamels]

Both left and right control are 1.5x, which means that the backspace is 2.75x and space is 3x. It is kind of annoying that they are different sizes, but I don't have them switched around so I don't worry about it too much.

Converting to ANSI would be interesting, I would do it because I'd want backslash in its proper position, not because of the small backspace.