Amiga 2000

[Broadmonkey]

I got this a while back. It was in no way cheap, even though I actually bargained with the seller for a period of over 3 months (letting him realize I was the only buyer).
The label on the PCB says: G80-0924

Top view.JPG (301.4 KiB) Viewed 6040 times

I laughed a little when I saw the cardboard connected to ground on the PCB, it just felt so crude and added to the already flimsy feel of the PCB which is quite flexible. The case feels sturdy though.

PCB and shielding.JPG (451.84 KiB) Viewed 6040 times

Pad printed amiga logo.

Left side.JPG (363.85 KiB) Viewed 6040 times

Danish specific legends mixed with some ANSI legends

Right side.JPG (396.31 KiB) Viewed 6040 times

Screwed in stabilizers, and diodes peeking from the inside of the switches, I believe they are old MX Blacks as they are much smoother and a bit lighter than my new blacks (although they have also seen much more use)

Tab and screw stabs.JPG (391.51 KiB) Viewed 6040 times

Compared to my new MX Linear Grey, this one is quite a few shades lighter but feels more or less the same, I can't tell for sure as the new one isn't soldered in a keyboard and it makes it hard to compare them.

Pale MX Linear Grey.JPG (310.25 KiB) Viewed 6040 times

I will see if I can take a (better) pic of the label.
Anyway, more pics in my imgur album

[calavera]

nice board there!

[Muirium]

The raised arrow block was pretty fashionable for a while in the 80s before everyone settled on IBM's layout, which had a lot of clutter above them and so pushed the island down. Inverted Ts evolved from cruciform arrow keys (a diamond, with the down arrow on a third row beneath) so I imagine the T stayed still while the down arrow migrated!

It is a nice enough position in practice. Maybe one I'll try with my inevitable sub-TKL custom!

[BimboBB]

Nice Board!

Recently got the swedish/finnish version (G80-0922)....just by mistake....I thought it was DE-layout and didnt checked the picture properly.

[Findecanor]

Wiki page updated.

[Josh]

nice board

[Broadmonkey]

Thanks guys, and thanks Findecanor for updating the wiki.

Muirium, I think a raised arrow cluster would be a welcome addition to a world where most modern boards follows almost the same basic layout to the letter, it's much better ergonomically and could spice things up at bit. One thing I do not wish to happen however, is the cross arrow cluster, it's just too weird to use (just try the arrow keys on a keypad!) that can stay in the 80s!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Pictures should be on the wiki, not Imgur …

Interesting about the colour — "officially" (and Cherry do appear to list the colour in %black in at least one brochure) it's still MX Dark Grey not MX Linear Grey, but if Cherry did change the shade at some stage, it works in favour of a name change to MX Linear Grey.

[Broadmonkey]

Well, MX Dark Grey is just a silly name when there existed a version that is lighter than the tactile MX Grey.
I never uploaded anything to the wiki since I always thought my pictures was too crappy, but I will try and upload some.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

"Dark Grey" isn't inherently bad, but the colour difference is rather subtle … At some point I may feel I have sufficient standing/brazenness to redefine the other two greys as Tactile Grey and Linear Grey.

[Findecanor]

I thought the name change in the Wiki to "Tactile"/"Linear" greys had been done already...

I would like that someone who owns a Pale Grey linear Space bar switch opens it and compares the spring against one from a "Dark Grey" linear switch.
If they are the same (forces are the same), then I would propose that we put both in one category and proceed with the name change to: "Linear Grey". Otherwise we would have two linear grey switches that each would deserve its own page in the Wiki.

[Broadmonkey]

Okay, I took some pictures of the different MX Greys I had. I have several MX Dark Greys that I have desoldered from donor boards, but the one in the pictures is a completely new one from 7bit and so it the MX Grey (the tactile one).
It was pretty hard to capture the right colors, but I guess the first pic is close enough.

MX Greys -- hug - Dark Grey - Old Dark Grey - Grey.JPG (654.77 KiB) Viewed 5875 times

MX Greys -- w. springs - Dark Grey - Old Dark Grey - Grey.JPG (707.82 KiB) Viewed 5875 times

[Daniel Beardsmore]

You can see now why I don't like the term "dark grey" in this context :)

Interesting that they've changed the spring material.

@Findecanor — sometimes I do steamroller in changes, but other times I'm more cautious

[IvanIvanovich]

Welcome to the Cherry Amiga 2000 club.
Mine also has this kind of 'grey' which I would call almost like taupe. I've been referring to T grey and L grey for long time as I also feel it is more clear.
I've noticed all my vintage era switch whether black, blue, grey... linear clears, etc all have that more 'brassy' or even copper looking springs compared to the more modern ones with steel.

I've long wished Cherry would have stuck with the bolt in stabilizer. I think they are best feeling Cherry stabilizer by far.

[Broadmonkey]

Thanks Ivan!
I think you are right about the change in spring material at some point, but whether or not it has made a change in feel I don't know since they are hard to compare by hand. Size wise they are the same however (+-0,5mm).

[IvanIvanovich]

Softer material makes for easier compression, so it's part of the reason they feel lighter in my opinion. Easiest to make comparisons on G80 as you can simply pop spring in same keyboard for side by side comparison on adjacent switch. It's very subtle difference but it is there.

[Broadmonkey]

Makes sense. Is it the same with all your brass looking springs or just the MX Grey?

[Josh]

wow, nice pics here

[IvanIvanovich]

Oh just in general on all the vintage ones with those brassy/copper looking springs. They are probably 3-6cN lighter than their modern counterpart on average.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

OK, wiki updated with new switch names for Grey and Dark Grey.

Interestingly, on the new server, batch replace works immediately instead of waiting until 3 am to be carried out (which is really confusing, as the wiki software doesn't notify you that your changes won't take effect until you're asleep).

[Broadmonkey]

It's great you changed the names! It also makes it less confusing with the "recent" discovery of the Clicky Grey.

I have added to the wiki entry on the Amiga 2000 keyboard, I had to take some new pics for it, which ended up being shot on my parents roof

G80-0924 without case top.jpg (679.66 KiB) Viewed 5623 times

[Josh]

It's great you changed the names! It also makes it less confusing with the "recent" discovery of the Clicky Grey.

I have added to the wiki entry on the Amiga 2000 keyboard, I had to take some new pics for it, which ended up being shot on my parents roof

G80-0924 without case top.jpg

really a nice keyboard

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I've changed [[G80-0924]] to [[Cherry G80-0924]] in the image descriptions :-P

[Broadmonkey]

Yeah, I saw that. I'll make sure to remember I shall name it exactly the same as the wiki entry. Thanks!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I just used the replace text facility — saved editing them all by hand :)