Early Zenith laptop board - $15

[Hak Foo]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Zenith-Data-Systems-SuperSport-Lap-Top-Keyboard-/141298106108?pt=US_Vintage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item20e605fefc

It smells like ALPS, given Zenith's preferences and the windowed caps, but I can't say for sure,

There's some fun stuff there-- a 1.75x Ctrl, those secondary-legend keys and numpad-legend keys might be fun for Kingsavers...

[ebacho]

Alps integrated dome http://deskthority.net/wiki/Zenith_Supersport_SX

[Hak Foo]

I don't think it's the exact same board.  Zenith sold a lot of machines under the SuperSport name; I had some with CGA blue-on-white LCDs and 8088 processors.  Actually, I ended up getting two and cannibalizing them into one unit (one had a hard disc but a bad power-supply board).

It was amusing that they'd boot CP/M-86 off a floppy faster than DOS off the hard disc.

[intelli78]

Tempting for the price...how cool is that windowed 1.5 caps lock key? But I bet the profile is different than the SGI modifiers on my KS.

[ebacho]

I don't think it's the exact same board.  Zenith sold a lot of machines under the SuperSport name; I had some with CGA blue-on-white LCDs and 8088 processors.  Actually, I ended up getting two and cannibalizing them into one unit (one had a hard disc but a bad power-supply board).

It was amusing that they'd boot CP/M-86 off a floppy faster than DOS off the hard disc.

If I'm wrong then my bad - either way, the keys are nice.

[jacobolus]

Pretty sure this one is http://deskthority.net/wiki/Alps_SKFL switches. Definitely some kind of PCB-mount Alps. (It might be integrated domes with a couple of SKFL switches for the LEDs.)

[jacobolus]

Oh actually, this one looks the same, with integrated domes for most of the keys:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291174006954

[Pacifist]

bought! at $15 its an interesting buy

[Pacifist]

Oh actually, this one looks the same, with integrated domes for most of the keys:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291174006954

do you think the caps are compatible with alps?

[terrpn]

yes they are..............

[terrpn]

yes they are..............

yes they are..............

they r also ds

[Pacifist]

I got the board today, they're alps integrated domes, feels just like rubber domes.


Caps are doubleshot, but they are quite shiny. I really like the Fn, the blue tone is really nice

[jacobolus]

What are the switches with LEDs?

[Pacifist]

What are the switches with LEDs?

These, don't know the name:


but with a green section at the top for the LED

[jacobolus]

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Alps_SKFL but people also tend to say “Alps PCB-mount with oval sliders” or “Alps metal lid” or similar.

[dorkvader]

at least it's got NKRO. Not all RD keyboards have NKRO.

[nubbinator]

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Alps_SKFL but people also tend to say “Alps PCB-mount with oval sliders” or “Alps metal lid” or similar.

I say some of the best damn linear switches I have ever felt.  Too bad you'd need a custom PCB to use them or you'd have to make your own case, get a Teensy, and be happy with the wonky layout on the laptop keyboard.

[jacobolus]

For someone who wants an Alps SKFL keyboard in a pretty standardish ANSI 75% style layout and is willing to make a custom case for it, I recommend http://www.ebay.com/itm/171354045916 which looks to be in pretty good condition. Since the laptop seems to not be working, I wouldn’t feel too bad about pulling the keyboard out. You might even be able to convince the seller to remove it and ship just the keyboard, and reduce shipping costs that way. Has a pretty nice standard-ANSI-ish set of doubleshot keycaps, which don’t look too yellowed.

(I’m pretty sure that’s the type of switches that keyboard has, but you might want to ask the seller to pull a cap to verify.)