Cherry Brown compact format $24 shipped BIN

[ricercar]

Cherry Electrical MX SPOS Credit Card Reader Keyboard

Price is link:
$10.00 BIN + 13.75 shipping


HISTORY
I bought one from the same vendor 23 November 2009 for $9.99 BIN. It's now $10 BIN, with one auction in between for $12 BIN. He probably sold zero at $12. Took exactly 7 days to reach San Francisco (area) California.

KEYS
The keys are all cherry browns (haven't removed spacebar yet). Feels a slight bit more stiff than my 2 year old cherry browns, significantly more noisy than the 2-year olds, lower pitched than the Cherry Blues on my Scorpius M10. Width is 14.25 inches (35.5 cm), almost exactly the width of my scorpius M10 without numberpad.

LAYOUT
I'm not a touch typist. The arrow keys are visually hard to find in the compact space, so I put white keycaps on them and now everything is AOK. The [INS-DEL Home-End PGUP-PGDN] grouping is above the numpad, making DEL harder to find by touch, but exposing PGUP-PGDN beautifully to my hand off the right edge.

There is no right ALT key unless you program one. This is inconvenient, but seems to be curable. See next section.

Spoftware required for Magstripe and programmable keys
Cherry software (free but hard to find) is required to enable the credit card reader (hence the POS in the keyboard model number).

• Magstripe - After default installation, the magstripe reader outputs the text as if it was typed into the keys, (for example into notepad or whatever the foreground application happens to be.) This is quite useful for entering credit cards online, because the card number is the first piece of data on the magstripe, and most web forms ignore extra characters.
• Programmable keys - The software allows reprogramming of the normal FKeys and the blank row above them, all under transparent tops. You can also reprogram the numeric keypad. However there are no transparent covers to simplify relabeling the numeric keypad.

Whatever
There are four green LEDs. Caps, Num, and Scroll toggles as expected, plus a momentary flash on LED 4 when a card stripe is successfully read. Those cylindrical rubber feet are near worthless, They raise the board up, but it's unstable. I plan to open her up tomorrow night.

It was packaged in what appeared to be factory box, but there was no USB-PS/2 adapter. N key rollover web page showed me QWASFD once, so 6 key rollover is tested. IMPORTANT CORRECTION: 2-key rollover.

EDIT
and the keyboard torques much more than my Scorpius M10. Almost forgot that part, but I have a reputation to uphold.

My Pics -  Note that the board came with only black keys. The white ones are mine from another keyboard.



the flaw on the N key is a drop of spit. żI must have been drooling?


Auction Pics - I received the Serial number 000019 shown in the picture. Unless they are all SN 000019.







Not at all bad for $24 USD.

[PRISONER 24601]

are those 2 shot keys?
why is the tilde key next to the spacebar???
SOLD!

[ricercar]

tilde is by spacebar to allow the enclosure to be less wide by one key.

Don't shoot the messenger: Single shot keys.



The preceding picture shows a difference in color between keys (black) and enclosure (blue!?). Indeed, the case is not the same material as the key caps. but the difference is far less apparent to the naked eye, which sees the case as grey. Also worth mentioning, in real life, the keys have no white spots, and are slightly textured.

The lettering is less dramatic without the camera flash, and it's bumpy, it'll catch my fingernail but will not scrape off on repeated trials with intention to scrape. My eyes are too tired to know if it's raised or recessed lettering, but my guess is recessed.

EDIT:
Adding software screen shots to show the programmable keys



Gotta love a program that will let you mouse click from the keyboard!



Downsides:
In the 3-4 hours I've played with this board, I've noticed that the Z key requires significantly more force and concerted intention to press. If this was a $200 board instead of a $24 board, I'd be disappointed enough to demand replacement. Note however,  this ebay seller says no returns, so I've not seriously thought about trying to take the time to argue with him. Even if I persevered, then I 'd have to spend $13.75 to return a $10 board so he can spend $13.75 to send me another. So I'm keeping this, on my desk as primary board even, despite having a Z in my last name. Perhaps I'm too conflict-averse...

Additionally, I find that I'm inadvertently opening a new browser tab often, and this doesn't happen on other keyboards ever. I strongly suspect my typing, with my ring finger sloppily hitting Left CTRL plus shift when I'm intending to type only shift+t.

On the good side, in 3-4 hours it's already sounding more like my 2 year old Cherry browns.

All in all I'm pleased with this keyboard. I probably won't pull the keyswitches out .... for that I'd buy another...

[PRISONER 24601]

those look like some beefy lasered keycaps
i wonder if he carries it in beige...

[itlnstln]

Bought one. For $24, I couldn't pass it up. I wonder if I can buy a G81-1800 and put the board in its case. I doubt it since there is the extra row of keys and the card reader, but it might be worth a shot.
 
EDIT: Ricercar, were these NIB?  It looks like it from the auction description, but it was kinda hard to tell.

[lowpoly]

A G86 with MX switches. Interesting.

[itlnstln]

A G86 with MX switches. Interesting.

I thought the same thing. I wouldn't have touched it with a 10 foot pole had ricercar not had pics.

[timw4mail]

Is the case really stiff, or does it flex?

[timw4mail]

These Cherry Product codes.........

Maybe because it says MX POS you are supposed to ignore the website specs AND the G86 part.  Just weird.

Good find - the Compaq Brown Cherry 11800 is a LOT more expensive now as a way to try them dem Brown Cherries.

Although it does have better keys... (*ducks*)

[itlnstln]

I was comparing the pics to my ML4100. It has a very similar layout (tilde key next to the spacebar, etc.). It looks like a good replacement for it on my desk at work. I'll have to probably use it for a few days to see if I could use it as my main 'board. If the layout is too weird for regular use, I'll put it on my docking station. The programmable keys on the top look like they'll make some good volume controls, too.

[lowpoly]

The article number says G80-62410.

Current models are G86-61410. Maybe that's the difference.

Also, made in the USA.

[itlnstln]

Great.  Leave it up to the Americans to screw up the system.

[elbowglue]

Jsut bought 2 - Bing.com cashback of $2 bucks, total is
$20+ 14.58 shipping - 2 dollars cashback = 32.58 for 2x cherry brown compact keyboards.

OMFG it's a good deal.  Better buy it before I decide to buy 4 more in a single purchase... shipping dosen't go up much in multiples.

[itlnstln]

Be wary of the layout, though.  It is very similar to the ML4100, and I have troubles sometimes with the smaller modifier keys and odd positioning of the page navigation.*  I like the size for portability reasons, but the layout is frustrating at times.  That said, I bought one, and I am going to give it an honest shot before relegating to my docking station.
 
* The ML4100 also has smaller keys, so that might have something to do with my issues.  I am not sure if this keyboard has smaller keys or not, but I doubt it.

[lowpoly]

Would someone be willing to ship one to me?

(And I didn't want to buy more 'boards before Christmas...)

[itlnstln]

Would someone be willing to ship one to me?
 
(And I didn't want to buy more 'boards before Christmas...)

I will.  I have done it for Lam several times.

[lowpoly]

Great, thanks. So, I order it and you PM me your address?

[itlnstln]

Great, thanks. So, I order it and you PM me your address?

Sent you a PM.

[AndrewZorn]

kept seeing them, and the MX SPOS, and wondering...
(mostly for double shot keys)

might have to get one just cause, now...

EDIT i wont buy both... ill be nice...

EDIT and i was going to gloat having got it for cheaper with cashback, but shipping cost more for me.

[AndrewZorn]

no, i bought #2

[itlnstln]

Webwit, where did you find that footage of my dad?

[lowpoly]

Thanks for the tip, ricercar.

[sixty]

Very interesting. Wish I had gotten one. Also, the seller must be like "huh?" - first not selling any in probably months, now selling all at once

[PRISONER 24601]

Haha, last night I sent the seller a message along with my purchase, "I have a feeling you're gonna sell out of these reeeeeeal soon."
Guess I was right.

[ricercar]

It pleases me to have realized what I had found in time for some of you to enjoy one also. Ripster, if mine is brown and yours is not, I'll consider sending you a pair of spoon glasses. :smokin:

Ricercar, were these NIB?  It looks like it from the auction description, but it was kinda hard to tell.

Mine was nearly NIB, with the box obviously cut for this keyboard, and a Cherry label on the end. I say nearly, because with my serial number of 19, I have to guess it was opened by the seller for the photos. It was wrapped in a non-sealed plastic bag, and the cable is still wrapped in cellophane/plastic tape.

Here's the PDF manual URL
http://www.cherry.de/files/manual/KA_G86-6x4xx-SPOS_DE-US-FR-RU.pdf

Here's the software download URL
http://www.cherry.de/english/service/download.php

• Product Selection = SPOS Kyeboard Series
• Operating System (whatever)
• Language selection - beware the default is German

The PDF is attached to this post. The software zip is not attachable at 7 Megs. PM me if you can't get it from the Cherry site.

[rdjack21]

Oh man and the only reason I did not get one earlier was because I don't have a windows machine to program it. Now that I find out they do in fact have a Linux port of the software all the keyboards are gone! Baaaaaaa

[AndrewZorn]

by programmable dont they mean do it once, dont have to have the software ever again?

if so, a loaner for 5 minutes?

[PRISONER 24601]

This might be perfect for use as a laptop keyboard. it's small enough to slip right in my bookbag, and the browns make it less annoying than bringing a model M to school where the instructor yells at me and I say I have arthritis but nobody believes me

[Hak Foo]

This might be perfect for use as a laptop keyboard. it's small enough to slip right in my bookbag, and the browns make it less annoying than bringing a model M to school where the instructor yells at me and I say I have arthritis but nobody believes me

Take a Model F.

If anyone bugs you, clobber 'em with it.

[AndrewZorn]

This might be perfect for use as a laptop keyboard. it's small enough to slip right in my bookbag, and the browns make it less annoying than bringing a model M to school where the instructor yells at me and I say I have arthritis but nobody believes me

didnt even think about that when i bought it, was actually still trying to think of a use for it.

you know, since i am too paranoid to really take my hhkb anywhere (utilizing its size and detachable cable, instead it will just sit on the desk)

and it is cheap, in case it breaks...
and it is programmable, to keep settings for use in other computers... MAN, too bad the alpha keys cant be remapped, SO CLOSE to a portable colemak board... wow.