Alps Appreciation Thread

[MandrewDavis]

Very Good Switch Opener:

[Mattr567]

Very Good Switch Opener:

Show Image

Better

[OfTheWild]

any guesses on these? They look a bit pale to be skcm greens... from a Chicony KB-5181

[Mattr567]

Those are SMK Monterey's. Not genuine Alps but great switches nonetheless.

[chyros]

any guesses on these? They look a bit pale to be skcm greens... from a Chicony KB-5181

Show Image

The slider on them isn't green btw, it's yellowed blue plastic xD . Like Matt said they're Montereys, often confused for SKCM blue. Both are Alps mount. Great switches actually.

[drevyek]

@E3E: I agree with you about the limited utility of switch testers. I find that I need the context of a complete keyboard in order to form a full impression of a given type of switch. Moreover, the sound and feel of the switches varies from one keyboard to another and from one region to another on the same board. That said, it is impractical to test a wide variety switches on complete keyboards, and so a switch tester provides a starting point for comparing multiple types of switches with one another.

Switch testers are fascinating kits to have.
However, the keyboard experience is holistic just like how you enjoy a piece of steak in a restaurant: the steak itself (non-GMO certified vs organic vs Japanese Kobe), the seasoning, the preparation (Chinese restaurant, Italian restaurant, etc) , the serving, the environment and your mood.
P.s. I'm a vegetarian.

Now I have to think about lubing the Alps switches on the newly arrived SGI Granite (luckily everything in really good condition) because the Alps SKCM creme dampened switches (or are they white instead??) are not as smooth as what I remember them to be.

they could be dampened whites?  I think.  I've only ever seen dampened whites/creams in the four or five SGI's that I've had

I've investigated by opening up one of them - they're without slits, so damped white instead of damped cream.
And these SKCM white (bamboo?) damped are so scratchy - more scratchy than my PLUM Topre-clone 35g and quite a bit rougher than my taste prefers.

Has someone compared damped cream vs damped white? Are they very different?
I'm trying to look for that cushioned bottoming out and smooth tactile bump experience again - without so much noise.

I've had great results with creamsicles- cream sliders and bottom case, orange springs tactile leaf, and top case. They're a bit rougher than stock oranges, but they're fully damped. Creams are a bit odd- you can feel the 2nd tactile event quite clearly. Not really my cup of tea.

[opensecret]

@E3E: I agree with you about the limited utility of switch testers. I find that I need the context of a complete keyboard in order to form a full impression of a given type of switch. Moreover, the sound and feel of the switches varies from one keyboard to another and from one region to another on the same board. That said, it is impractical to test a wide variety switches on complete keyboards, and so a switch tester provides a starting point for comparing multiple types of switches with one another.

Switch testers are fascinating kits to have.
However, the keyboard experience is holistic just like how you enjoy a piece of steak in a restaurant: the steak itself (non-GMO certified vs organic vs Japanese Kobe), the seasoning, the preparation (Chinese restaurant, Italian restaurant, etc) , the serving, the environment and your mood.
P.s. I'm a vegetarian.

Now I have to think about lubing the Alps switches on the newly arrived SGI Granite (luckily everything in really good condition) because the Alps SKCM creme dampened switches (or are they white instead??) are not as smooth as what I remember them to be.

they could be dampened whites?  I think.  I've only ever seen dampened whites/creams in the four or five SGI's that I've had

I've investigated by opening up one of them - they're without slits, so damped white instead of damped cream.
And these SKCM white (bamboo?) damped are so scratchy - more scratchy than my PLUM Topre-clone 35g and quite a bit rougher than my taste prefers.

Has someone compared damped cream vs damped white? Are they very different?
I'm trying to look for that cushioned bottoming out and smooth tactile bump experience again - without so much noise.

Most of my Alps experience has been with SKCM whites, which I'm typing on now (Northgate Omnikey Ultra).  To me, they don't feel scratchy, but that could have something to do with the condition of the switches.  I get a comfortable feeling of fingers floating over the keys, and no sense of harsh bottoming-out.  My only complaint is that they're a little heavier than I wish (I'm partial to variable weight Realforce, so your 35g Topre sounds good to me, and to Cherry reds when I'm typing for long periods of time).

[Hypersphere]

SKCM white Alps in good condition in a solid chassis like a Northgate make for a delightful typing experience. If I were to improve upon this, I would consider putting SKCM blue Alps in a Northgate (or finding a Gold Label Northgate Ultra with blue Alps, but I prefer the ANSI layout in a Northgate Omnikey 101).

[mike52787]

SKCM white Alps in good condition in a solid chassis like a Northgate make for a delightful typing experience. If I were to improve upon this, I would consider putting SKCM blue Alps in a Northgate (or finding a Gold Label Northgate Ultra with blue Alps, but I prefer the ANSI layout in a Northgate Omnikey 101).

Gold label ultras don't exist, only 102s. On the topic of switch swapping omnikeys, It is definitely the most solid alps chassis available. a true tank. makes any switch sound and feel better with the right caps of course.

[Hypersphere]

@mike52787: Thanks for correcting my sloppy Northgate nomenclature!

[E3E]

I think the Focus FK-555 is probably the closest one can get to an ANSI gold label Omnikey, at least from an OEM. :b It's like an Omnikey 101 with a BAE Focus layout and typical modern function row orientation.

It's a quirky one. :b

[alh84001]

makes any switch sound and feel better with the right caps of course.

I already expressed my dislike for thin ABS keycaps, even on clicky Alps, but I have to qualify that a bit.

I tried SKCM Whites on a Chicony board with crappy thin ABS keycaps, and I have to say that the sound there is quite pleasing. On the other hand, the sound in either Omnikey 101 or Omnikey Evolution is quite annoying to me. I think it might be down to the metal bottom case, which probably makes the sound much less, for lack of a better word, subtle. YMMV.

[mike52787]

SGI, wang, at101, or 5140 are easily the best commonly available alps caps. I don't particularly like the tai hao doubleshot caps that come on northgate boards either. The only really good doubleshot alps caps are IBM multistation caps, or alps electric made doubleshots.

[E3E]

SGI, wang, at101, or 5140 are easily the best commonly available alps caps. I don't particularly like the tai hao doubleshot caps that come on northgate boards either. The only really good doubleshot alps caps are IBM multistation caps, or alps electric made doubleshots.

Let's not forget these babies:



The OTHER Tai Hao that even Tai Hao forgot about. 

[Hypersphere]

Alps-switch keyboards have changed my mind about doubleshot ABS and even rimless pad-printed ABS keycaps. Part of it is the crisp high-contrast appearance of the legends. However, part of it is the sound when the switches, chassis, and caps are well matched.

For example, today I was testing a SIIG Suntouch Jr. with pine white Alps and doubleshot ABS caps. The sound is sublime. Much nicer than a very similar board with respect to form factor, layout and construction -- an Ortek MCK-84 with bamboo white Alps and pad-printed ABS caps. The Ortek is not bad at all, it's just that the SIIG is on a higher level.

However, after the surface texture of new ABS caps wears down a bit, they have a clammy feel. I would much rather have the dry feel of PBT caps. I am even willing to tolerate the Italic font on SGI caps in order to have that PBT feel.

BTW, a test that usually works for me to tell ABS from PBT is to apply medium pressure to a keycap with a fingertip and drag my finger toward me. ABS grips the fingertip, which then "stutters" across the surface of the cap, whereas PBT does not grip and the fingertip glides across the cap without stuttering. However, this test did not work with some Acer keycaps, which have a pumice-like texture akin to some of the Chinese PBT keycap sets.

[menuhin]

... today I was testing a SIIG Suntouch Jr. ... an Ortek MCK-84 ...

These are nice Alps models that I can use like how they are: 75%
No cutting of case required.

[Hypersphere]

@menuhin: Yes, I was initially attracted to the form factor of the various 84-key compact keyboards such as the Ortek MCK-84. However, I have become addicted to the HHKB layout, and so these 75% keyboards do not work well for me. I prefer 60%, but I would rather use an ANSI TKL or full-size than the various keyboards in the twilight zone between 60% and TKL.

On another topic, not long ago I got a Northgate Omnikey 101 ANSI keyboard with SKCM white Alps, which I set up in my home office. I liked it so much that I decided to get another one for work. The second one seemed to be in better overall shape than the first one, but I didn't like the sound and feel of it as much as the first Northgate. Today I took a closer look at the switches. The preferred Northgate has "pine" white Alps (with slits in the top housing), whereas the less-preferred one has "bamboo" white Alps (without slits).

I had not realized that there was such a palpable difference between pine and bamboo white Alps, but it really seems to be true!

[menuhin]

@menuhin: Yes, I was initially attracted to the form factor of the various 84-key compact keyboards such as the Ortek MCK-84. However, I have become addicted to the HHKB layout, and so these 75% keyboards do not work well for me. I prefer 60%, but I would rather use an ANSI TKL or full-size than the various keyboards in the twilight zone between 60% and TKL.

On another topic, not long ago I got a Northgate Omnikey 101 ANSI keyboard with SKCM white Alps, which I set up in my home office. I liked it so much that I decided to get another one for work. The second one seemed to be in better overall shape than the first one, but I didn't like the sound and feel of it as much as the first Northgate. Today I took a closer look at the switches. The preferred Northgate has "pine" white Alps (with slits in the top housing), whereas the less-preferred one has "bamboo" white Alps (without slits).

I had not realized that there was such a palpable difference between pine and bamboo white Alps, but it really seems to be true!

I immediately realized I didn't like the "bamboo" white and quickly set aside the keyboard arrived crossing the pond. Pretty disappointed, and now have to find a way to process that full size keyboard. I know human memory is faulty even at its best, but I'm still interested in trying out the dampened cream SKCM: even I saw its force curve has two bumps and users in here or DT said they can feel two distinctive tactile events instead of just one - similar for Matias QC they said.
Otherwise, I'm now interested to try out these: neon green SKCM > orange SKCM > green linear SKCL > blue SKCM, and it doesn't hurt to try out those Alps clones from Taiwan and Japanese companies (SMK?). I work late and I type softly, I'm just not a clicky switch person.

@Hypersphere
For me I'm a kind of a laptop generation person. Unlike many of my classmates, I didn't have my first computer until college and my first computer was a laptop. So I'm quite accustomed to the size of laptop keyboards. The 75% keyboards have very close layouts with laptop keyboards, e.g. my ThinkPad. 75% is my TKL without the extra space: all keys in the TKL cluster are present in my 75% as independent keys except for the Insert key, otherwise all key layouts are the same, and I reach to the arrow keys in a 75% as quickly as on my full key keyboard. The only extra cluster I may need is customizable short-cuts like the cluster on the left like that on an Optimus Maximus.

If I have enough switches and time (which I don't right now), I'll build a hot-swappable 84 (75%) keyboard: Perhaps two instead of one hot-swappable if I really like the Alps switches.

For 60%, I'm just starting to get use to my HHKB, especially the arrow key combos: JIKL or HJKL is better than the default arrow layout IMHO, and the default Fn key on the HHKB can be a Fn2 key instead, in order to not leave the home row: so Hasu is my friend. It's quite easy to reach the function keys otherwise.

[E3E]

Alps-switch keyboards have changed my mind about doubleshot ABS and even rimless pad-printed ABS keycaps. Part of it is the crisp high-contrast appearance of the legends. However, part of it is the sound when the switches, chassis, and caps are well matched.

For example, today I was testing a SIIG Suntouch Jr. with pine white Alps and doubleshot ABS caps. The sound is sublime. Much nicer than a very similar board with respect to form factor, layout and construction -- an Ortek MCK-84 with bamboo white Alps and pad-printed ABS caps. The Ortek is not bad at all, it's just that the SIIG is on a higher level.

However, after the surface texture of new ABS caps wears down a bit, they have a clammy feel. I would much rather have the dry feel of PBT caps. I am even willing to tolerate the Italic font on SGI caps in order to have that PBT feel.

BTW, a test that usually works for me to tell ABS from PBT is to apply medium pressure to a keycap with a fingertip and drag my finger toward me. ABS grips the fingertip, which then "stutters" across the surface of the cap, whereas PBT does not grip and the fingertip glides across the cap without stuttering. However, this test did not work with some Acer keycaps, which have a pumice-like texture akin to some of the Chinese PBT keycap sets.

Yeah, it seems the only time this really fails is when the ABS has quite the texture like with some Acer caps, or when the PBT is shined to high heaven.

[Norman_the_Owl]

Typing this on an AEK2 i've had for a while but only can use now due to my brand new homemade ****ty ADB -> USB converter

Immediate conclusions are white dampened>cream dampened, and that these lower profile keycaps are an abomination...But i'll probably get used to them, just like everything else

It's also really nice having a windows key again, even if it's in totally the wrong spot

[drevyek]

...but I'm still interested in trying out the dampened cream SKCM: even I saw its force curve has two bumps and users in here or DT said they can feel two distinctive tactile events instead of just one - similar for Matias QC they said.

That's been my experience. Especially with the stock 70g springs, the 2nd event is very noticeable. That said, it isn't all bad. Lightening the springs (using orange springs for example) makes the bumps very smooth, with the second being much cleaner and actually enjoyable. I really like the 2nd alert. If you're a light typer, then it can help to avoid bottoming out as well, a it provided the end-of-stroke resistance that is missing in a lot of other switches with large tactile drop-offs like Alps generally do.

Interestingly, of my creams, they came with 2 different types of springs- one tightly wound, the other more closely resembling the orange springs I was replacing them with.

[Jumie]

My first Alps build. Donor board from aek2 for the switch and keycaps, plate from lasergist.

[alh84001]

Very nice. But that spacebar needs retr0brighting badly.

With AEK2s being so popular for harvesting, there should be bounds of orphaned F# keys around the world. Someone should make an ortholinear plate and PCB for these

[Jumie]

And the numpad

[Applet]

I'm hoping that there will be enough AEK's being harvested for custom builds that there eventually will be a demand for replacement PBT AEK spacebars. One can allways hope

[menuhin]

My first Alps build. Donor board from aek2 for the switch and keycaps, plate from lasergist.

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

A nice build indeed.
What PCB are you using and what is the case?

My 60% build for Alps would ideally allow the SGI Granite set (space bar 6.25u?) and the AEK set (space bar 6.5u on your board?). However, I don't know how to do that.
There's a build log for hotswappable mod by E3E so I can think about having top row to have interchangeable HHKB and ANSI layout at the backspace location.

[fohat.digs]

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

Serial numbers on AEK go up to 1M, and there are a lot more AEK2s than that, so this is a species that is not threatened.

[alh84001]

And let's not forget ISO AEK2s that are of interest to no one

[chyros]

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

Serial numbers on AEK go up to 1M, and there are a lot more AEK2s than that, so this is a species that is not threatened.

Yeah, even I wouldn't object to taking AEKIIs apart xD .

[Hypersphere]

Are there outward signs, such as a certain range of serial numbers, that will reliably indicate if a given keyboard (such as a Northgate Omnikey 101 ANSI white Alps) has pine vs. bamboo switches?

[menuhin]

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

Serial numbers on AEK go up to 1M, and there are a lot more AEK2s than that, so this is a species that is not threatened.

Yeah, even I wouldn't object to taking AEKIIs apart xD .

Almost everyone can tell from your videos that you're particularly critical towards Apple's products and Jobs' practices of making his products exclusive and incompatible to the other machines.
I have nothing that I want to defend them, but there're still lots of Apple fanboys and some shouting AEK or AEKII are "best keyboard ever made" (in the universe?).

Among friends and colleagues there are some grew up using only Apple products. It was sad that I once worked with two Apple fanboy professors that equip everything in their lab with Apple products unless they have no option, e.g. some programming has to be done in software only present in Windows. There were two options when one got their work computers from them: Apple or Dell. Aesthetically, Apple is a company that really pay attention to design (to be like a matching laptop for Prada), but I always got those powerful but super ugly and chunky Dell laptops. When the MacBook Air first came out, and one professor got it super quickly, he would show off his MacBook Air in his lecture repeating what was on the Ad by taking the MBA out of an envelope in front of all the undergrads, and announcing that he is holding the newly introduced MBA. I asked if he bought lots of Apple stock, but he said no. The other Apple fanboy professor is now high up in a NASA research division, perhaps he's as charismatic as Steve Jobs.

It is probably not always the case, but I think only shallow and simple people like to follow / can follow the Apple Cult. For example, I asked them what can one do with only 1 USB port? They always compromise (e.g. the price, the functionality) with the 'good' look, they adapt their lives around what they own instead of having the products to serve them. But they talk business and care less about optimizing things by themselves because they don't need to go into the universe of computer equipment to find better options.
For sure, some of the Apple designs despite the controversial functionality are still truly representative and MoMA-worthy.

[chyros]

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

Serial numbers on AEK go up to 1M, and there are a lot more AEK2s than that, so this is a species that is not threatened.

Yeah, even I wouldn't object to taking AEKIIs apart xD .

Almost everyone can tell from your videos that you're particularly critical towards Apple's products and Jobs' practices of making his products exclusive and incompatible to the other machines.
I have nothing that I want to defend them, but there're still lots of Apple fanboys and some shouting AEK or AEKII are "best keyboard ever made" (in the universe?).

Well, they're the best keyboards APPLE made, that's for sure xD .

Anyway, you're right, I disapprove of many of their practices. That said, it's not because of that that I think they're OK to scrap. They're good, but not exactly rare or exotic. I love the Dell Bigfoot, but you wouldn't believe how many crappy ones I've taken apart .

I really love old Alps keyboards and will often defend them publicly from disassembly, but only cool, rare, interesting ones.

[Anakey]

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

Serial numbers on AEK go up to 1M, and there are a lot more AEK2s than that, so this is a species that is not threatened.

Yeah, even I wouldn't object to taking AEKIIs apart xD .

Almost everyone can tell from your videos that you're particularly critical towards Apple's products and Jobs' practices of making his products exclusive and incompatible to the other machines.
I have nothing that I want to defend them, but there're still lots of Apple fanboys and some shouting AEK or AEKII are "best keyboard ever made" (in the universe?).

Well, they're the best keyboards APPLE made, that's for sure xD .

Anyway, you're right, I disapprove of many of their practices. That said, it's not because of that that I think they're OK to scrap. They're good, but not exactly rare or exotic. I love the Dell Bigfoot, but you wouldn't believe how many crappy ones I've taken apart .

I really love old Alps keyboards and will often defend them publicly from disassembly, but only cool, rare, interesting ones.

hopefully you wouldn't mind me harvesting the pine white alps from this then http://imgur.com/a/8Rbq8 I have not decided if i want to try and build the trackball into the handwired 75% that i will be using the switches for.

[menuhin]

That's a gorgeous old Alps keyboard, but 'pine' white is also not as common as 'bamboo' white.

Vintage love among hobbyists seems to be: BS > Cherry >= Alps

People into the Cherry MX camp are mostly into trying out new things. There are cost cutting practices but by other companies, e.g. Kailh, and Cherry maintains its own standard. Gateron, Zealios and MOD came out partly due to cost cutting but more as attempts to perfect some advancements. Old boards except for some GMK builds are not as treasured but people are not so hungry for switches. They want to new ones, and the DIY mods widely available.

It's a very different picture in the Alps camp, enthusiasts are quite hungry for switches they want to get hold off. Vintage boards are treasured but they are also the only sources for 'good' switches. People behave like vampires when they look at a board - they are passionate about a vintage board but they also want to 'harm' it and permanently tear it apart for the 'perhaps delicious' essence to compose their flashy new portions.

Should we blame Matias? But Matias has no obligation to produce better switches or to produce any switches.
Alps practised cost cutting itself first by the 'pine' to 'bamboo' and other simplifications, and the feels of their switches were pretty much in decline along their development. There seemed to be companies who advancement in my eyes in Alps history, SMK as to Alps seemed like Gateron as to Cherry MX. However, SMK closed down as well, when everyone has become almost happy about the ubiquitous rubber-dome design.

Pretty much I can say, it's still at the dark age of Alps switches right now.

[E3E]

Just as an aside, I should say there is, on the far end of the Cherry enthusiasts, and not the majority, a desire for vintage OG cap sets, particularly dyesubs. There's also a small but potent demand for rare switches like hirose oranges and nixdorf blacks.

[drevyek]

Well, they're the best keyboards APPLE made, that's for sure xD .

Thems fightin' words

M0116 is sublime. It provides a full numpad, arrow keys (all in a row), a latching caps lock, and the Control key to the left of A.

Plus, Orange Alps. Positively dreamy.

[alh84001]

But does it ping?

[loud_asian]

My first Alps build. Donor board from aek2 for the switch and keycaps, plate from lasergist.

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

A nice build indeed.
What PCB are you using and what is the case?

My 60% build for Alps would ideally allow the SGI Granite set (space bar 6.25u?) and the AEK set (space bar 6.5u on your board?). However, I don't know how to do that.
There's a build log for hotswappable mod by E3E so I can think about having top row to have interchangeable HHKB and ANSI layout at the backspace location.

I believe that SGI granite uses a 7u spacebar

[mike52787]

My first Alps build. Donor board from aek2 for the switch and keycaps, plate from lasergist.

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

A nice build indeed.
What PCB are you using and what is the case?

My 60% build for Alps would ideally allow the SGI Granite set (space bar 6.25u?) and the AEK set (space bar 6.5u on your board?). However, I don't know how to do that.
There's a build log for hotswappable mod by E3E so I can think about having top row to have interchangeable HHKB and ANSI layout at the backspace location.

I believe that SGI granite uses a 7u spacebar

You are quite correct. It uses a normal winkeyless layout. The only real quirk with the SGI cap set is the stepped caps lock.

[chyros]

Well, they're the best keyboards APPLE made, that's for sure xD .

Thems fightin' words

M0116 is sublime. It provides a full numpad, arrow keys (all in a row), a latching caps lock, and the Control key to the left of A.

Plus, Orange Alps. Positively dreamy.

Funny you should say that, I really like my M0116 to be honest. I was thinking of doing a video about it sometime near the end of the year. I agree the layout is quite workable, definitely better than TKL. But still, a fullsize... And the AEK could come with oranges, too, don't forget .

[menuhin]

Well, they're the best keyboards APPLE made, that's for sure xD .

Thems fightin' words

M0116 is sublime. It provides a full numpad, arrow keys (all in a row), a latching caps lock, and the Control key to the left of A.

Plus, Orange Alps. Positively dreamy.

Funny you should say that, I really like my M0116 to be honest. I was thinking of doing a video about it sometime near the end of the year. I agree the layout is quite workable, definitely better than TKL. But still, a fullsize... And the AEK could come with oranges, too, don't forget .

I'm totally into control-key at the caps lock location next to pinky, just how things should look like: control next to pinky, meta next to thumbs.
But M0116 looks too weird, 4.75u space bar, and top row keys moved to the bottom row (tilde and backslash). This provides me a weird set of key caps and quite fewer switches to harvest if I have to harvest. I don't think I will like it enough to keep it. I'll go for Dell or AEKI/II.

[drevyek]

Well, they're the best keyboards APPLE made, that's for sure xD .

Thems fightin' words

M0116 is sublime. It provides a full numpad, arrow keys (all in a row), a latching caps lock, and the Control key to the left of A.

Plus, Orange Alps. Positively dreamy.

Funny you should say that, I really like my M0116 to be honest. I was thinking of doing a video about it sometime near the end of the year. I agree the layout is quite workable, definitely better than TKL. But still, a fullsize... And the AEK could come with oranges, too, don't forget .

Very true! I've been meaning to look at getting a AEK for the caps, as long as the profile matched the M0116's. If they had a stepped caps/control (1.75u), then I could throw them on my SGI board. Their profile is pretty neat for a "flat" layout- all of the alphas (the middle rows) are all the same profile, while the # row is raised up with an extended stem, while the bottom row flattens out. The angle of the contour is also very comparable to that of IBM's caps, standing them up next to each other, just a bit shorter. The face, however, is a bit broader. And, up top, there's the magic button! Such a nice set.

The bottom row is really neat, especially if you convert it with TMK or something similar. I remapped the two keys to the left and right of the spacebar (\| and ~`) to a function layer when held, allowing me to use pgup/pgdn on the arrow keys. If you're a vim user (like me), then it's great for the pseudo-hjkl arrangement. I wish other layouts offered the 5x1u bottom row more often. I've seen it on Northgate keyboards and a few others, but most people with modern keyboards trying to do the same thing often go for replacing /? in favour of the up arrow, which is just messy.

Typing this, I actually just swapped my apple caps onto the SGI board, excluding the modifiers (they're non-standard size, like the AEKII's 0.25u shortened right mods), and they're really quite different. The profile is much more forward than the SGI's OEM profile, which is angled up. The Apple profile is very much like the OEM QWERTY row. The feeling of the plastic is also a bit different. The apple caps feel more close to ABS- not sticky, but smoother. The SGI caps are much more textured.

The M0116 is the board that got me into Alps.

[Jumie]

My first Alps build. Donor board from aek2 for the switch and keycaps, plate from lasergist.

I want to click the link "Reply to moderator", and say, "a forum member murdered yet another vintage Alps board!" 

A nice build indeed.
What PCB are you using and what is the case?

My 60% build for Alps would ideally allow the SGI Granite set (space bar 6.25u?) and the AEK set (space bar 6.5u on your board?). However, I don't know how to do that.
There's a build log for hotswappable mod by E3E so I can think about having top row to have interchangeable HHKB and ANSI layout at the backspace location.

pcb from hasu, case is hammer wannabe replica from taobao..

[Hypersphere]

Could someone please explain the difference(s) between "pine" and "bamboo" Alps switches? I know about the slits and longer tabs in the top switch housing of pine switches, but are there other differences as well?

[chyros]

Could someone please explain the difference(s) between "pine" and "bamboo" Alps switches? I know about the slits and longer tabs in the top switch housing of pine switches, but are there other differences as well?

There can be, but that's not what pine and bamboo refer to; they refer only to the slits.

[mike52787]

Could someone please explain the difference(s) between "pine" and "bamboo" Alps switches? I know about the slits and longer tabs in the top switch housing of pine switches, but are there other differences as well?

During the transition, I suspect there was a change in the material used. Not sure about the validity of that, but there is definitely a difference.

[Hypersphere]

Has anyone tried putting top housings from pine switches onto bamboo switches to see if this effectively transforms the sound and feel of bamboo switches into the sound and feel of pine switches? (I suppose this would be done only for the sake of "keyboard science". If you already had pine switches, you presumably would not want to dismantle them just to upgrade bamboo switches).

[alienman82]

removed.

[alh84001]

Docutech envy . Where did caps form that SGI end up?

[alienman82]

removed.