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Author Topic: My one-eight-double-oh  (Read 6950 times)

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Offline Soarer

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My one-eight-double-oh
« on: Sat, 31 July 2010, 20:19:34 »
He started life as a Raptor Gaming K1, but then raped a Compaq for her brown cherries.



Still not satiated, he went on to devour the double-shots from an MY7000 and an MX11900.



Then, when his amorous advances on a cute little ML board were rebuffed, he cut off his own cursors!



Surgery to repair the wound was succesful, but left a scar.



But for all that, and even though he is a bit gay, he is a lovable mongrel.



Seriously though, it was quite a bit of work to achieve the "model F layout... horrow ensues" effect! So you better believe that's what I wanted! :)

The Raptor Gaming K1 is simply a Cherry G80-1800 with NKRO. It comes with linear black switches. I couldn't find one in the UK, so I got one from Germany. Not quite what I wanted, but the NKRO was the key thing, along with the ISO layout.

The keys all had these funny little skirts on them. I still can't figure out what they do.
I desoldered and refitted all of the keys in order to get them off, took a few hours.
They're not tall enough to add extra support to the keys, or to support the key lock-outs that are supplied with the board. Almost seems like their only purpose is to thwart a bent fork!



I thought removing the cursor keys would be a simple matter, with the only complication being making a blanking plate for the hole. Well, I was wrong. No stems = always pressed. So I had to put some stems in, but to allow the cover plate to rest nicely, they had to be sanded down level with the switch casing. (Just cutting the '+' part of the stem off left them proud by about 0.5mm).
The cover is held on Blue Peter style, with double-sided sticky tape, but it fits well and doesn't rattle or slap when I rest my thumb on it...



Shift keys... don't match :(
Wish this shift key (without the 'Shift' legend) was a touch smaller...



Hmm... trackball... can't help but notice that the Compaq's trackball might fit in the space left by the cursors. The pcb wouldn't, so it would have to go somewhere else. I doubt I'll try it because I don't really want  a trackball, but it would be cool!



So what's his model number now? G80-1830HPUUK-2?! That'll do, I'll just make it up as I go along like Cherry do :)

Cast:
Raptor Gaming K1
Compaq G80-11801LPAGB/14 (brown stems and springs)
Cherry G80-11900HRMGB/01 (all keys from the main block except the right shift)
Cherry G81-7000HUAUS-2/02 (the rest of the keys)
« Last Edit: Sat, 31 July 2010, 20:29:25 by Soarer »
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Offline Soarer

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 31 July 2010, 20:28:38 »
Hi-res pic of the mongrel moved here because the auto-shrink thing doesn't seem to work in articles (?)

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Offline didjamatic

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 31 July 2010, 23:12:22 »
Why is it missing the arrow keys?
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Offline KillerBee

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 31 July 2010, 23:46:41 »
Quote from: didjamatic;208104
Why is it missing the arrow keys?


He stated  in the article he wanted a model F layout
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Offline J888www

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 04:40:57 »
If you can find a black Access keyboard which have Blank Caps, then you will effectively covered the "surgical wound and leave no scar". The Raptor already devoured three keyboards, one more to satiation does not seem too excess.
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Offline Soarer

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 06:00:08 »
I should've just bought an Access keyboard and saved myself a lot of money and hassle! But I'd already started on this mod by the time I knew of them, and anyway in some ways I prefer it (looks, pcb mounting). What I'd really like is a board like this but with a completely normal main block, i.e. with no shrunken right shift etc.

The Access blanks might fit, but they'd stand proud of the case by a couple of mm. One day I'll probably end up making another cover plate that matches better, but it's not annoying me enough yet :)
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Offline microsoft windows

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 10:18:56 »
Quote from: Soarer;208086
Hi-res pic of the mongrel moved here because the auto-shrink thing doesn't seem to work in articles (?)



Is that a dissasembled compaq I see in the background?
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Offline Soarer

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« Reply #7 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 12:24:08 »
Quote from: microsoft windows;208149
Is that a dissasembled compaq I see in the background?


Is that a whole article I see in the background with all the details? :suspicious:
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Offline Soarer

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« Reply #8 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 12:51:17 »
Hmm, one of a dozen posts each a minute apart... definately a short attention span at least! But when it's the first line (and picture!) in the article... well... if he is trolling he's not very good at it :)
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Offline ecru

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #9 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 16:41:42 »
Glad you are happy with it, though having cursor keys is one reason I like that layout.  

I too bought an Access AKE0XP312/2 board when they came up just after buying a Raptor-Gaming K1.

Personally
Against
* plate mounted switches so you can't do swaps easily
* needs windows to program the keys
* evil empire key has the evil empire logo on it
* backspace and keypad_0 have two switches under them making them twice as hard to press - I programmed each switch seperately then installed single space keycaps
* uk layout

For
* more keys than you can poke a stick at hidden under blanking caps
* programmable (eg hardware dvorak)
* has ps/2 plug (the K1 doesn't work with any usb to ps/2 adaptor I have)

Overall I would recommend the K1.
« Last Edit: Sun, 01 August 2010, 16:44:21 by ecru »
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Offline ch_123

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #10 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 16:55:13 »
Quote from: microsoft windows;208149
Is that a dissasembled compaq I see in the background?


Negatory, that is a rare IBM Model XYZ built specially for Her Majesty's governmnet. I could tell you what switches it has, (cunningly disguised as brown Cherries) but I'd have to kill you.
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Offline Soarer

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #11 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 17:29:41 »
I started out thinking I might keep the cursors, but really, I don't use them, so they were just getting in the way of my thumb whenever I went to use the numpad cursors :)  Each to his own... I know there aren't many who'd agree with my choice!

You probably noticed that I fitted evil empire keys :redface: I tried it with the blanks, but I found they drew attention to themselves, which got a little annoying. I'm so used to seeing the empire logo that I don't really notice it any more. But some alternatives would be nice... 'Fn' or something like that.

This K1 mongrel could well be 'the one' for me. I might switch to blues for a while before deciding which of browns or blues to keep in it, but otherwise I'm happy. It's not perfect, but without building a board from scratch I don't think I'll find a perfect layout for me. Who knows, that still might happen, but I don't underestimate the amount of work involved! Of course, that won't stop me trying out other boards (like the Filco tenkeyless I just bought, damn ebay!) of which an Access might well be one.

Oh, and if anyone's selling an AT model F with UK keys, I could be interested... :tongue:
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Offline ch_123

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« Reply #12 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 17:34:29 »
A UK Model F looks something like this -



They never made them in a proper ISO layout, they just threw on UK keys here and there. It doesn't have that silly key to the left of 1 on a modern UK keyboard.

Really all you need is a US (or German, which are also somewhat common) Model F and throw some UK keycaps from a Model M on.
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Offline Soarer

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #13 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 18:01:08 »
Thanks, I wasn't sure if the caps were interchangable before you said that. I'd rather not swap them off my M, but I guess I could. It would still be nice to find one in the UK to avoid the shipping + customs though :ohwell:

That UK key left of '1' is useless, isn't it! On my ANSI Filco, which I tell Windows is a UK keyboard, I remap it to '\' - so I think I could deal with the F's layout quite happily :smile:
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Offline ch_123

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« Reply #14 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 18:38:58 »
Model M and Model F keys are interchangable, but they are a different profile, and a Model M key on a Model F feels kinda odd... I think the construction of the keycap might be different too.
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Offline Soarer

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« Reply #15 on: Sun, 01 August 2010, 18:54:35 »
Thanks again! Sounds like it could be annoying... maybe I'll just get a US one and ignore the legends (like I do with the Filco).
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Offline J888www

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #16 on: Mon, 02 August 2010, 04:24:59 »
Quote from: ecru;208259
* plate mounted switches so you can't do swaps easily
* needs windows to program the keys
* evil empire key has the evil empire logo on it
* backspace and keypad_0 have two switches under them making them twice as hard to press - I programmed each switch seperately then installed single space keycaps
* uk layout
I agree that exchanging switches maybe a bit of a chore, but afterwards, will you not have increased its' sentimental value ?
Evil empire key and UK layout can easily be negated by SoftProg and blank plates.
Now the double-switch "Back Space" and "0" did cause a little headache, after removing the "right" switch spring (fail), then I simply cut a quarter off both the springs, now the weight is fine.

The card reader, I consider to be a plus as my laptop is just within hands reach, I now use utilize a card for security.

Decided not to use SoftProg to reprogramme the layout, it "grew on me", now it seems more balanced than G80-1800 layout.
« Last Edit: Mon, 02 August 2010, 04:31:13 by J888www »
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Offline didjamatic

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My one-eight-double-oh
« Reply #17 on: Mon, 02 August 2010, 10:50:23 »
Nice mod.

FYI, if you like the Model F layout but want Blue Cherries, I have a very rare Dolch board that DOES NOT have arrow keys, it's like a Model F with a numpad but no arrow key cluster or home/insert key cluster.  The F keys are on top row, not on left.  I'll have to post a pic.  It's not like the G80-1800 layout Dolch boards that you see on ebay.  The one I have is older, probably the predecessor to the PAC60.  But are compact like the 1800's and Dolch PAC boards are.
« Last Edit: Mon, 02 August 2010, 13:39:16 by didjamatic »
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Offline Soarer

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« Reply #18 on: Mon, 02 August 2010, 12:34:59 »
You've definately got my attention with that, didjamatic! I would very much like to see a pic of it.
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Offline didjamatic

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« Reply #19 on: Mon, 02 August 2010, 13:40:14 »
I'll see if I can post a photo tonight.  I ran into it yesterday when going through some other boards so I know where it is.
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Offline didjamatic

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« Reply #20 on: Tue, 03 August 2010, 11:50:19 »
Posted pics here.
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