Thanks everybody for the welcoming
Welcome to Geekhack!
At least it it not just Australia where it is stupidly expensive to import keyboards.
At least custom key caps are relatively expensive to import (in most cases).
I think *maybe* we can beat Australia to importing taxes.
If you compare some fairly popular devices in here you can see the abusive overpricing.
Like the Microsoft Desktop 5000: in US, you find it from USD 50. In Brazil, crazy cheap stores sell it for BRL 275, or about USD135 - and this is for usual,popular stuff.
When it comes to more advanced, hard-to-find (yep, believe me) gear like CMStorm, the cheapest price I could find was about BRL380 , or USD 190.
Import taxes are of, at least, 60% of the gross amount of products+shipping, and state taxes also apply. So, sometimes, if you import by yourself purchasing locally can be cheaper.
So, how do you compare that to Australia?
Mainly, this is why I have been making more of a scavenge job than properly looking for better prices and hardware I go along with. I have only once used a mechanical keyboard, and it was a Model M from an old computer thrown at a deposit from the college I was at that time working. I miss it
Right now, my projects are to assemble a notebook keyboard into a desktop-usable one and also to recover a fairly good rubberdome PS2 oldie. After all, my paycheck does not allow me to go much further than that.
The notebook keyboard is the LG R405's HMB4434EB, while the oldie is an IBM KB-9910. Pretty good quality, both.
I have looked for, but I wasn't able to find anywhere the schematics for this laptop keyboard ribbon. As far as I've understood, it is a fancied-up PS/2 interface.
Do you guys have any references for me to look at?
Thanks!
