Hi guys, I've been on the hunt for any keyboards that may have ALPs browns, and I came upon a few such as this ebay post https://www.ebay.com/itm/Texas-Instruments-Professional-Computer-Vintage-PC-Alternative-Rare/254568688608?hash=item3b4579ebe0:g:XxYAAOSwHt9elPd0
Or this other ebay post: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Well-Equiped-Texas-Instruments-Professional-Computer-Color-monitor-KB-Software/284048936351?hash=item4222a2cd9f:g:EfYAAOSwFkxfigGW
These two keyboards are very similar to the Texas Instruments low profile keyboard that harbors the brown alps, however this model has an offset caps-lock light versus the original brown alps model having a centered caps lock light, as seen in this GH post (the first reply): https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=64966.0.
Can someone confirm that these keyboards that have a different caps lock key come with ALPs switches, or has anyone ever had any experience with these TI low profile keyboards? I would love to have some info on these.
Well first things first, have you asked the seller to try and pop off a cap (kinda like turning the computer on and off, it seems dumb but people forget sometimes lol)?
While I don't have any hard evidence (or much information honestly, TI boards outside of the TI 99 aren't the most well-documented) it appears that the only switches that TI is documented to have used in past that had LED slots in the corner rather than the center of the switches are
Mitsumi's (should be noted that the 99 used
KSD Mitsumi's which these are obviously not, so this is connecting TI to Mitsumi in general, not specific). What's weird is that with every board I've seen them on, the LED was on the top left, not right. But it's pretty common for old boards to flip their switches upside-down and sideways, so that doesn't exactly rule them out. It should also be noted that some low profile TIs with brown alps
had these weird, square-post mounts, though those boards didn't appear to have any integrated LEDs at all. But with how much those TIs are listed for, I wouldn't exactly want to take that chance, especially considering how mediocre/easy to find Mistumi's are.
Another weird thing is that a lot TI low profiles that people have found with regular brown alps don't seem to have labels on the bottom, just a space where one would go.
Does anyone with more alps knowledge know if they ever used keycaps with LED holes that were offset from the switch's LED for no particular reason?
And if you don't get a better answer here, I would consider just making this question its own thread. Also, have you tried asking on DT? Considering the first board you posted has a
broken switch that's missing its top, someone could probably identify it by the internals