Alps Appreciation Thread

[E3E]

Well earlier at least. I'm talking $200+

They were getting crazy at one point, but I feel like it was a combination of troll bidders and collectors, perhaps desperate and/or loaded folks needing there SKCM Blue fix sprinkled in.

I'm going to just go for the Matias Quiet Click. I was just playing with a Matias Click switch and love how smooth and snappy it is and I love the ever so slightly shorter travel of ALPS in general.

Now I just have to choose whether I want the Matias Quiet Mini or the KBParadise V80, first world problem.

I guess that's pretty much the choice you have if you want to go modern. I understand possibly not having the means to desolder boards, but I would recommend using an old SKCM tactile switch series of Matias.

[klennkellon]

I do too, I would really like a TKL board with orange alps.

I suppose I could just get the V80 and then some day in the future I can buy an AEK 1 and do a switch swap.

[BlueNalgene]

I do too, I would really like a TKL board with orange alps.

I suppose I could just get the V80 and then some day in the future I can buy an AEK 1 and do a switch swap.

Cough cough

Oh my, that certainly is an annoying cough.

[klennkellon]

I do too, I would really like a TKL board with orange alps.

I suppose I could just get the V80 and then some day in the future I can buy an AEK 1 and do a switch swap.

Cough cough

Oh my, that certainly is an annoying cough.

I've never been involved with one of those partys/massif, how do they work?

[BlueNalgene]

I do too, I would really like a TKL board with orange alps.

I suppose I could just get the V80 and then some day in the future I can buy an AEK 1 and do a switch swap.

Cough cough

Oh my, that certainly is an annoying cough.

I've never been involved with one of those partys/massif, how do they work?

When the GB launches, people will tell me what they want.  When it is closed, I invoice participants for the cost and order the things.  By buying as a group, we get a better price.  It will probably take a month or two for me to get everything sent to me, then I package the orders and mail them out. 

There is definitely a degree of trust involved in this, and it is a much more delayed gratification.  However, if you were looking for something which you would be interested in modding, this might be something to consider.

[cheddarbek]

I do too, I would really like a TKL board with orange alps.

I suppose I could just get the V80 and then some day in the future I can buy an AEK 1 and do a switch swap.

Cough cough

Oh my, that certainly is an annoying cough.

I've never been involved with one of those partys/massif, how do they work?

When the GB launches, people will tell me what they want.  When it is closed, I invoice participants for the cost and order the things.  By buying as a group, we get a better price.  It will probably take a month or two for me to get everything sent to me, then I package the orders and mail them out. 

There is definitely a degree of trust involved in this, and it is a much more delayed gratification.  However, if you were looking for something which you would be interested in modding, this might be something to consider.

Not that it's really needed, considering what a smashing success Alps Party 3 was, but I'd certainly vouch for you Blue. The guy runs one top-notch buy. A++ would join a BlueNalgene GB again.

[Mattr567]

This guy is so full of **** http://www.ebay.com/itm/1991-APL-keycaps-IBM-Model-M-mechanical-clicky-keyboard-with-SDL-PS-2-cable-/291729465530?hash=item43ec6e60ba:g:NLUAAOSwgApXAvgu

Original APL key's my ass.

[CPTBadAss]

E3E you had the same idea I did but I just realized my Leeku 3000 board only supports MX . I've had this Hamburger SV case for ages and I've realized I just want to make an Alps keyboard in a classic Cherry case. So sick to see the execution. Just sad I can't do the same now....

And those next boards are awesome. I think I might have to break down and buy one. I love the layout and it'd be nice to swap in Matias Quiets.

[Badwrench]

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 




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[klennkellon]

As far as ALPS clones go, how are the "alps.tw Type T1" ?

[E3E]

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

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Is that the new version of the Infinity with backlighting?  I should've bought a PCB, damn.

[chyros]

As far as ALPS clones go, how are the "alps.tw Type T1" ?

The copper leaf ones tend to not be as good as the steel leaf ones. Best clones that have actually been used in boards that I've tried so far are Type OA2s. Quite close to white Alps, but a little lighter. Noise isn't as good though.

[merlin64]

Badwrench, those switches look good 

[CPTBadAss]

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

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Nice looking board man!

[romevi]

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

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That's a nice case. Do you know who makes it?

[need]

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

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That's a nice case. Do you know who makes it?

it looks like either tex or zyptyze

[Badwrench]

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

Show Image

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Is that the new version of the Infinity with backlighting?  I should've bought a PCB, damn.

Nope, it is a V1 with the plate that is a bit too thick for alps to properly lock in.  Tiny bit of filing to the lock tabs on the switches made it much better, but I still will have to be careful changing caps out. 

Badwrench, those switches look good 

Thank you again.  I am really looking forward to using this one once the replacement caps ship from the Alpine Winter GB. 

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

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Nice looking board man!

Thank you.  I am really pleased with the way it turned out.  I am quite stoked on the dampened whites.  As much as I like the Matias Quiets Clicks, I really feel that this is really what they were going for.  This quieter than a full clicky switch, but still very crisp feeling, while the QC have a slight bit of a soft or mushy feel. 

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

Show Image

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That's a nice case. Do you know who makes it?

This is the original Tex case that was on Massdrop:  https://www.massdrop.com/buy/tex-acrylic-cnc-keyboard-case

[mike52787]

My new baby:

hasu Alps64 with bluenalgene's infinity plate (thanks skaloola!) with click modded alps skcl green. feels great. Really ghetto spacebar right now, and no case, but I have an enter key and case in the mail. The keyset is from a focus 2001 and has the windows keys and application key from an omnikey 104. Really loving the 60% layout.

My other new board:

neXt non ADB board, Alps SKCM cream. Feels good man. Great WoB Doubleshot alps keycaps.

[E3E]

My new baby:

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hasu Alps64 with bluenalgene's infinity plate (thanks skaloola!) with click modded alps skcl green. feels great. Really ghetto spacebar right now, and no case, but I have an enter key and case in the mail. The keyset is from a focus 2001 and has the windows keys and application key from an omnikey 104. Really loving the 60% layout.

How on earth do you click mod a linear switch?  :eek: Did you just put a top and leaf from a clicky Alps switch onto the green sliders?

My other new board:

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neXt non ADB board, Alps SKCM cream. Feels good man. Great WoB Doubleshot alps keycaps.

All aboard the NeXT train!

Just finished assembling the Infinity that vivalarevelucion sent me.  Built with dampened white alps and cnc acrylic case.   Can't wait to get some caps on it.  Really liking the feel of these switches so far. 

Show Image

Show Image

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Is that the new version of the Infinity with backlighting?  I should've bought a PCB, damn.

Nope, it is a V1 with the plate that is a bit too thick for alps to properly lock in.  Tiny bit of filing to the lock tabs on the switches made it much better, but I still will have to be careful changing caps out. 

Oh, the PCB looked more blue than I remember it being, but it has been a bit since I've really looked at the Infinity's PCB. Yeah, I remember Alps not locking in too tightly with the Infinity though it wasn't too bad imo.

[mike52787]

yeah man, I used white alps top housing and click leaf on skcl greens.

[E3E]

Nice man, you've made your own -clicky- SKCM Green switches. I love when people experiment in this hobby.

[chyros]

Nice man, you've made your own -clicky- SKCM Green switches. I love when people experiment in this hobby.

Speaking of clicky SKCM Green switches, I don't know if you had noticed yet, but you can't actually click-mod the ACTUAL SKCM Green, i.e. Lime, switches.

I agree btw, I love experimenting with this hobby, and Alps are perfect for that .

[E3E]

Nice man, you've made your own -clicky- SKCM Green switches. I love when people experiment in this hobby.

Speaking of clicky SKCM Green switches, I don't know if you had noticed yet, but you can't actually click-mod the ACTUAL SKCM Green, i.e. Lime, switches.

I agree btw, I love experimenting with this hobby, and Alps are perfect for that .

Oh really? You know, I was wondering about that since they use individual leaves unlike SKCM Brown, but after thinking about it a bit more, it did seem more unlikely thanks to the force curve/shape of the leaf. Doesn't seem like it'd create as much of a click as a click-modded tactile leaf of a standard shape.

Or did you mean to say that you CAN click mod them? I wouldn't dare try it because of the fact my switches belong to those boards, but if I had loose switches, I'd have definitely played around with the mod.

Yep, Alps are soooo fantastic for tinkering and modding. Love that aspect about them They're a very charming family of switches with that and all the variety they have too.

[chyros]

Nice man, you've made your own -clicky- SKCM Green switches. I love when people experiment in this hobby.

Speaking of clicky SKCM Green switches, I don't know if you had noticed yet, but you can't actually click-mod the ACTUAL SKCM Green, i.e. Lime, switches.

I agree btw, I love experimenting with this hobby, and Alps are perfect for that .

Oh really? You know, I was wondering about that since they use individual leaves unlike SKCM Brown, but after thinking about it a bit more, it did seem more unlikely thanks to the force curve/shape of the leaf. Doesn't seem like it'd create as much of a click as a click-modded tactile leaf of a standard shape.

Or did you mean to say that you CAN click mod them? I wouldn't dare try it because of the fact my switches belong to those boards, but if I had loose switches, I'd have definitely played around with the mod.

Yep, Alps are soooo fantastic for tinkering and modding. Love that aspect about them They're a very charming family of switches with that and all the variety they have too.

Nope, you can snip the top AND bottom tabs off and it will do jack. Of course you can stick in a white Alps leaf but that really isn't very interesting.

[klennkellon]

Tonight I'm going to order a V80 with Matias Quiet, any final suggestions before I pull the trigger?

[CPTBadAss]

Tonight I'm going to order a V80 with Matias Quiet, any final suggestions before I pull the trigger?

I suggest that you should just do it 'cause I like that board and those switches.

[fohat.digs]

Tonight I'm going to order a V80 with Matias Quiet, any final suggestions before I pull the trigger?

Given what you have said about your "true" object of desire, that will get you very close.

Also, it will be brand new, fully warranted, and zero work straight out of the box.

[klennkellon]

Tonight I'm going to order a V80 with Matias Quiet, any final suggestions before I pull the trigger?

Given what you have said about your "true" object of desire, that will get you very close.

Also, it will be brand new, fully warranted, and zero work straight out of the box.

Yeppers, plus I have a good TKL PCB I can stick any switches I want in and not have to do any programming.

[klennkellon]

I'll see about doing an unboxing of it as well.

[Mattr567]

Lol who is this. It better be one of you http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/wan/5612840709.html

[mike52787]

Lol who is this. It better be one of you http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/wan/5612840709.html

Lmao I dont think hes gonna get too many hits based on how rare those machines are, but I respect his plight for brown alps!

[E3E]

Lol who is this. It better be one of you http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/wan/5612840709.html

It's clearly someone getting psyched about the LZ Alps PCBs and Plates being shipped soon.

I NEED ALL THE BROWN ALPS, STAT!

[mike52787]

What other boards other than the pc convertible did brown alps come in?

[Mattr567]

What other boards other than the pc convertible did brown alps come in?

Some Xerox and Texas Instrument keyboards. Both of those are much rarer to find however than the 5140. So the 5140 is still your best bet. Craigslist is the best place to find them since ebay prices for them are really high.

Just found a $35 5140 on craigslist on the east coast and contacted the guy. Little hope though as I remember contacting him a while back and getting no reply There was another guy w/ 2 of 'em who lives 5 minutes away but wanted 90 for a non working one and 150 for the other. Just wanted the keyboards man! Especially from the broken ones lol.

[mike52787]

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?52727-Wanted-IBM-PC-Convertible-keyboards&p=415099#post415099 Maybe the boys over at the vintage computer forums can hook us up with a few.

[emdude]

The guys at these vintage computer forums don't seem to take kindly to "keyboard poachers."

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?52554-Wanted-IBM-3277-78-79-and-5251-display-terminal-keyboars

[mike52787]

The guys at these vintage computer forums don't seem to take kindly to "keyboard poachers."

http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?52554-Wanted-IBM-3277-78-79-and-5251-display-terminal-keyboars

Haha theyre really nice guys over there, and I honestly cant blame them. I have a small collection of vintage pcs that they have helped me tremendously in the past with.

[Mattr567]

I guess were keyboard pirates lol. We ride the sea of Alps and other vintage switches, searching high and low to seize and destroy keyboards for the treasure inside. A collectors worst enemy.

[emdude]

Especially if SKCM Blue is involved!  A while back there was an eBay listing for a nice, complete Leading Edge system with DC-2014 keyboard and people were asking the poor seller to sell them just the keyboard. 

[mike52787]

Alps is like cocaine. once you try it youre terribly addicted. Atleast with BS there was only a few boards made, that kept the wallethacking to a manageable level. I just cant stop with these alps boards. Someone needs to get me an intervention.

[kiwi99]

does anyone know what sized LEDs fit in the SKCL Greens? I'm tempted to pick up a few for some indicator switches and jerry rig something.

[klennkellon]

Just ordered the V80 with Matias Quiet Clicks. Hopefully it will arrive around Tuesday.

[merlin64]

Alps is like cocaine. once you try it youre terribly addicted. Atleast with BS there was only a few boards made, that kept the wallethacking to a manageable level. I just cant stop with these alps boards. Someone needs to get me an intervention.

For me, it started with looking for tactility which I could not find even on MX clears. I went from SKCM Black -> SKCM White Damped, then found a SKCM Brown, but settled on a SKCM Orange for daily driver at work, then found a SKCM blue just for the novelty and am currently gathering SKCL greens for another alps build.

[chyros]

Alps is like cocaine. once you try it youre terribly addicted. Atleast with BS there was only a few boards made, that kept the wallethacking to a manageable level. I just cant stop with these alps boards. Someone needs to get me an intervention.

For me, it started with looking for tactility which I could not find even on MX clears. I went from SKCM Black -> SKCM White Damped, then found a SKCM Brown, but settled on a SKCM Orange for daily driver at work, then found a SKCM blue just for the novelty and am currently gathering SKCL greens for another alps build.

And the hole goes way deeper even than that xD .

[mike52787]

Alps is like cocaine. once you try it youre terribly addicted. Atleast with BS there was only a few boards made, that kept the wallethacking to a manageable level. I just cant stop with these alps boards. Someone needs to get me an intervention.

For me, it started with looking for tactility which I could not find even on MX clears. I went from SKCM Black -> SKCM White Damped, then found a SKCM Brown, but settled on a SKCM Orange for daily driver at work, then found a SKCM blue just for the novelty and am currently gathering SKCL greens for another alps build.

And the hole goes way deeper even than that xD .

Have you gotten your hands on a skfl board yet? If so I would love to see it reviewed!


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[Blaise170]

Personally, I find SKFL/SKFS to be very underwhelming compared to SKCL/SKCM.

[mike52787]

Personally, I find SKFL/SKFS to be very underwhelming compared to SKCL/SKCM.

Ive never tried them, and any review by chyros is a good review. what are they like though? Ive heard theyre super smooth


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[Blaise170]

Last time I had SKFS they reminded me of dampened Cream switches, with shorter travel.

[chyros]

Alps is like cocaine. once you try it youre terribly addicted. Atleast with BS there was only a few boards made, that kept the wallethacking to a manageable level. I just cant stop with these alps boards. Someone needs to get me an intervention.

For me, it started with looking for tactility which I could not find even on MX clears. I went from SKCM Black -> SKCM White Damped, then found a SKCM Brown, but settled on a SKCM Orange for daily driver at work, then found a SKCM blue just for the novelty and am currently gathering SKCL greens for another alps build.

And the hole goes way deeper even than that xD .

Have you gotten your hands on a skfl board yet? If so I would love to see it reviewed!

Nope, not yet!

[E3E]

does anyone know what sized LEDs fit in the SKCL Greens? I'm tempted to pick up a few for some indicator switches and jerry rig something.

You're going to want some 2x5x7mm rectangular LEDs.