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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: ITzNybble on Thu, 20 October 2011, 18:43:04

Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Thu, 20 October 2011, 18:43:04
I found this in a tub marked keyboards at work today and to my surprise was Colicky. I quickly took a key off to find blue alps switches but have no idea who makes this board also could I use it on a laptop if I got the right converter for it

Sent from my Photon 4G
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Thu, 20 October 2011, 18:44:27
(http://tapatalk.com/mu/425748bc-b236-c17f.jpg)

(http://tapatalk.com/mu/425748bc-b246-0b0f.jpg)

(http://tapatalk.com/mu/425748bc-b259-c3ee.jpg)

Sent from my Photon 4G
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Clickey on Thu, 20 October 2011, 18:48:17
Ah, those are not blue ALPS, they are an ALPS copy called Monterey. The keyboard is made by Monterey as well as the switch. Nice find. That is not an XT server board, so if it has 5 pins it is AT and easilly converted to PS2 and USB (therefore usable on your laptop), if it has 6pins it is PS2 and directly convertable to USB.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: spolia optima on Thu, 20 October 2011, 19:35:25
Those blue monterey switches are NICE
It's built like a simplified ALPS switch, but feels more like a more crisp blue MX if you ask me
One of the best less-than-common switches out there.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Retox on Thu, 20 October 2011, 19:36:07
Nice find... why can't people throw away cool keyboards near me?
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: spolia optima on Thu, 20 October 2011, 19:37:04
stop looking... they will come to you
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Thu, 20 October 2011, 22:23:31
It was just in a tubaware bin at work. There is another one not sure if it is same manufacturer or not but with white switches that look basically the same. Ill post pictures in the morning is there a wiki on cleaning keys and boards?

Sent from my Photon 4G
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Thu, 20 October 2011, 22:55:43
ripster, can iz haz link now?

Sent with all my love.... to ripster
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: HWI on Thu, 20 October 2011, 22:57:31
I like your avatar curro123083. Are they coming out with another season?
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Thu, 20 October 2011, 23:02:01
It was suppose to be summer 2011 but so far nothing but I do believe it us in the works. ripster, thank you. Also where is a good place to by an AT to USB dongle on the cheap if that's what I need the pin is a large. Circle with 5 pins.

Sent with all my love.... to ripster
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: HWI on Thu, 20 October 2011, 23:24:16
Quote from: curro123083;435838
It was suppose to be summer 2011 but so far nothing but I do believe it us in the works.
Awesome. I just saw it about a month ago and liked it a lot, so I was really hoping for another season.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Thu, 20 October 2011, 23:45:06
Quote from: HWI;435845
Awesome. I just saw it about a month ago and liked it a lot, so I was really hoping for another season.

Yea its cool. If you likes that give blue exorcist a try I'm sure you will like it

Sent with all my love.... to ripster
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: HWI on Fri, 21 October 2011, 00:28:50
Quote from: curro123083;435852
Yea its cool. If you likes that give blue exorcist a try I'm sure you will like it

Sent with all my love.... to ripster
I'll check it out, thanks for the suggestion.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: woody on Fri, 21 October 2011, 04:30:04
Quote from: ripster;435823
And in more trivia news, I'm pretty sure Montereys are made by Chicony.  Or at least a moribund division of Chicony.

I was left with the impression Monterey is SMK. Could be connected to Chicony, too.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Fri, 21 October 2011, 08:21:49
Okay ripster I'll calm down :(. The other board at work ended up being a individual rubberdome, I didn't take a good look last night at it and checked it this morning. oh well 1 Mechanical in a lot of 6 is not so bad! I do have to ask my boss if I can either take it or pay a small fee for it :), Ill let everyone know if I do end up owning it. If I do not own it, I will just use it at work and most likley keep my WASD at home once I get that! The board as an AT plug so to use it with USB, would I? AT ->PS/2->USB or is there a AT->USB adapter?

CoCo
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Fri, 21 October 2011, 19:53:21
Okay guys, when I asked my boss if I could have the board he asked me which on and I said the one on my desk and told him to take a look and he came back laughing saying sure its yours that thing is ancient... I just smiled and had a grin on my face knowing he had no idea that it is a mechanical even though he still wouldn't care. Gonna. Clean it this weekend. And what adapter do I need to get an AT plug to USB so I can use this bad boy?
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: N8N on Fri, 21 October 2011, 20:01:04
AFAIK there is no direct AT to USB adapter, but you can get a passive AT to PS/2 adapter and then use the Belkin or Blue Cube and you're good to go.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Fri, 21 October 2011, 21:00:25
Quote from: N8N;436439
AFAIK there is no direct AT to USB adapter, but you can get a passive AT to PS/2 adapter and then use the Belkin or Blue Cube and you're good to go.

Okay sounds great and what's AFAIK?  Also the legends are pad printed on and I'm not sure on the best method of De yellowing the keys and board are?

Sent with all my love.... to ripster
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: HWI on Fri, 21 October 2011, 22:04:24
Quote from: curro123083;436450
what's AFAIK?
as far as I know
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Clickey on Sat, 22 October 2011, 03:28:33
AT to PS2 adaptor $2-$5 on ebay, then PS2 to USB adaptor, another $2-$5. There is a bunch of Chinese mass sellers, that have brand new ones priced depending on how many you buy. Make sure you get the ACTIVE PS2 to USB adaptor and not the passive one (wont work).

Why do you say Chicony made Montereys? Surely Chloe (or whoever was first to name them in English) named the switch after its maker. I know they are usually found in Chicony, but they used so many different switches they didn't make almost any of them.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Sat, 22 October 2011, 09:28:40
Is it possible to mod this to straight USB?

Sent with all my love.... to ripster
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Findecanor on Sat, 22 October 2011, 12:06:12
These switches were called "Monterey switches" in the keyboard community when someone found them in a Monterey keyboard.
The mechanism is very close to SMK switches, but there has been discussion about how it is likely not made by SMK.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Sat, 22 October 2011, 13:20:43
I took it apart last night and waals suprised to find it vet clean. Today I am going to put the keys in a hydrogen peroxide and oxy clean mixture and put it out in the sun for the day. Ill post before and after pics in a couple of days
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Sat, 22 October 2011, 14:03:30
Nice!.. if this keyboard does work then I will hold off on buying my WASD until Q1 of 2012 so I can get the new keycao colors and white base
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: fohat.digs on Sat, 22 October 2011, 16:41:00
A good soak (an hour has usually been plenty) in a hot water solution of Oxi-clean (I use Biz) and powdered laundry detergent (I use Charlie's) has almost never failed to clean keys for me, without any additional work such as scrubbing.

What is with the "active" vs "passive" adapters, and all the warnings? I have at least half a dozen of the cheapest adapters around, DIN-to-PS2, PS2-to-USB, and have used them with many brands of vintage keyboards including IBM (including Model F XT and AT), Chicony, Compaq, Dell, NMB, BTC, and lots of others.

They have never failed to function properly, even on laptops, under Windows and Linux, except when the laptop was on battery power and then I don't think it would have mattered anyway.

Have I just been supremely lucky? Or does my habit of building larger power supplies into my cabinets, and keeping cable lengths as short as possible, help me out here?

Keeping everything plugged in nice and tight seems to offer a bigger problem. Why are PS2 connectors on motherboards so lame?
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Mon, 24 October 2011, 22:42:07
Does anyone know where I could get keycaps for this board or maybe pick up a old set. When trying to clean them they warped a ill so I am need of a new set :(
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Clickey on Mon, 24 October 2011, 22:58:55
Quote from: fohat.digs;436919
A good soak (an hour has usually been plenty) in a hot water solution of Oxi-clean (I use Biz) and powdered laundry detergent (I use Charlie's) has almost never failed to clean keys for me, without any additional work such as scrubbing.

What is with the "active" vs "passive" adapters, and all the warnings? I have at least half a dozen of the cheapest adapters around, DIN-to-PS2, PS2-to-USB, and have used them with many brands of vintage keyboards including IBM (including Model F XT and AT), Chicony, Compaq, Dell, NMB, BTC, and lots of others.

They have never failed to function properly, even on laptops, under Windows and Linux, except when the laptop was on battery power and then I don't think it would have mattered anyway.

Have I just been supremely lucky? Or does my habit of building larger power supplies into my cabinets, and keeping cable lengths as short as possible, help me out here?

Keeping everything plugged in nice and tight seems to offer a bigger problem. Why are PS2 connectors on motherboards so lame?


You must of bought an active USB adaptor luckilly, passive ones do not work on most keyboards.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Clickey on Mon, 24 October 2011, 23:00:17
Quote from: curro123083;438595
Does anyone know where I could get keycaps for this board or maybe pick up a old set. When trying to clean them they warped a ill so I am need of a new set :(


ALPS keycaps are supposedly compatible with Monterys.
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Tue, 25 October 2011, 08:10:59
Quote from: Clickey;438605
ALPS keycaps are supposedly compatible with Monterys.
Okay, Thanks. Now I need to find a BigAss enter and a small backspace in Alps, Unless anyone has the whole set lol
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Tue, 25 October 2011, 09:30:17
Im trying to look this up online and I all I can seem to find is it is a monterey K108  with some blue switch. Does anyone know of a good website where I can buy a whole keycap set that will work with the switches on this board as well as the layout of the keys? Much appreciated if someone can point me in the right direction. Right now I have a keyboard which is super clean but no key caps :(
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Findecanor on Tue, 25 October 2011, 09:33:57
Quote from: curro123083;438797
Okay, Thanks. Now I need to find a BigAss enter and a small backspace in Alps
While the size and profile of ALPS key caps is almost always the same, the stabilizers may differ. For instance, there are keyboards with ALPS switches but Cherry-compatible stabilizers ...
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Touch_It on Tue, 25 October 2011, 10:21:00
i have a similar keyboard that has monterays and is very easily moddeded with a straight cable. just find a keyboard with a ps2 end that has a 4 pin connector on the otherside and swap.

(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/IMG_0443.jpg)

http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/?action=view¤t=IMG_0441.jpg

(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/2011-05-01195853.jpg)

(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/2011-05-01195919.jpg)
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: ITzNybble on Tue, 25 October 2011, 10:52:05
Quote from: Touch_It;438864
i have a similar keyboard that has monterays and is very easily moddeded with a straight cable. just find a keyboard with a ps2 end that has a 4 pin connector on the otherside and swap.

Show Image
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/IMG_0443.jpg)


http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/?action=view¤t=IMG_0441.jpg

Show Image
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/2011-05-01195853.jpg)


Show Image
(http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z274/luckyduck_man/2011-05-01195919.jpg)

Oh Thanks, Ill look into that. On a side note what is the model number on that board? If I can get a broken one of those I can just use the keycaps or something
Title: What keyboard is this?
Post by: Touch_It on Wed, 26 October 2011, 10:32:45
E8HKB-5981.  UNSURE about the switches off the top of my head

@ripster if u were talking about the feet on my keyboard is sort of. still have some rubber feel but definitely have started to dry