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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Harry_Y on Tue, 08 June 2010, 20:38:50

Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: Harry_Y on Tue, 08 June 2010, 20:38:50
I just ordered a couple of these off of Amazon for $37.92 each

It comes with an AT style end so I added an AT to PS/2 adapter for one
and on the other I'll probably just change out the cable to a PS/2 type.

I figured if I don't like it I'll just use it on my milling machine.

Does anyone know if they are good or bad?

Thank you

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410YRZ5E6ML._SS500_.jpg)
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: erricrice on Tue, 08 June 2010, 21:48:55
Ooo, sorry, you did bad.  Dem's rubber domes.  And bad ones at that

More here. (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=5931&do=comments&highlight=siig+minitouch)
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: Harry_Y on Tue, 08 June 2010, 22:35:20
Quote from: erricrice;191139
Ooo, sorry, you did bad.  Dem's rubber domes.  And bad ones at that

More here. (http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=5931&do=comments&highlight=siig+minitouch)

Dang, oh well good thing they were cheap
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: didjamatic on Tue, 08 June 2010, 23:38:17
Since it's amazon, you can return it.  If you find any wording in the listing that is inaccurate, they will cover return shipping and give a full refund.
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: Nonmouse on Wed, 09 June 2010, 00:13:39
Next time, check with us first...  =D
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: Harry_Y on Wed, 09 June 2010, 07:26:38
Quote from: Nonmouse;191178
Next time, check with us first...  =D


Yep!

I was Lurking, Ordered the keyboards, then joined here.

They won't go to waste since I can put one on
my milling machine and the other on my server.
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: aegrotatio on Thu, 10 June 2010, 12:27:53
Hey, they're not bad.  These keyboards are great.
You're probably going to get one with black keys (no grey keys) unless the vendor has new/old stock of the original SIIG with the two-tone look.  My warranty replacement turns out to be all black.

This board is also still being produced by BTC as the BTC-5100C in both black and ivory models.  The ivory model is two-tone.  My kid and I were swapping the black and ivory keycaps for a new look.
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 10 June 2010, 12:38:06
They're not completely horrid, just not mechanical. They also I believe still have a pcb, so you can hack them and add mechanical switches to them if you want.  My steampunk mechanical hack is based on the btc board which is the same as those.
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: Harry_Y on Thu, 10 June 2010, 12:53:17
I ordered an Siig Minitouch with ALPS (GH version) so
I'll just use these on my server and my milling machine
and the good one on my desktop
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 10 June 2010, 14:36:34
The btc board version of this that I had was the only keyboard that I've ever used that  made my fingers hurt after a couple of hours of typing on it. lol  Probably the rubber domes are too stiff initially until they get some wear on them.
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: aegrotatio on Fri, 11 June 2010, 11:28:03
Harry, where did you find the ALPS Minitouch board?
***EDIT*** I just noticed you said "GH" version.

SPeaking of feel and breaking in, the earlier SIIG rubber dome board has a softer feel.  The replacement one (with unmistakeable BTC label on the back next to the SIIG one) is stiffer and takes a few weeks to break in.

I have been using these boards at work every day since they first came out.  They last about five years.  The SIIG-branded model has a five-year warranty.  The only real complaint I have is the arrow key arrangement, but we Emacs and vi users don't use arrow keys that much.

In stores now is a mini, laptop-style keyboard sold by SIIG which I won't be using.

The BTC 5100C model comes with a PS/2 port.  Yow!!
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: Harry_Y on Fri, 11 June 2010, 12:27:54
Quote from: aegrotatio;192077
......... but we Emacs and vi users don't use arrow keys that much.
.........

You just eased a concern I had, that it would work with Linux

I figured it would but.......
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: Harry_Y on Fri, 11 June 2010, 16:40:02
Well the ones from Amazon came in today. They are all black and not like the picture.
I'm undecided on weather or not I like the all black keys, I did like th two tone like in the picture.

It is a bit stiff compared to other rubber domes i have felt (I'm using it now) .

I don't think I would like this as a daily driver but for a machine I type on rarely it should be fine.
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: aegrotatio on Sat, 26 June 2010, 12:52:31
I'm looking for people who have the two-tone black model of the SIIG Minitouch Plus.  I once had two but they both had keys break on them and I replaced them under the 5-year warranty with the newer single-tone black model.  This new model is also the one with the "BTC-5100C" label on the back.

I'm wondering though if anyone has the two-tone black model could tell me if there are write stabilizers under any of the wider keys.  THe keyboard has mounting points for them but they are not present.  I believe the keycaps use extra posts and some plastic landing chads to stabilize the key as much as possible but I don't really remember the older two-tone black model to be as unstable so I'm wondering if the older model had a wire stabilizer.
Title: Siig Kb1941 (Did I do Good or Bad?)
Post by: EverythingIBM on Sat, 26 June 2010, 13:24:50
The two-tone dark grey on black looks really good actually (yeah, it would be awesome to put some new keyswitches on one of those boards). I wish keyboards today were still two-tone, call me nostalgic, but I like it.

Speaking of which, someone with a black model M should place some dark grey keys on it and see how a two-tone would look on one of those.