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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: krisbo on Sun, 20 March 2011, 08:11:14

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: krisbo on Sun, 20 March 2011, 08:11:14

So while waiting on my Filco Tenkeyless I thought I'd go through some hard rubbish (collections started last week in my area) and I found this:


(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/5542294527_c87bb65fe6_z.jpg)

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/5542295631_dd6af5652f_z.jpg)

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5542884980_835aca43b6_z.jpg)

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5260/5542880590_aeb5349b85_z.jpg)

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5099/5542879552_b640e66da5_z.jpg)
(also says "No.80756390" on the back bottom-right corner)


I guess it could use a clean. And somebody from a bygone era has stuck a bunch of paper reminders for Lotus 1-2-3 on it. But anyways what are these switches, 'blue alps'? Montery SMK's?

Feels marvelous to type on - quite light/smooth? Satisfying click. Though I don't have any other mechanicals to compare it to yet.

Pretty excited about this find!! I will have to get back home before I can try typing with it.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: sixty on Sun, 20 March 2011, 13:40:24

real blue alps. board prolly worth anything between $100 to $300 on eBay.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: False_Dmitry_II on Sun, 20 March 2011, 17:17:16

hard rubbish?

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: krisbo on Sun, 20 March 2011, 19:08:28

Quote from: sixty;314844

real blue alps. board prolly worth anything between $100 to $300 on eBay.

Nice! Though I shant be selling this!

Quote from: ripster;314847

I think another factor in a Collectors Price is whether the calculator works.  A lot of them don't.

Weird thing is right when I picket it up I pressed CAL ON and the calculator flickered on for a second, if you can believe that. Or maybe I was seeing things? I wonder is it supposed to be plugged in for the calculator to work? Thought maybe it didn't as it has a solar panel on it - which would have been nifty. Haven't got the adapter for this yet so can't try it out plugged :S

Quote from: False_Dmitry_II;314943

hard rubbish?

What you might call domestic waste / municipal / solid waste? They collect it from the street outside people's houses twice a year. Furniture, old appliances, detritus/other ...

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 20 March 2011, 19:14:10

That's one hell of a find. Real-deal Blue Alps. Lighter than Model M buckling springs, and almost as tactile.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: False_Dmitry_II on Mon, 21 March 2011, 04:29:04

I see. In the US, how that is handled depends on the local, somtimes even city government not county government, so you could literally move 30 minutes away and have entirely different rules regulations and procedures for that sort of thing. My own particular one, you just call the actual trash collectors and tell them you have a big item (like couch, etc.) and it's just taken at the usual time.

Something as small as a keyboard would just be tossed in with the normal trash. So it would be ill-advised to go around sifting through that stuff, lest you be called an identity thief.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: Surly73 on Mon, 21 March 2011, 07:14:03

One of the labs back at school had these keyboards which were clacky, but not model M and I don't think they bottomed like cherrys.  To my memory (it's been a while) they looked kind of like this board but without the fancy calculator business and with open air where the display would be.   Since getting into geekhack I've been wondering what they were - maybe I've found a match...

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: keyb_gr on Mon, 21 March 2011, 09:23:43

Quote from: ripster;314847

I think another factor in a Collectors Price is whether the calculator works.  A lot of them don't.

Two LR44 button cells won't cost an arm and a leg.

At least that's all my FK3002 needed. Doubt mine has blue alps though, the switches are quite a stiff affair.

$100-$300, eh? Not bad for a Sperrmüllfund.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: BababooeyHTJ on Mon, 21 March 2011, 19:55:15

Is that a pubic hair on the shift key?

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: keyboardlover on Mon, 21 March 2011, 20:04:23

Quote from: BababooeyHTJ;315574

Is that a pubic hair on the shift key?

You'd be surprised how many people don't clean those off before posting pics of their keyboards...

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: False_Dmitry_II on Tue, 22 March 2011, 00:41:33

My SOP when getting anything used is to clean the crap out of it before anything else. I don't know why, but it seems most people can't be bothered with general cleanliness. I mean, I'm not really a neat/clean freak or anything - I leave all sorts of stuff all over the place. But at the same time, I bought a couple of speaker stands off of craigslist not too long ago, and they had literal dirt all over and especially inside them. It also looked like they somehow rusted on the inside.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: chel- on Tue, 22 March 2011, 00:52:13

In his defense it was in the garbage. He did say "I guess it could use a clean"

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: False_Dmitry_II on Tue, 22 March 2011, 02:28:28

I didn't intend what I said to be a slight on the OP. Even getting stuff from people's houses, or shipped, I do it. Just because it seems needed about 90% of the time, the rest of the time I do it anyway.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: krisbo on Tue, 22 March 2011, 10:39:25

Would the pubic hair make any difference to the Collector's Price? Could be vintage as well ...

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: pitashen on Tue, 22 March 2011, 10:43:15

Just did a quick search on Focus Electronic. Still in business, wow...

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: BababooeyHTJ on Tue, 22 March 2011, 15:19:01

Quote from: krisbo;315945

Would the pubic hair make any difference to the Collector's Price? Could be vintage as well ...

In the Asian market that should add value.

Title: Found keyboard in hard rubbish - blue alps??
Post by: Tony on Wed, 23 March 2011, 23:59:59

Quote from: krisbo;315945

Would the pubic hair make any difference to the Collector's Price? Could be vintage as well ...

It makes keyboarding experience more pleasurable. More details are censored.

(http://www.upl.co/uploads/gaming-girl-54.jpg)