geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: JustCallMeCrash on Fri, 01 July 2011, 11:09:24
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I've located a Sun Type 5 (3201073-01 as mentioned in the title) and wanted to determine whether it is indeed a mechanical keyboard as it appears to be (I'm looking at it on ebay as a possible buy, one broken/missing key cap). The picture is terrible quality on the listing:http://cgi.ebay.com/Sun-Type-5-3201073-01-Keyboard-Missing-One-Key-cap-/190515745839?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item2c5b9f942f#ht_4217wt_1141 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Sun-Type-5-3201073-01-Keyboard-Missing-One-Key-cap-/190515745839?pt=PCA_Mice_Trackballs&hash=item2c5b9f942f#ht_4217wt_1141)
I can't seem to find any additional information on the web, so if anybody happens to know whether these are ALPS or Cherry or something else I'd love to find out before I bid. It LOOKS like ALPS to me, but I'm really new to this whole mech kb thing. Any help is appreciated. You guys have quite a community here!
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Mine is not the same exact model, but look very close.
It's a rubber dome variant, with two pieces keycaps.
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I've never seen a Type 5 that was mechanical. Or PC compatible, either. The plug LOOKS like PS/2, but it isn't the correct protocol. They only work on Sun machines or with a converter.
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That appears to be a membrane model, not mechanical. Alps have a rectangular shaped stem.
(http://img2.zol.com.cn/product/19_450x337/23/ceqjimx3xUaFw.jpg)
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This is the detail of my Type 5
[ATTACH=CONFIG]19941[/ATTACH]
Looks identhical to the one of the foto from what can be seen.
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I have never seen a Sun mechanical KB, I've been working with Sun hardware since 1993.
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the Granite models had Alps. I don't know if there were other Alps Sun or not.
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Eh? Isn't Granite an SGI Indy model?
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er... Yes. Sorry heat makes my brain function poorly.
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I've never seen a Type 5 that was mechanical. Or PC compatible, either. The plug LOOKS like PS/2, but it isn't the correct protocol. They only work on Sun machines or with a converter.
It hads got 6 pins and the protocol works only with good old sun workstations.
Also it is rubberdome.
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I believe some of the real oldschool Sun keyboards may have been mechanical, probably were foam and foil though.
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When we discussed abuot my beloved Sinclair QL no one was able to find an older example of rubber dome keyboard.
So is reasonably safe to assume that anything built before 1984/85 was mechanical.
Sun started in 1982 so (if the assumption is correct) some earlier SUN keyboards must be mechanical.
The oldest SUN thing I have is a sparcstation 1 from 1993 or so, and has a rubberdome keyboard (and an optical mouse)
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Those optical mice with the metal printed grid mouse pads were awesome in their day.
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I believe some of the real oldschool Sun keyboards may have been mechanical, probably were foam and foil though.
Right you are. The Type 4's are Keytronic foam-and-foil if I'm not mistaken. If you guys want, I can tear one apart and take some pics.
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Those optical mice with the metal printed grid mouse pads were awesome in their day.
OMG I hated those things. The mechanical mice were so much better. Heck, even a mechanical mouse full of gunk was better.
Hatem hatem hatem!
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I still have some of those Sun mechanical mice kicking around. Completely clean, too. If I remember correctly, they only worked on Sun hardware too...usually plugged in to the keyboard, if I'm not mistaken. I use one on an old Sun Ultra 5 workstation I picked up years ago, and that's how it's connected, anyway.
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Wow, thanks for all the feedback, guys. I couldn't find the thread after I posted... glad you all did, though. I let that one go, but I might jump on one of these sweet Compaq 11800 server keyboards. I've read on here somewhere that they have historically had problems with the trackball (which is one of the main draws for me), so I guess at this point it's a cross-your-fingers kind of thing.