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geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => DIY Discussions ARCHIVE => Topic started by: treigle on Sun, 12 February 2012, 01:10:23
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I've fancied Sun equipment since my teens, including their unix layout keyboards, though I had never owned one. Once I got into tenkeyless mechanical boards, I decided to skip the Sun boards altogether. Still, I couldn't pass up this beauty for $3. It's a Sun type 7 USB PC layout board.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40202[/ATTACH]
Note that the control and Caps lock are identically sized and interchangeable.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40203[/ATTACH]
Note the controller in the middle....
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40204[/ATTACH]
IBM model M backplate on top, Sun type 7 backplate on bottom.
It's a rubber dome board with a thin steel backplate and a gentle curve to it. It curves almost as much as a Model M, excluding the function key row. The contour of the keys is provided solely by the backplate; the keys themselves are the same profile.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40205[/ATTACH]
Sun type 7 key profile: F1, 1, Q, A, Z, Compose
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40206[/ATTACH]
Filco Majestouch 1 keys for comparison: F1, 1, Q, A, Z
Since I had to open it up for cleaning anyway, I did what any normal, well adjusted geekhacker with a concern for mousing ergonomics would do: I chopped off the numpad with a hacksaw.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40207[/ATTACH]
It comes with a built-in mousepad! :)
Unsatisfied with my trackball sliding around on the built-in "mousepad", I folded the membrane layers under the bottom of the board.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40208[/ATTACH]
Now I wasn't quite happy with how the board sat on the desk with the membrane underneath, so I excised all that wasn't absolutely necessary to complete a circuit back to the controller, applied packing tape between layers, and rolled it in a sort of "fruit-rollup" fashion and shoved it into the case.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40209[/ATTACH]
It was a little tight getting everything back together, but it worked. It's a lot neater without any membrane hanging out of the board, at the cost of the right arrow key requiring a bit more force to register. All other keys functioned just as before.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40210[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]40211[/ATTACH]
The final result.
The key action is smooth and requires little pressure to actuate, and I find it rather comfortable to type on. The gentle curve of the board is also rather pleasant, and since the contour is not ruined by rearranging keycaps on this board, I took the opportunity to configure it for Colemak. While key labelling is irrelevant for [touch] typing, it's still a nice feature which I wish more boards had.
I absolutely love having a couple of columns of shortcut keys on the left, most of which I mapped to multimedia functions. Some would argue that the function key row should serve this purpose, but many apps use the function keys, so I think some additional shortcut keys and system-reserved keys are in order. I don't particularly mind using combos to for example change the volume, but having dedicated full-size keys is really nice. Also, the extra columns [almost] center the main alpha cluster on the board, making it a bit more symmetrical. If Filco made something like this, that would be pretty bad-ass! :)
Ultimately I was unsatisfied with the downgraded functionality of the right arrow key, and gave this board to a friend who wants to try to learn Colemak also.
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I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to SUN equipment. I've been fascinated with SUN since my early computer days, and you have to admit, that logo is pretty boss.
Some time I should post some photos of my SUN stuff. Old towers, servers, mice, my awesome purple SUN rack, power strips etc... They made some of the best hardware, but it definitely came at a price.
I know several developers who left after the Oracle purchase which is kind of sad. I use Solaris daily, even after the Oracle purchase. I only wish Open Solaris wouldn't have been killed off. I heard the project was forked but my interest stopped after that point. I still use Open Solaris on one of my 30TB file servers and Solaris 11 for a small NFS share. ZFS is amazing and don't even get me started on dtrace.
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Yeah, I wish I had gotten some experience with Sun hardware and software. By the time I could afford a Sun workstation, a decent PC with ECC RAM could run circles around any [workstation] they offered....
Definitely agree on the logo! :)
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Is this anything like a Sun Type 5c to type on? Almost silent, and very tolerate to keys being struck at the wrong angles?
Chris
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Unfortunately I've never typed on a type 5 or 6..... It's definitely smooth and light action, and I didn't notice any tendency for keys to bind... I'd say it's worth up to $20 shipped if you can score one on eBay and like the layout. I wouldn't recommend my tenkeyless mod though.
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Unfortunately I've never typed on a type 5 or 6..... It's definitely smooth and light action, and I didn't notice any tendency for keys to bind... I'd say it's worth up to $20 shipped if you can score one on eBay and like the layout. I wouldn't recommend my tenkeyless mod though.
Thanks for that information. What does it weigh? Is the build quality solid or lighter?
Personally I like the numeric pad, and have never really understood people's keenness for tenkeyless boards!
Chris
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Being an ex-Sun employee myself, I can profess a great love for that keyboard..... the tenkeyless look is interesting, for sure. I've got one at home that's got some messed up innards in it somewhere, thinking it might finally be time to pull it apart and see what's spilled in it, and if it's not repairable, the usb ports come out and go in the Deck.
Love the mod, too. Don't mistake "interesting" for disdain - it's way gutsy!
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Thanks for that information. What does it weigh? Is the build quality solid or lighter?
Personally I like the numeric pad, and have never really understood people's keenness for tenkeyless boards!
Chris
It probably weighs just under a pound. It's slightly flexy, but not too bad. It's downright wimpy in comparison to a Filco or model M though.
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I'm really fond of it, I actually own two of them. Got them from a warehouse selling old stuff for 2.000 chilean pesos each, that'd be like U$8 for 2 Sun type 7 keyboards in perfect condition, only one keycap missing.
I've been thinking of sawing away the numpad and also the left side of it, since those keys won't map in Windows. But I haven't got to it yet, seeing your results I'll probably do it in a couple of months.
When I first thought of doing it I wanted to remove the sides but keep the borders of the keyboard and then glue it back to the rest of the keyboard, getting a nicer finish and also leaving some space to fold in the membrane. Not sure if that could work though.
I'm also not sure if there's a way to keep the case "leggings" attached, will see.
Congrats on the mod though, looks awesome.