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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: bitslasher on Tue, 17 September 2013, 23:50:38
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Was just reading another thread here where people were talking about throwing their money at the screen, buying keyboards (and not trying a switch first). Thought I'd share my experience.
I just did this myself last week, on an old HP Vectra rubber dome board. I just got it yesterday and it is the best rubber dome I've ever typed on. My normal boards are IBM Model Fs (a 84-key and 122-key). While this board is not as smooth as those, it feels every bit as mechanical and smooth as my Model Ms...it's insane. It just doesn't sound springy.
It's model number is C3758A. It has the Windows key. It has a sibling, the C3757A without a Windows key.
I would post a link to the eBay auction I got it from, but not sure what the protocol is here about that, so I'll refrain. If folks are interested just look for one of the model numbers above, different people sale them, some reasonable, some not. :\
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The old HP Vectas were very well made PCs - the company I used to work for sold them.
You can post eBay links, especially if there are any left :)
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It'd be interesting to find out who the OEM is for the C3757A/C3758A. Any tricks to determine this?
Here is the eBay auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/121129110857
This particular seller seems to be an HP specialist of some sort, he also has the strange C1405A for sale. I got one from him as well but the pads on it are bad, but he's sending me another one to replace it. Super nice person to deal with.
As a side note, the C1405A is really weird. It is *really* well built though, other than the worn out contacts. I'm going to see what I can do with it. It is quiet heavy, with a metal back plate. This thing is actually build a lot like it has siblings with mechanical switches because of how the barrels are mounted to the back plate.
--Daniel
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It'd be interesting to find out who the OEM is for the C3757A/C3758A. Any tricks to determine this?
You ask the guy who's done lots of business with HP over the years.
Those keyboards are HP home-grown design; the actual builder may vary though. (IIRC they sourced in-house and Keytronic.)
Also, nothing odd about the C1405A. That's how the C1405A rolled. HP didn't screw around and the C1405A is a common-base design used for Vectra (high end PC), 9000-series (oh yeah) and Non-Stop (ayup.)
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It'd be interesting to find out who the OEM is for the C3757A/C3758A. Any tricks to determine this?
I'm not suggesting that this is true in this particular case (the HP keyboards), but even without dismantling the keyboard, in some cases you can obtain the OEM from the FCC grantee code (typically the first three letters of the FCC ID). Pop that in here and see what you get:
http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/
For dedicated products built for a single company (e.g. Apple), then that company may take responsibility for FCC registration. For example, Apple keyboards from Alps and NMB all have FCC grantee 'BCG' (Apple Computer/Apple Inc) in the FCC ID. However, if the keyboard is a stock OEM part (badge engineered) then the FCC ID may remain that of the OEM, e.g. the SIIG MiniTouch FCC IDs are FKD (Monterey) and, for the Plus, E5X (Behavior Tech, AKA BTC).
Products never intended for sale in the US will often lack an FCC ID. For example, I've had a Tulip keyboard for about 15 years, and only the other month came across a post (here?) of an identical Monterey keyboard, finally revealing who made my keyboard. Having since looked at the PCB again, I can see now that it has the Monterey model number on it. There is no other branding inside anywhere. Likewise, many SMK-made keyboards lack the SMK branding, although my Tulip one does say SMK on the PCB.
In the case of one my AppleDesign keyboards, you just have "NMB16R2677" on the controller chip, although to the more trained eye, it's fairly evident that it's an NMB keyboard from the sliders. The Alps version has "ALPS" written on the membrane sheets and PCB, but not the chip, which says "© APPLE, Inc." on it.
Sometimes, there is no trace whatsoever at all.
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here's a picture of the label I found online
(http://s3.amazonaws.com/kpsurplus_images/ba67bfd328518b53dab526b6ae86def57b7d24af.jpg)
(thanks to kpsurplus)
looks like CIG E03633
CIG corresponds to the key tronic corporation. fFinal action fcc filing date is in 1996.
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Thanks everyone! I had no idea about the FFC ID, that is really nice to know.
I plan to post some more pics of this board and the C1405A I have. I actually am getting a second C1405A from the seller, the first's didn't half work, the board uses some kind of capacitive contact system, different from a normal membrane board. The contacts seem to get trace rot or rub off after a lot of use.
--Daniel
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Key Tronic are known mostly for foam-and-foil capacitive.
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Thanks everyone! I had no idea about the FFC ID, that is really nice to know.
I plan to post some more pics of this board and the C1405A I have. I actually am getting a second C1405A from the seller, the first's didn't half work, the board uses some kind of capacitive contact system, different from a normal membrane board. The contacts seem to get trace rot or rub off after a lot of use.
--Daniel
Like I said, it's an HP in-house design, manufactured under contract by Keytronic.
It's a remarkably advanced and complicated graphite/carbon setup. It does wear off over time in some versions.
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Speaking of nice rubber-dome keyboards, I have a Dell Quietkey from who-knows-how-long, and it feels great to type on. Unfortunately, I don't have a PS/2 to USB adapter to actually use it.
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I think we are using that in my school. Real nice to type on
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Speaking of nice rubber-dome keyboards, I have a Dell Quietkey from who-knows-how-long, and it feels great to type on. Unfortunately, I don't have a PS/2 to USB adapter to actually use it.
I actually have one of those too, found it at a Goodwill store, for $3 or something. It s a super nice board. I didn't realize what I got until later. Those don't seem to be as common as you'd think they'd be.
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That font family is so specific to Key Tronic that I really wouldn't be surprised if it was a nice keyboard.
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This HP C3758A keyboard looks a lot like an NMB RT6856TW
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Holy thread necromancy Batman! XD
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This HP C3758A keyboard looks a lot like an NMB RT6856TW
I think only a little. They share the similarities with having a curved backplane and a cable channel behind the back.
The HP keyboard has such high keys in that font that together just scream "Key Tronic Rubber Dome".
The space between the function keys and the numeric keys is not as big on the NMB keyboard. (http://deskthority.net/wiki/NMB_RT6856T)
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Hey look! A post from Rowdy from nearly 2 years ago :)
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A NIB one of these just came in at the nonprofit recycler where I volunteer, and since I'm the resident KB maniac, I got first dibs.
It's an elegant board, with taupe (grayish brown) print on bone (being NIB, this one's keys and case are the same color) and in-key lock lights. I'm sure it's a Key Tronic. It has their big, retro-y alphanumeric characters (which I've always liked), although the text legends look more compact to me than the more recent KT's I've seen. It must've just been how they were back then; I doubt HP would've specified such a subtle difference.
For a non-mechanical board, this was made to high specs. The action is crisp, with something of a tactile bump, not at all mushy. It's very quiet, too, even for an RD. This is probably due in large part to its unusually stable key buttons. When you run your hand across them, there's no lateral travel, which makes them that much smoother to type on. By comparison my year-old Key Tronic Lifetime Series, though quite usable, feels and sounds more rattly.
Interestingly, these don't seem to have unique serial numbers—I see the "M/N" number above the barcode on this one is the same as Dorkvader's example.
Lots of RD boards come through the place, so I probably wouldn't have bothered with this one had I not seen this thread. So thanks for this nice addition to my collection, bitslasher. (I'm glad someone else got the Necro Prize, too.)
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A NIB one of these just came in at the nonprofit recycler where I volunteer, and since I'm the resident KB maniac, I got first dibs.
It's an elegant board, with taupe (grayish brown) print on bone (being NIB, this one's keys and case are the same color) and in-key lock lights. I'm sure it's a Key Tronic. It has their big, retro-y alphanumeric characters (which I've always liked), although the text legends look more compact to me than the more recent KT's I've seen. It must've just been how they were back then; I doubt HP would've specified such a subtle difference.
For a non-mechanical board, this was made to high specs. The action is crisp, with something of a tactile bump, not at all mushy. It's very quiet, too, even for an RD. This is probably due in large part to its unusually stable key buttons. When you run your hand across them, there's no lateral travel, which makes them that much smoother to type on. By comparison my year-old Key Tronic Lifetime Series, though quite usable, feels and sounds more rattly.
Interestingly, these don't seem to have unique serial numbers—I see the "M/N" number above the barcode on this one is the same as Dorkvader's example.
Lots of RD boards come through the place, so I probably wouldn't have bothered with this one had I not seen this thread. So thanks for this nice addition to my collection, bitslasher. (I'm glad someone else got the Necro Prize, too.)
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Reminds me a bit of the keyboard on an HP 700/96 terminal.
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Just found another unused one of these on eBay, $20 shipped, and got it for a friend who can't make any noise where he works.
The more I use mine, the more I think "Topre". :?) If you don't mind the lack of clatter, I highly recommend it as a cheap MK alternative. They're quite fun to type on, even for spoiled people like us.
Totally white KBs are also good reminders to wash your hands before you sit down to type. You'll keep all of your KBs in nicer shape if you do.
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If somebody interested, there is a similar HP keyboard selling on the Russian Craiglist-like site: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.avito.ru%2Fmoskva%2Ftovary_dlya_kompyutera%2Fklaviatura_hp_683912645&edit-text=&act=url
Costs RUB300.0 (~ $5).
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I have claimed an old HP terminal at work, and thought the keyboard was similar to this one. But I actually remembered to look at it the other day and no, it is quite different.
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