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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: fog on Wed, 09 July 2014, 00:43:11

Title: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: fog on Wed, 09 July 2014, 00:43:11
Just picked this up from ebay. It's the external keyboard variant of the HP 9826, I believe. I've opened it up and it's a maxi switch PCB. Identical internally to this set: https://plus.google.com/photos/113845661925823397356/albums/5730992246714676497

I'm planning on putting in a new controller.

Here's a shot I just took, uncleaned, just out of the box, so it's grubby.

(http://i.imgur.com/k34gy3O.jpg)

[url http://i.imgur.com/k34gy3O.jpg]High res shot here.[/url] I'll post more shots as I work on it.

edit: album here (http://imgur.com/a/nTF8U)

(oh, and is this the right subforum for this?)
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: 0100010 on Wed, 09 July 2014, 08:07:52
Very nice.  Kind of an IBM bigfoot case size with a 'sports fan foam #1 hand' Enter key.
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: HoffmanMyster on Wed, 09 July 2014, 08:23:38
Nice picture.  :)  I haven't seen this before - kinda neat design.

(oh, and is this the right subforum for this?)

Yep!

Very nice.  Kind of an IBM bigfoot case size with a 'sports fan foam #1 hand' Enter key.

That's a great description.   :))
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: fog on Wed, 09 July 2014, 12:28:45

Very nice.  Kind of an IBM bigfoot case size with a 'sports fan foam #1 hand' Enter key.

That's a great description.   :))

Fan-Foam-Hand enter key... pretty sure this *should* be the official description. My least favorite shape of enter/return key, but a great name for it nonetheless.
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: jacobolus on Wed, 09 July 2014, 16:45:11
So are you going to pull off one of those keycaps and show us what the switches look like? We’re waiting here! :)

Oh, something among these huh? http://deskthority.net/wiki/Category:SMK_vintage_linear_derivatives

How do you like the switches?
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: fog on Wed, 09 July 2014, 17:37:39
So are you going to pull off one of those keycaps and show us what the switches look like? We’re waiting here! :)

Oh, something among these huh? http://deskthority.net/wiki/Category:SMK_vintage_linear_derivatives

How do you like the switches?

Definitely going to open them up. Here's a quick shot for the time being:

(http://i.imgur.com/M8oFv0K.jpg)

I think you're right about the SMK vintage linear. They feel like stiffer MX blacks to me, but I don't have a lot of MX experience outside blacks and clears. Only one sticky key that obviously needs cleaning or fixing, but typing feels pretty good so far. I still prefer my clears of course, but I'll give this some more testing after I get the switches cleaned.
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: jacobolus on Wed, 09 July 2014, 18:12:30
From the blue on those switches, looks like they’re identical to the ones on HaaTa’s Geomet 200 board you linked before:
https://plus.google.com/photos/113845661925823397356/albums/5730992246714676497

The Deskthority wiki page could use some love if you have time:
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Maxi_Switch_vintage_linear
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: Findecanor on Wed, 09 July 2014, 19:04:59
Looks nice. My HP 9826 had some kind of awful scratchy linear Cherry switches that broke easily.
Title: Re: Hewlett Packard 9826
Post by: fog on Thu, 10 July 2014, 00:01:41
From the blue on those switches, looks like they’re identical to the ones on HaaTa’s Geomet 200 board you linked before:
https://plus.google.com/photos/113845661925823397356/albums/5730992246714676497

The Deskthority wiki page could use some love if you have time:
http://deskthority.net/wiki/Maxi_Switch_vintage_linear

I'll definitely add to that wiki once I work on these.

I just noticed something else about that geomet 200 keyboard which I think confirms the relationship: the dial in my unit is clearly marked with an HP logo, as is the dial inside the geomet 200.

See my HP on the left (from here (http://i.imgur.com/CIlhUSp)), Geomet on the right (Geomet shot from here (https://plus.google.com/photos/113845661925823397356/albums/5730992246714676497/5730989761494513570?pid=5730989761494513570&oid=113845661925823397356)):

(http://i.imgur.com/yIxvcmFl.png) (http://i.imgur.com/t4hGq6ml.jpg)