I don't have a proper lightbox and I'm too lazy to shoot with a tripod, so you'll have to pardon the pic quality.Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/GxA7FdL.jpg)Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/K7UtuGY.jpg)Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/Kz27sZ4.jpg)Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/4gVP13t.jpg)Show Image(http://i.imgur.com/AlrPw9U.jpg)
Very interesting. These switches don’t have the little slits, so they’re what Daniel Beardsmore calls “bamboo” (i.e. not as good as “pine” which has the slits) SKCM switches. Along the lines of later white or black Alps switches.
What kind of switchplate do they have? I assume the complicated short white kind?
What do these switches feel like? How do you find they compare to salmon or black Alps switches?
Looks like the green compact ones at the top are the standard SKCL green color. I assume they have a tall gray switchplate inside?
I think the Xerox keyboard here is from the mid-1990s sometime, right?
No, you can see the lack of “slits” directly in your picture:Very interesting. These switches don’t have the little slits, so they’re what Daniel Beardsmore calls “bamboo” (i.e. not as good as “pine” which has the slits) SKCM switches. Along the lines of later white or black Alps switches.They have little slits at the top if that's what he's referencing. I'd need a side to side picture of "pine" vs "bamboo" to tell you.
Just looked it up again. I'd have to take the switch apart to say.
That force curve for the green switches is pretty similar to the feel of brown Alps switches.
Wait, you two (nubbinator and jacobolus) are both in CA! You can actually meet up and compare the green and brown switches!CA is a big place: SF & orange county are like 700 km apart. Bit of a long way for jacobolus to bike.
BTW, your brown Alps switches are the normal kind, right, with the black plastic plate that holds the tactile leaf?That’s correct
Not these ones with the regular tactile leaf? http://www.kbdmania.net/xe/tipandtech/122939What keyboard is that?
Don't they have trains in California?Not really, no.
Wait, you two (nubbinator and jacobolus) are both in CA! You can actually meet up and compare the green and brown switches!I actually ordered one of these Xerox thingies on ebay, because nubbinator's description made me curious. (Gave the seller $60 shipped, which is probably more than I should have spent for it, but whatever.) So I’ll be able to compare them directly in a few days.
It would seem that green followed on from brown.I doubt it. Brown is much much stiffer.
We know that the tactile companion to blue was cream (from a photo of part of a catalogue) but we don't have much in the way of years on that. Someone was arguing that orange, salmon and black followed each other, and that the overlap was due to stock levels, but MouseFan's switch table completely contradicts this:I was arguing that. I’m still pretty convinced that the order for light-to-medium-weight tactile switches went ivory -> orange (gray switchplate) -> orange (tall white switchplate) -> salmon (short white switchplate) -> "pine" black -> "bamboo" black, with each progression being one of replacement rather than new product lines. I think both the brown and tactile green switches are separate (and not too closely related to each-other).
I also e-mailed the Korean chap with the photo of the brown tactile switches with "normal" tactile leaves, to ask what keyboard is depicted, etc; no reply yet.Also does he know what those feel like?
I was surprised how stiff salmon Alps is (in an Apple M0116 that was indistinguishable from new), while everyone else compares them with MX brown. I have a white Alps keyboard—in nice condition—that's so stiff I gave up with it.How “scratchy” does the salmon switch feel as you press it? If you hold your ear up does it sounds like there’s a lot of friction? I suppose it’s possible that there’s a stiffer-than-usual batch of those switches, but I personally don’t find them to be particularly stiff. (I have a replacement Apple portable keyboard that seems to be basically new, and I wouldn’t describe the switches as particularly stiff. Pretty similar to orange Alps, I’d say.
There is generally an agreement that white is stiffer than blue,The white switches definitely have a stiffer spring, and also have a stiffer click leaf.
For the Xerox keyboards, as I recall, you don't even have dates on the chips, am I correct?Which chips are you interested in? I don’t think there are any especially useful dates on them, but maybe you could figure something out based on the part numbers?
What would be interesting with Alps switches is to measure them with the click/tactile leaf removed, as then you can measure the spring and estimate the effect of the leaf. Blue Alps with the click leaf removed is quite soft — it's been so long since I tried it that I forget how close it comes to Cherry MX red.The plan is to measure them:
But anyway, this second one is a "pine" top housing. i.e. with the little slits.
From my ca. 1984 Neve keyboard:
(Attachment Link)