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geekhack Community => New Members => Topic started by: AlpsNanako on Sat, 25 October 2014, 23:15:06

Title: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: AlpsNanako on Sat, 25 October 2014, 23:15:06
Hows it going?

My friends call me Nanako, but I'm male. It seems that I've been lurking for about 3 years. I stumbled upon geekhack attempting to find a replacement of my now dead Macintosh M1242 Adjustable keyboard. Ever since, I've learned that there is a world of people that still love & use their old clicky keyboards from days long past. I wanted to finally join and contribute to this wonderful site! I'm currently using a Dell AT101W with black alps switches.  ;D Whats up geekhack! :D
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: Badwrench on Sat, 25 October 2014, 23:23:10
Welcome.  You decided to get active at a great time, so much Alps love going on right now  :thumb:
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: CPTBadAss on Sat, 25 October 2014, 23:25:18
I love Alps so much :D. Welcome to GH!
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: AlpsNanako on Sat, 25 October 2014, 23:53:42
Welcome.  You decided to get active at a great time, so much Alps love going on right now  :thumb:


Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm stoked to see people really liking alps switches. I haven't found an alternative switch type that comes close to the feel.
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: jacobolus on Sun, 26 October 2014, 00:06:19
Yes!

And if anything, the tactile (actually originally clicky but they spewed a bunch of lube inside to mute the click) low profile Alps switches in the Apple adjustable keyboard, and the tactile black complicated Alps switches in the Dell keyboards, are among the less preferred switches.

Wait until you try orange or blue Alps! :-)
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: AlpsNanako on Sun, 26 October 2014, 00:45:07
Yes!

And if anything, the tactile (actually originally clicky but they spewed a bunch of lube inside to mute the click) low profile Alps switches in the Apple adjustable keyboard, and the tactile black complicated Alps switches in the Dell keyboards, are among the less preferred switches.

Wait until you try orange or blue Alps! :-)

There's better feeling alps switches? :eek: I MUST FEEL! I recently bought a couple of Macintosh keyboards to attempt the "Retr0bright" treatment; a M0116 Standard keyboard and a M3501 AEKII off ebay. Doing a quick search reveals that the M0116 came with either salmon or orange alps. I can't wait to see [what's in the box?!]
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: jacobolus on Sun, 26 October 2014, 00:49:03
One thing to note: the niceness of Alps switches depends quite dramatically on how good condition they are: storage in a very dirty environment for 20 years can make a switch fill up with dust and dirt, and wind up with a “scratchy” feel. Storing a keyboard with the keys pressed down for an extended period of time (for example storing a bunch of keyboards in a giant pile with no other support, as sometimes happens when they get sent to e-cyclers) wears out the leaf spring and reduces the switch tactility. Alps-switch keyboards which have been left in a box and never used feel amazingly smooth and delightfully snappy.
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: notsonerd on Mon, 27 October 2014, 07:09:52
Welcome to GeekHack.

Man, now I gotta try Alps...
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: MahBoi on Mon, 27 October 2014, 08:31:46
Welcome to GeekHack!

I know the feeling with old keyboards. I really find myself fascinated with different switches, and I'm always combing eBay for something new for my fingers to try out. There's been a lot of renewed interest in Alps lately, thanks to Matias and a lot of custom PCBs supporting Alps. There's also an Alps keyset (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=62274.0) coming down the pipeline.
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: dante on Mon, 27 October 2014, 10:41:09
I love all kinds of keyboard switches - however Alps are the only ones that make me want to type faster.
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: exitfire401 on Mon, 27 October 2014, 10:44:20

There's better feeling alps switches? :eek:

Blue alps are some of the best switches I've typed on.
Title: Re: Hello! Anyone else still enjoy old Alps keyboards?
Post by: rowdy on Thu, 06 November 2014, 03:03:52
Welcome to Geekhack!

Alps is one switch I haven't tried much, apart from green Alps.  The trouble is, where to start?  There are so many :))