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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Blaise170 on Thu, 13 August 2015, 19:51:38

Title: Did Keytronic make any mechanical boards?
Post by: Blaise170 on Thu, 13 August 2015, 19:51:38

I've found a Zenith keyboard (http://www.ebay.com/itm/321447102689) that looks interesting but the OEM is Keytronic. Did Keytronic ever make anything that wasn't a rubberdome? The keycaps look pretty tall considering.

Title: Re: Did Keytronic make any mechanical boards?
Post by: Steezus on Thu, 13 August 2015, 20:14:06

I don't believe so, Keytronic was pretty popular for making surprisingly good rubber domes, some people prefer them for gaming actually because they're pretty close to an NKRO(They aren't NKRO but pretty good).

Title: Re: Did Keytronic make any mechanical boards?
Post by: Parak on Thu, 13 August 2015, 20:42:49

Yeah.. it's not very well documented (I am the lazy), but they used to make reed switches:

http://imgur.com/a/KFnC2

Feel is unremarkably linear.

Title: Re: Did Keytronic make any mechanical boards?
Post by: chyros on Fri, 14 August 2015, 03:14:12

99.9% certain that thing is rubber dome. As is the Silitek one, and the three Honeywell ones on eBay.

Title: Re: Did Keytronic make any mechanical boards?
Post by: Findecanor on Fri, 14 August 2015, 17:19:13

Most keyboard by Key Tronic before the mid '90s had foam-and-foil (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Key_Tronic_foam_and_foil) switches.
They were either tactile with rubber dome or linear with a coiled spring - and you could exhange the rubber domes right under the keycaps for springs or vice versa. Sense is capacitative, but mushy ... and NKRO because: capacitative.

Title: Re: Did Keytronic make any mechanical boards?
Post by: Blaise170 on Fri, 14 August 2015, 17:52:53

Ick. I'd use a rubber dome any day over their foam and foil. I had one of their foam and foil boards at one point, guess I forgot about those. I couldn't even give that board away for free.

Title: Re: Did Keytronic make any mechanical boards?
Post by: Findecanor on Sat, 15 August 2015, 06:07:25

Neither could I, at first. Then I donated parts to a restoration project for a more interesting keyboard.
Key Tronic was OEM for many companies. For instance, these are found in Sun Type 4 and the Apple Lisa keyboard.