geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: maaaaatt on Mon, 15 October 2018, 05:48:43
-
Howdy, I recently had a chance to browse through some poor condition Apple Design Keyboards, and the country of origin of one caught my eye - it clearly says "Assembled in USA" on the bottom, so I took it home:
[attachimg=7]
It's in appalling condition, very yellow and dirty.
On closer inspection, it does not appear to exactly match any of the known variants on Deskthority. This particular keyboard is clearly alps, as it has alps compatible keycaps and what seems to be alps dome with slider switches:
[attachimg=2]
Note the backing panel is cream plastic, the other examples I can find are dark grey or black. The backing panel is also not curved.
The electronics are apparently true-blue alps:
[attachimg=3]
The date stamp on the top housing is hard to decipher:
[attachimg=4]
I'm guessing it says 28th of June, 1993?. It has poor quality abs keycaps (they are very yellow), and what appears to be pad-printing, and the caps lock is stepped, consistent with alps-produced versions:
[attachimg=5]
Lastly, here is the FCC/other info:
[attachimg=6]
Anyone found another USA produced Apple Design Keyboard? Does this suggest that Alps briefly produced the ADK in the USA before moving to Mexico/Czech factories?
-
I think it's just a membrane keyboard with alps compatible keycaps.
-
I think that would be the "Alps slider over dome" variant that is already listed on the Wiki.
The new thing would be the "Assembled in USA" bit, and possibly that the barrel plate is a light colour instead of black.
-
I think that would be the "Alps slider over dome" variant that is already listed on the Wiki.
The new thing would be the "Assembled in USA" bit, and possibly that the barrel plate is a light colour instead of black.
Cool, I guess I shall get it cleaned up and update the wiki.
-
Those are ADKs. They were made for people who couldn't afford the other option, the AEK (Apple Extended Keyboard) which is a lovely keyboard. The ADK was cheaper because it was (at least I think) the first membrane keyboard that Apple came out with. I cant think of a mechanical keyboard that they made after the ADK. They're not really worth anything and feel just like any other membrane keyboard (I own two of them).
Edit: lol, I didn't read the question right, I thought you were wondering what type of keyboard they were, sorry. :rolleyes:
I will go pull my two from my basement to see if they match.