Sony BKE-9400 w/Topre switches, $9.99 + shipping [FINISHED]

[ander]

Sony BVE-9100 Edit Control System with BKE-9400 Editing Keyboard

According to DT, this board—which is actually a BKE-9400A (see 3rd photo)—has Topre switches. I wouldn't know how to harvest 'n' reuse them myself, so I thought I'd pass this along.

As I post, it's at $9.99 plus $57 shipping (U.S.) with about 10 hours to go (ending 02 Feb, 11:02 AM PST).

[ebacho]

Fair warning I've been looking for one of these for a while so I have a snipe in.  PM me if you're thinking about bidding.

[sth]

Fair warning I've been looking for one of these for a while so I have a snipe in.  PM me if you're thinking about bidding.

if you win it can i have the diss key?

[Ludovician]

Topre switches aren't discrete units so you can't really harvest them unfortunately.

[ebacho]

Fair warning I've been looking for one of these for a while so I have a snipe in.  PM me if you're thinking about bidding.

if you win it can i have the diss key?

Probably gonna try to keep the unit together for the foreseeable future at least.

[jwaz]

Fair warning I've been looking for one of these for a while so I have a snipe in.  PM me if you're thinking about bidding.

if you win it can i have the diss key?

I think I might have one for you, I have a bag of these somewhere

[ander]

It went for $68.59 plus shipping, with 22 bids!

[jacobolus]

I’m surprised this price wasn’t substantially higher. These things weigh a million pounds, have a really nice jog wheel, and include more than twice as many Topre keys as an HHKB.

[chyros]

I’m surprised this price wasn’t substantially higher. These things weigh a million pounds, have a really nice jog wheel, and include more than twice as many Topre keys as an HHKB.

It was a US only item, maybe that's why?

[N3RDLY]

Dangit I've wanted these keycaps for my HHKB looks like I missed out.

[joeym]

Sorry for the dumbness, but can these old proprietary keyboards be adapted to modern computers without too much trouble? Or does that involve some real tough stuff?

[CPTBadAss]

Such a cool keyboard, congrats to the winner!

[1391406]

Topre switches aren't discrete units so you can't really harvest them unfortunately.

I would think you can harvest the domes and springs.

[ander]

...These things weigh a million pounds, have a really nice jog wheel, and include more than twice as many Topre keys as an HHKB.

What doesn't have more keys than an HHKB?

Sorry for the dumbness, but can these old proprietary keyboards be adapted to modern computers without too much trouble? Or does that involve some real tough stuff?

It depends. You can usually use a Teensy or Arduino PCB with Soarer's conversion software. But my understanding is, first someone has to figure out the protocol the particular board uses, and write the proper code for it. For that to happen, there has to be a certain demand for converting that board—and that seems unlikely with such a rarely appearing one as this.