8 'new' AT101W keyboards here

[PRISONER 24601]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-8-New-Dell-AT101W-PS-2-Keyboards-with-Click-Keys_W0QQitemZ120485526467QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item1c0d7f3bc3

If I lived on the east coast I'd probably be interested. What do you think they'll close for?

[itlnstln]

I'm just going to post this, because I have been here long enough to know the question is coming:
 
THESE KEYBOARDS ARE NOT CLICKY REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE EBAY POSTING SAYS.
 
Thanks, and have a nice day.

[timw4mail]

They 'click' quite loudly when you bottom out. Oh, you're not supposed to do that?

[timw4mail]

I don't know who'd want so many of them, but it seems if somebody did, they could get a good deal.

[JBert]

I'm just going to post this, because I have been here long enough to know the question is coming:
 
THESE KEYBOARDS ARE NOT CLICKY REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE EBAY POSTING SAYS.
 
Thanks, and have a nice day.

I will henceforth refer to them as "peculiarly noisy keyboards" then.

[ch_123]

The clicky thing is a semantics point that many of us around here have. They are considered non-clicky because the click does not co-incide with the actuation of the key. It's actually possible to actuate a Black Alps switch without making any noise by pressing it very slowly and gently.

They 'click' quite loudly when you bottom out. Oh, you're not supposed to do that?

In an ideal world no, but in reality, Black Alps seem to predispose themselves to being bottomed out easily, making them probably my least favorite mechanical switch (at least of the ones that I have tried out)

[timw4mail]

ALPS, the poor kid on the playground that always get whacked first.

Show Image

Somebody else try pulling the Tactile leaf out of a Dell.  It's almost like getting a Brown Cherry keyboard for $15.

I'd do it, but I sold the Dell.

[ch_123]

ALPS, the poor kid on the playground that always get whacked first.

Somebody else try pulling the Tactile leaf out of a Dell.  It's almost like getting a Brown Cherry keyboard for $15.

I'm hacking together a Dell AT101W out of Cream Alps, so I will try that out.

Dell AT102Ws are rather common over here in Ireland. Shame that there aren't that many 1391406s to be pulled out of skips though...

[microsoft windows]

I'm just waiting for the public library in the town where I live to replace their computers. Especially the ones with the clicky keyboards.

[PRISONER 24601]

I was just trying to do something nice, sheesh

you guys are like the girl in the story with the bears

"this clicky is too clicky"
"this clicky isn't clicky at all!"
"this clicky is juuuuust right"

[microsoft windows]

They're all perfectly fine keyboards.

[PRISONER 24601]

all keyboards are keyboards

[itlnstln]

That's deep.

[hyperlinked]

all keyboards are keyboards

Except when it's *your* keyboard and then it's special.

This is my keyboard.  There are many like it, but this one is mine.  It is my life.  I must master it as I must master my life.  Without me my keyboard is useless.  Without my keyboard, I am useless.

[bigpook]

hey ripster, I broke out my black alps tenkeyless and removed the click leaf on the pause key. There is a subtle difference. It is almost like a cherry brown.
Don't know if I want to tackle the whole board though. Its a pain in the ass to put the key back together without the click leaf.

Hmm, the cherry brown does have a tactile bump though, however slight. The black alps without click leaf has no bump at all. I need to play with that some more.

[bigpook]

I think the magnet would be something to try first. Thanks for pointing that out.

[itlnstln]

Chole was from the UK, and, yes, she was and will be the ultimate Switch Kitten.  She has more knowledge about different switches than I think I would even care to have.

[itlnstln]

My favorite part of that thread was iMav threatening to get out the hose.

[wquiles]

Hi there, first time poster here!

Funny thing is that I looked at some of the keyboards I got from work some months back when they were throwing them away, and I found that I have two working units of the famous (infamous!) Dell AT101W black keyboards.  Comparing them side by side to my new Filco, they are much too heavy in terms of key pressure for me, specially now that I am used to the Filco's brown switches.  But this thread here with the further linked thread about modifying the springs now has me wondering how it would feel with the mods.

But first, why folks like the AT101W so much?  What switches does it uses?  Why is this model keeps coming up time and time again in the forum as a comparison point?  What would be the modern/current Cherry switch color/type that would be most similar to the switches in the AT101W?

Will

[ch_123]

They're popular because they're cheap, and easy to find in skips. There's very few people who actually like them or the Black Alps switches they use. I suppose the Cherry Clears are the most similar, but yet they'd still be quite different.

[ocdonkb]

The AT101W uses tactile, but non-clicky ALPS black switches. Its popularity, is mainly due to low price and its abundance on ebay. The keyboard itself is unremarkable, the key switch action, while mechanical, isn't anything to write home about. But if you can get one for cheap, who cares.

I have a love/hate relationship with my AT101w, sometimes I think it's great, more tactile than a Cherry brown... other times I think it feels worse than your average rubber dome.

[keyb_gr]

I suppose the Cherry Clears are the most similar, but yet they'd still be quite different.

Very different indeed. Clears are more like (Cherry) blacks with a tactile bump, or scissor switch keys with some extra linear travel tacked on.

I don't like writing on my Dell at all, bottoming out hard all the time. Ouch. Such a shame given that they're fairly solidly built.

[wquiles]

OK, but once the modification by Chloe is done, what does it "feel" like?   I feel that since I have two of them and since I don't like the default behavior, that I "must" go ahead and do the mod just so that I have an alternate keyboard to try out "cheap"

[keyb_gr]

OK, but once the modification by Chloe is done, what does it "feel" like?

[strike]Which mod do you mean, this one perhaps?[/strike]
Ah, OK, the tactile leaf removal. That would give you rather light linear switches with much less friction, similar to the elusive Cherry reds perhaps. They could become too light but I bet bottoming out would be less hard already since one would type with a lighter touch.
People seem to like them better with Apple Extended II keycaps already (complicated white Alps don't hurt either).

I feel that since I have two of them and since I don't like the default behavior, that I "must" go ahead and do the mod just so that I have an alternate keyboard to try out "cheap"

I'd consider adding rubber dampers or something to that effect. The main problem with Alps switches really is that you subjectively fall into a black hole after the tactile point. (Interestingly, heavier keycaps would counteract this to some degree, so maybe one could give some weighting a shot.)

[ocdonkb]

I would caution against removing the tactile leaf on the AT101W black Alps... the resulting key switch is very unpleasant, it's light, sure, but all the sound you hear will be the dry rubbing sound between the stem and the switch casing. It... gives me goose bumps just thinking about it... Needless to say, I never again touch my AT101W that had this mod.