Omnikey Ultra 102 - Blue or White Alps?

[RoflCopter4]

The seller for this particular board has refused to pull off a keycap, and I have heard that at least some of these boards have the blue switches, so I'm curious: does anyone know for sure which this particular board is more likely to have?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111559224065

[jwaz]

White Alps. If you want blue try for an Omnikey with the old style gold label, also a 102 IIRC.

[intelli78]

Yes, in my experience only the gold labels may be blue switches, and even then, not always.

[hwood34]

Why would they refuse to pull a cap?

[RoflCopter4]

Why would they refuse to pull a cap?

He said he didn't know how and didn't want to damage the board. Standard fare for dealing with clueless eBay sellers, really. With only an hour left it's not really worth the bother of trying to convince him otherwise.

Anway, thanks for the quick replies. At the price it's at right now it's still not a bad deal for some complicated whites, but with that horrid layout and the lack of a cable I think I might pass anyway.

[didjamatic]

FYI some of these did have Blue ALPS but no matter, they had white alps that are equivalent to blues in quality.
Note how that Omnikey has no trap door on the front where the logo is.  Rather than a bank of dip switches under that trap door, they are on the back edge of the keyboard.  This means this is a 1992 or older board and they basically all had good ALPS whether white or blue they were the older style rumored to be made in Japan before the ALPS factory moved production to China (or was it Taiwan, I forget now)

I've never typed on a an Omnikey that was pre-trapdoor (1992 and earlier) that wasn't incredible, unless it was abused or sat somewhere and got oxidized in the switches. 

[jacobolus]

FYI some of these did have Blue ALPS but no matter, they had white alps that are equivalent to blues in quality.

All the blue Alps Omnikeys (unless someone swapped the switches later) have the older-style gold label; the switch from blue to white sliders (and tall to short switchplates) occurred before the switch from gold to white labels. There is absolutely a difference between blue and white switches, though both are nice.

older style rumored to be made in Japan before the ALPS factory moved production to China (or was it Taiwan, I forget now)

For details, see http://deskthority.net/wiki/Alps_SKCL/SKCM_series