Relocated "Not Model M" thread - white Alps etc

[fohat.digs]

You all remember looking at this ebay auction last week:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180985254573?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I received the keyboard today, and I am pleased. This is a very nice board, although it is well worn.

This is a "quickie" for this afternoon, I will add to it later.

How much worn? The dozen main keys are very shiny, especially "E" and the spacebar has a totally slick spot exactly where the right thumb hits it (just what I do). Coming from my Model M/Fs with PBT, these keys feel downright greasy to the touch. Clearly, the whole thing needs a deep and thorough cleaning.

Otherwise, it is very nice and feels good. The doubleshot keys are very handsome, I really like the classic rich beige/gray scheme. The straight-ANSI layout does not have any quirks or oddities to annoy me, and the footprint is quite small. It is of decent weight, but not particularly heavy. This is a superior example of white Alps in a layout that does not have to be excused.

There is an XT/AT switch on the back, so it is obviously an early model, and it has a coiled PS/2 cord.

It was "Made in Taiwan" for "Alps Electric" for whatever that might indicate.

I am excited and think that I will really like this board. If anybody ever sees a NIB or a pristine specimen, he should pounce on it!

Later.

[Quarzac]

How do the white alps on it compare to white alps on other boards you've used?

[fohat.digs]

Good question, but I am not the best judge.

Half a dozen white Alps boards have passed through my hands during the last couple of years, but I have never really used any of them long-term. A couple of Northgate Omnikeys a few years ago seemed really nice, but each had at least one dead key.

I have had 2-3 Focus 2001s that I liked pretty well, but I sold them on ebay because the layout irritated me (bigass enter and small backspace).

My daily drivers for over a year have been IBM M/Fs so after buckling springs it is hard to shift gears.

My current Alps boards are Dell AT101s (black) and Apple Extended 1 (salmon) and 2 (dampened creams), along with a Chicony 5181 (Montereys) which I used for a full day not long ago and am probably remembering most clearly.

I like the feeling of this board very much, in general, except that the springs seem much stiffer than I remember. I will get out some nickels to make a rip-o-meter test and see what it tells me, but they feel like 10 grams more than the M/Fs and more than that above the Montereys.

For one thing, I plan to open it up and clean it inside and out. I am not expecting general dirt and board chow to be causing stiffness in the switches, of course.

I have planned all along to lightly lubricate the switches (when I decide what product I want to use), but I only intend to brush the outside of the stems, I am not going to take them each apart.

Frankly, I am very happy they there are no dead keys. After a rehab, I will use it regularly for a while and really get the feel of it.

[Grimey]

Very cool to see an old board like that with a standard layout.  I would put myself on the side of White Alps being to heavy, but I have been typing on dampened creams for a few months and the weight is getting to be less of an issue (except for code comment days... blarg).

With the majority of the non-apple Alps boards from this time having the same barely stepped Capslock, it makes me wonder if Alps was making these keys or pcbs for everyone.

[fohat.digs]

Now I have cleaned, adjusted, and lubed this board. It is very nice and I will not be selling it (at least not until I find an upgrade specimen!).

Coming from my trusty Model F, anything else will inevitably feel "plasticy" and lack crispness, so that is a given.

First, I really like the looks of this board. The beige keys are pretty nice doubleshots, if rather ordinary, but the darker keys are a really nice color, much darker, warmer, and richer than the M/F standards I see every day.

The footprint is small, good for those people who have small desks, and the board is light in weight (no metal plate to be seen, it has plastic with one of those cardboard / foil layers instead).

It is pretty quiet now that I lubed it, and my only real complaint is that the keys are a good deal heavier than I would like. 

Ripometer says 65-75 grams, with a few almost reaching 80 grams (holding 14 nickels + 1 quarter + 1 cent). It seems like the more heavily-used keys are stiffer, and the less-used ones are lighter, in general.

The wear pattern of these keys is very surprising. Whoever owned this keyboard originally must have typed a lot of text almost exclusively. The letters are worn, and the most-used third of them are quite shiny. There is a spot to the right of the center of the spacebar that is heavily worn and totally shiny. The right shift is showing just the tiniest bit of wear, but "Enter" looks almost new, as do "Backspace" and "Delete"! The numpad looks like it has never even been touched, like the top numbers and Function keys, same with the modifiers. Even the arrow keys show no wear! Who types like that?

Conclusion:

If you want to try white Alps, and don't want to spring for an Omnikey, this would be a nice board to have.