Saw a Cherry POS Retail USB Keyboard on ebay, need advice

[berserkfan]

Hey Everyone

Saw what seems to be a cool Cherry keyboard on Ebay.

I would like to ask all of you knowledgeable geeks some stuff:

1) are the keycaps compatible with standard Cherry keycaps? (am hoping to cannibalize the relegendable key caps and also put in my own colour scheme)

2) does anyone have trouble using the keyboard on Windows7?

3) any difficulty programming the keys?

4) what is your opinion of the switches? I have heard they are all ML (or MY?) switches which no one seems to like.


http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/Cherry-POS-Retail-USB-Keyboard-Magnetic-Card-Swipe-SPOS-G86-61411EUADAA-/140957757231?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item20d1bcaf2f#ht_875wt_1143

[esoomenona]

If they're ML (which I think they may be based on the height), people like them. It's the MY people don't like. And if they're ML, you're not going to be able to take the caps for anything else (like you could do with MY). Programming keys with Cherry Tools was easy for me.

[davkol]

Most keyboards in the G86 series are rubber domes (rather nice ones, though), but the rest uses Cherry MX switches IIRC. I'm not really sure about this one. They claim it its key mechanism should last at least 20 mil. keystrokes, but is spill-resistant at the same time.

Keycaps don't look like typical ones for Cherry ML.

[dorkvader]

This one should be rubber domes, by looking at the keycap design, though the picture is by no means good.

If you're looking for cherry Kbs on ebay, your best bet would be to stick to the G80 (MX) and G84 (ML) and G81 (MY) if you are just after the keycaps.

[berserkfan]

OK guys, appreciate your replies.

The data sheet is here http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/keyboards/pdf/SPOS_QWERTY.pdf

Remarkably, this is Cherry's official data sheet, and they don't even say what kind of keyswitches they use!

But based on the claim of 20m actuations, I guess it is ML?

I was hoping to use the keyboard for several things:
1) play with it
2) try out all kinds of fun programming stuff with the keys
3) harvest relegendable keycaps. (These are damn expensive from SP)

I guess option 3 is very unlikely, making this keyboard not so worth buying...

[davkol]

But based on the claim of 20m actuations, I guess it is ML?

I doubt it. AFAIK Cherry ML are always PCB-mounted, and they claim the keyboard should be spill-resistant (see here).

[IvanIvanovich]

G86 are rubber domes, but very good ones. There is an exception G86-6241DEUAGSA which has a variant with MX browns (G80-6241DEUADSA), but also domes with the same model number... you have to pay extra close attention to the keycaps as they can give it away and the bottom label specifically will say MX SPOS and have the G80 part number at the bottom under the G86 article number. F*cking Cherry...