The Northgate 101 came today and my god, these things really aren't made for Macs. I had a ***** of a time just getting it to work, and when I did, every time I hit the Cap Lock key, the board would enter into some sort of programming mode or something and all the LEDs blinked and no input was recorded. I finally got it to work by turning on Dip switch 1 & 3 and leaving the rest off, and using OS X to remap the Caps Lock to control, control to option and alt to command. But in any case it works now, but there is a dead key - the x - but that isn't a big deal. I'm thinking about having the Nothgate Repair guy do a cleaning and fix that switch, and the M key feels close to the end of it's life as well, so I'll have him switch that one out too.
Oh, and BTW, this keyboard has clicky white Alps switches but a different feel than the Macally, it almost feels a bit more forgiving somehow, but all in all I like the 'board so far. It's not a hulk like the Model M, but it is a big assed full size keyboard, and I am getting into big 'boards lately.
i'm gonna call back the Northgate Repair guy (he helped me get it working just now) and make arrangements to send this puppy in to him, but I don't think I will ship it until my other new keyboard arrives. And I should spend a stretch on this 'board to see if I like it enough to repair it. Miss the x key, as you can see by the amount of times I've typed it in this post, doesn't really affect me since I rarely use it and I have the MacBook keyboard, like, right there in front of me when I need an x. The m key on the other hand, that would hurt me.
So stay tunned sports racers, more on the Northgate saga at a later date.