Are these vintage AT KB domes or mech ?

[kilogeek]

Found 2 keyboards for sale (quite cheap) :

One has the FCC ID: E5XKBP10110 and this is the picture :



The other has FCC ID : J6G-KTIC-KB-M102 and has an amazing layout :



Anyone knows more about these keyboards ? I've found nothing relevant on the web ATM. Thx

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The top one is BTC. It will be one of: linear foam and foil, tactile foam and foil with buckling rubber sleeves, conductive rubber dome over PCB, or rubber dome over membrane. The keycaps will be Cherry MX mount, but I am not aware that they ever made desirable keycaps. Some of their domes are quite reasonable, but you won't be getting Alps or Cherry with that.

I'm not familiar with the BTC 7000 series, though.

The second one, I don't recognise at all.

[kilogeek]

thanks very much, at least I can delete this one from my list^^

[IvanIvanovich]

They are older so they should be either foam and foil or individual conductive rubber over PCB (these feel really good actually). Some of the earlier models do have Cherry compatible doubleshots or dyesubs that are of a good quality. If you can confirm it (the IPC one looks like it probably would have doubleshots) and it's a good price they are worth buying.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Based on the FCC ID it's essentially the same age as my BTC 5149, which is dome over PCB (mostly rubber sheet, with a few discrete domes), with pad-printed caps. It's a horrible keyboard to type on, maybe due to rubber stiffening, as I don't recall it being that awful in the 90s (I've had it since 1994).

The keycaps are likely to be the only good thing about that IPC keyboard, if they actually are doubleshot

Interestingly, mine has an FCC ID of E5XKBM10140, while that one is E5XKBP10110. E5XKBP10140 also exists. Whether that is a clue towards any aspect of the technology or construction, I have no idea.

[kilogeek]

I guess last digits are for localization layout, the keyboards shown here have the AZERTY (French) layout.
Anyway, I'll save my money, they are cheap but shipping fees here are high :/
Thx for these informations

[Daniel Beardsmore]

FCC ID is for the US. European products don't need them. That's why I couldn't ID my Tulip keyboard: no FCC ID, as it was for the European market. FCC IDs seem like pointless bureaucracy, but they're fantastic for determining keyboard OEMs.

Also, FCC ID is not likely to change with localisation.

[kilogeek]

FCC ID is for the US. European products don't need them. That's why I couldn't ID my Tulip keyboard: no FCC ID, as it was for the European market. FCC IDs seem like pointless bureaucracy, but they're fantastic for determining keyboard OEMs.

Also, FCC ID is not likely to change with localisation.

Yes, we may not require this in Europe but I guess it's more expensive for an asian firm to produce 2 types of stickers (and sometime it's in the mould) than to just change 2 digits^^ They may use it for their own purpose (as a P/N) even if some are not sold to USA. Changing from QWERTY to AZERTY is not only changing keycaps but also switches positions, e.g. on my old Bull ALPS keyboard, the metal plate would not allow to use a QWERTY layout (we've got one stupid more key close to the left shift key with <> symbols, these should have been placed at the also stupid ² symbol position^^)