old bondwell laptops: 79 vintage Cherry MX blues + 2 orange alps-mount Omrons

[jacobolus]

There are 3 of these now on ebay for $60-70 shipped.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221364402851
http://www.ebay.com/itm/261365377272
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131099389667

The layout is slightly wacky, in particular the stagger is just 1/4 key width between the middle and bottom alpha rows, but for a laptop keyboard, it’s pretty good. The Omron switches (used for spacebar and enter key) are *very* clicky and pretty interesting.

Maybe that price is more than just the switches are worth though.

[berserkfan]

There are 3 of these now on ebay for $60-70 shipped.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221364402851
http://www.ebay.com/itm/261365377272
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131099389667

The layout is slightly wacky, in particular the stagger is just 1/4 key width between the middle and bottom alpha rows, but for a laptop keyboard, it’s pretty good. The Omron switches (used for spacebar and enter key) are *very* clicky and pretty interesting.

Maybe that price is more than just the switches are worth though.

The keycaps are very nice. For 60-70, I'm 100% sure geekhackers will snap them up.

[riotonthebay]

The keycaps are very nice. For 60-70, I'm 100% sure geekhackers will snap them up.

Do you know anything more about them? They look doubleshot for sure.

[mr_a500]

First of all, there's no way they're "79 vintage". They're more like 89 vintage.

Second, they're over $100 shipped. (to Canada)

[kishy]

First of all, there's no way they're "79 vintage". They're more like 89 vintage.

Second, they're over $100 shipped. (to Canada)

Thirdly, robbing awesome computers for their keycaps?

[berserkfan]

First of all, there's no way they're "79 vintage". They're more like 89 vintage.

Second, they're over $100 shipped. (to Canada)

Thirdly, robbing awesome computers for their keycaps?

Hey, this is Geekhack. People will do anything for keycaps. Guys will dress in women's lingerie and take photos just for ONE prized keycap. If Apple II had great keycaps, probably some folks here would buy Apple II and dump the CPU for the keycaps.

Anyway it is a matter of preference. I might conceivably dump an IBM XT for the keycaps, but I'll never do that to NeXT. I'll happily have a NeXT even if the keycaps were the ugliest in the world (not conceivable that a Steve Jobs product is ugly, though.)

[RESPRiT]

First of all, there's no way they're "79 vintage". They're more like 89 vintage.

Second, they're over $100 shipped. (to Canada)

Thirdly, robbing awesome computers for their keycaps?

People will buy a while typewriter for 1 CODE key, so..

[jacobolus]

Keycaps are not too thick and are not doubleshot. They are however a very low profile, uniform across rows, similar to the home row of Cherry profile caps. [Which someone might find useful for something?] By “vintage” I mean whatever kind of Cherry MX blue switches they had in 1990 [these laptops are 286s]. Is that a misleading name? I thought that within the last 5-10 years Cherry MX switches had somehow changed? I’m not an expert on MX switches.

[EverythingIBM]

(not conceivable that a Steve Jobs product is ugly, though.)