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Author Topic: What did I buy *THIS* time?  (Read 2351 times)

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Offline bhtooefr

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What did I buy *THIS* time?
« on: Sat, 28 February 2009, 14:15:46 »
You may recall discussion of the infamous Laser AT keyboard, which I thought had three backslashes.

I was wrong, it only has two, and despite having an L-shaped enter, has a long backspace. (I scored one from Goodwill today.)

Anyway, here's a pic of the keyswitch:



It has full keycap compatibility with Cherry MX, FWIW - I swapped some caps back and forth between my Scorpius M10 and it.

I did see a thread saying that they were SMK switches, but... I can't quickly find anything saying for sure that SMK made their own switches. Any proof?

Oh, and I also scored a Graymark F-21 board. Keycaps are double-shot molded, and it uses white Alps of some sort. Holy CRAP that's a loud board, and it's not even a good loud like the Model M. And I think I now know what people mean by "gritty" Alps.

I would pull a keycap to check what particular TYPE of Alps it has, but it's got an AT connection and no Windows keys, so it should be FAIRLY safe to assume it's real complicated (although there are other versions of this board with Windows keys, it seems...) And, I'd have to pull EVERY keycap *AND* remove 11 screws, to remove the top cover, as it's molded so as to only show the sliders themselves, not the whole keyswitch.
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Offline Chloe

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What did I buy *THIS* time?
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 28 February 2009, 15:32:54 »
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Offline bhtooefr

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What did I buy *THIS* time?
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 28 February 2009, 15:42:46 »
These SMKs remind me of a lighter Cherry blue that returns better, but bottoms out immediately after the click.

I think this board might be the one I chop up for the ergo project.

(The Graymark is more likely to sell well on eBay, having Alps switches, and is in cleaner condition...)
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Offline alpslover

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What did I buy *THIS* time?
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 28 February 2009, 19:38:43 »
i find the smk switches to be more tactile than the cherry blues.  the switch actuation point on the smk's is further down in the travel, though.  i've got a few of these keyboards, and one of them has switches which are noticeably crisper and snappier than the others.
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Offline bhtooefr

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What did I buy *THIS* time?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 28 February 2009, 21:14:59 »
I definitely like this Laser board. Not enough to NOT chop it up, but these SMK switches were probably my first experience with a clicky keyboard, unless the Model M2 included with my parents PS/1 was a BS model.
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