DS International “Modular Pro”

[jacobolus]

Came across this Japanese page about various Alps switch keyboards: http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~silencium/keyboard/html/alps.html

Anyway, this thing is pretty funky:




Anyone ever seen one of these in person?

[Pacifist]

dam thats cool

Imagine having your full size board on the desk then removing either tkl or 60% sections when u need them

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The fundamental problem is the F-key row is locked in place

[Grimey]

The fundamental problem is the F-key row is locked in place

Thought that as well, really could have tied to the function row sections to the main cluster for this keyboard.  Honestly would assume a modular keyboard like this would be easier to do in just full vertical sections.

Thanks for sharing, that is pretty cool.

[bueller]

Damn those are some pretty Alps caps.

[simon_C]

Wow i like that. I would configure the keypad on the left, the alphas in the middle, and the nav cluster on the right. Would keep the board relatively symmetrical and would center nicely with a monitor when typing, leaving as much mouse room as TKL

[Daniel Beardsmore]

SPARC has sent me a full set of photos for the wiki; they'll go here at some point soon: http://deskthority.net/wiki/Datadesk_Switchboard

It's got doubleshot keycaps. I can't be 100% sure what the switches are, but probably white Alps.

Indeed it does seem odd that the function keys don't move with the alphanumeric module.

[mashby]

That's a wild looking board. I'm guessing the pieces don't function outside the case, so other than being able to re-arrange the layout, it's always going to be a full-sized board. So having the function keys fixed makes sense.

That 60% portion looks really great though. Ooof.

[jacobolus]

It's got doubleshot keycaps. I can't be 100% sure what the switches are, but probably white Alps.

That Japanese page said white Alps.

I suspect the development of DataDesk International inc..

Books from google 2日4月1990年InfoWorld article

I wonder if sales here? DS International, Inc

There is no logo of the ALPS switch unit, but the structure appearance, in the ALPS white axis

A clear Tactile white axis-specific, click sound is.

Key's top two-color molding thickness but thin.

There is no reinforcing plate of the iron plate or the like for fixing the switch unit, switch unit is soldered directly to the paper phenol single-sided board.

So, after another key that cracks are contained in the solder vibration while you are typing, fatigue, becomes an input failure land of substrate is or floating.

so that the main key portion, a numeric keypad portion, the cursor key part becomes the unit, to change the position, respectively.

Internal circuit be unitized, the main board and the encoder board is made separately.

How to connect each unit flat cable.

Apart

Left-handed? Placement

By switching the dip switch and cable, it seems able to handle PC, AT, XT, also PS / 2, MAC.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I did ask him whether there was a logo on the switch, as the photo he sent me appeared not to show it; I've not had a reply yet. It's typically far more likely that the logo doesn't show up in a photo, than it is for white Alps to lack a logo. White Alps without a logo is rare, and was probably a holdover from the transition from blue to white. The FCC ID is from 1990, along with the article he mentions — white Alps with no logo in 1990? How strange.

I don't know whether he's opened a switch to prove it's not one of the lookalike clone ; )

[BucklingSpring]

I'm guessing the pieces don't function outside the case

Maybe it's a keyboard who can think out of the box... :-)

[Daniel Beardsmore]

That Japanese page said white Alps.

It's Alps, Jim, but not as we know it …

SPARC's sent me some photos of the switch. Short switchplate and slits, as you'd expect, but the upper shell is missing the numbers in the circles, and the Alps logo. It does have the numbering at the top right.

From what I can tell, the upper shell is identical to the ones used in the Simplified Alps Type III:

http://sandy55.fc2web.com/keyboard/focus2001.html (click "Fake Alps Blue Type-III" at the top then scroll down a bit)

This ties in with a theory that Simplified Alps Type III was created using rejected switch moulds that were thrown out — someone else picked them up and adapted them to fit clone parts. The DSI keyboard has real Alps switches using these incorrectly-moulded switch shells!

I was suspicious right from the start because the moulds didn't look right.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

First set of photos up (around 2/3 of those I intend to post):

http://deskthority.net/wiki/Datadesk_Switchboard

IrfanView's lossless rotation isn't working with EXIF tags with camera-defined rotation set (and I'm trying to avoid deleting the EXIF tags during any image editing). Also, I've not felt like doing much these last few days anyway. I'm getting my energy back though.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

That's a wild looking board. I'm guessing the pieces don't function outside the case, so other than being able to re-arrange the layout, it's always going to be a full-sized board. So having the function keys fixed makes sense.

You sure? If you set it to left-handed, the top row is going to be way over to the left of where it should be. That seems rather … suspect … to me.