My Apple Extended Keyboard II

[EscapeVelocity]

I just picked this up recently.  Appears to have little, if any use, then stored in box away from sunlight.

I think it has Cream Damped Complicated Alps

Made in USA

This is one of the quieter keyboards I have, really like the damped bottom out. It's not mushy feeling like most rubber domes.

Here are some pictures. Perhaps you can tell me more about it from the pics. Near as I can tell from some reading Ive done on the Deskthority Wiki and elsewhere, this is likely to be an early production unit of the M3501 which is still serial numbered M0312 and still made in USA. Copyright is 1990.

[EscapeVelocity]

Weird things about this keyboard...

The italicized legends including their placement at the bottom lower edge of the keycap.

The risers to help guide finger placement which are usually on the J & F keys where the index finger goes are place where the long middle finger resides.

[boTy]

Looks amazing!

[merlin64]

Looks great!

Are you gonna..

A) Keep as part of your collection?
B) Actually use it?
C) Take it apart and make your own alps keyboard with hasu's board?

[fohat.digs]

That's a nice one! Don't part it out.

In my experience, all 1990s are cream.

Yes, Apple legends suck hard but AEK2 keys are wonderful. And the worst part is that all the F keys are turned sideways.

[Touch_It]

That's a nice one! Don't part it out.

In my experience, all 1990s are cream.

Yes, Apple legends suck hard but AEK2 keys are wonderful. And the worst part is that all the F keys are turned sideways.

Have to agree with that.  The other issue with them that I don't like is that the homing nubs are on the k and d keycaps vs f and j.  If you touch type (witch I do) you can just swap the keys so not a huge deal, but would make the keyboard hard to use if you look at it.

[chyros]

Nice board! I agree SKCM Creams are pretty nice switches, they feel and sound a little bit different from other Alps but they're a great addition to the family . Yours even still has the legend thing, don't think I've ever seen an AEKII with that still on.

[EscapeVelocity]

Another weird thing about this keyboard is the riser system is really weird. It isnt the common flip out legs, but a bar of plastic that decends across backside of the bottom, activated by a slider tab on the backside. Really awkward and not very sturdy, reliable.

[EscapeVelocity]

Looks great!

Are you gonna..

A) Keep as part of your collection?
B) Actually use it?
C) Take it apart and make your own alps keyboard with hasu's board?

Not sure what Im going to do with it yet, though it's unlikely that I will make my own Alps keyboard.  It really depends on how goofy this thing is to use with Windows using an Griffin iMate. Any tips on that would be appreciated?

[EscapeVelocity]

That's a nice one! Don't part it out.

In my experience, all 1990s are cream.

Yes, Apple legends suck hard but AEK2 keys are wonderful. And the worst part is that all the F keys are turned sideways.

Yeah, Im not much into swapping out keys. And I appreciate stock vintage gear as an antiquarian from a historical perspective.

Ill take some pics of the box and underside and sideview and add them to the OP.

[cheddarbek]

Not sure what Im going to do with it yet, though it's unlikely that I will make my own Alps keyboard.  It really depends on how goofy this thing is to use with Windows using an Griffin iMate. Any tips on that would be appreciated?

I've got an AEKII at work (1995, alps whites) that I found in our graveyard - brand new, package never opened. I use it with an iMate on Win7, it's great. The board is completely plug and play, everything just works. The Apple key becomes Win, so it might take you a bit to get used to the position swap, but as a Mac guy it feels completely natural to have Apple be Win.

The one point of interest with the iMate is the locking capslock switch on this board. Most of the time it works flawlessly, but every now and then (maybe once a fortnight) it'll get reversed - when capslock is engaged on the board, capslock is off on Windows and vice versa - easy solution is to just disconnect the ADB cable from the keyboard, cycle the key, and plug it back in.

I'm quite happy with my board. I'd tear the switches out of it, but I'm too attached to it at this point. I'll be using Matias clicks for my 60% alps build...if USPS ever gets hasu's pcb to my door.

[EscapeVelocity]

Hey thanks for the info on using this keyboard with a Griffin iMate.

This is one of my fav keyboards so far.

[XMIT]

I have a few of these. I would use hasu's ADB converter with these. I'm planning to mod my Caps Lock switch to remove the latching and turn it into a Control key. hasu's converter permits this; an iMate does not.

[njbair]

This is one of the best-looking AEKII's I've seen. Definitely don't scrap this for parts.

And you're right about the riser bar thingy--it's just one of Apple's over-engineering ideas gone wild. Like the circular iMac mouse.

Regarding Apple legends, I am okay with the Helvetica Oblique or whatever it's called. It's something different.

[EscapeVelocity]

Added some more pics to OP.

The box is a bit worse for wear but it still has the original foam inserts and has kept the keyboard clean and protected from dust & sun.

[macguy80]

Regarding Apple legends, I am okay with the Helvetica Oblique or whatever it's called. It's something different.

Actually, the font used is Univers 57 Condensed Oblique

Having grown up with Apples, I quite like it. I think their subsequent font(s) look.... plain. But that's my opinion.

[chyros]

In my opinion, it couldn't've been worse if they had used Comic Sans xD . Maybe they purposely went for a **** ugly font, to make people pay more attention (this has actually been proven to work with presentations) xD .

[Bucake]

i actually quite like the legends :x

i'm jealous.

[EscapeVelocity]

I dont think the font is so bad, but the italicization seems wrong, and the placement isnt optimal at the bottom of the key. But it's not that big a deal, really.

[cheddarbek]

I like it. The legends are so very different from what you usually see. It screams Apple to me.

[macguy80]

I dont think the font is so bad, but the italicization seems wrong, and the placement isnt optimal at the bottom of the key. But it's not that big a deal, really.

You know, I never really gave the placement a second thought, good or bad. Although I obviously can't say whether this was truly Apple's reasoning behind the choice, I can think of at least one possible reason: consistency. On most keyboards, the legends are on the top left. But when you have a key with dual legends (for example, the top row), where does the unmodified character go? Bottom left. So maybe they figured they should keep it consistent.

With regard to the font, I should point out that Matias does use the exact same font, minus italicization. Too bad the keycaps are ABS and not the PBT that Apple used.

[fohat.digs]

Legends are more visible at the top of keys, since the fingers will always block to the bottom.

Personally, I like large strong centered legends, but those have been out of style for decades.

[EscapeVelocity]

Unicomp Ultra Classic 103 Key USB is here!  White case with Pearl & Pebble keys.

Woot!

[Touch_It]

Grats. 103 key looks far better than the crazy bottom row of the 104

[EscapeVelocity]

I had an SSK before I got the Saitek Eclipse I, but somebody clipped it.  I remember the ping of the buckling springs well. I really like the straight USB connector on this.

[EscapeVelocity]

I dont wanna short change some of these other quality keyboards, but my two nicest keyboards are both Made in USA. This Apple Extended Keyboard II and this Unicomp Ultra Classic 103.

Glad I didnt waste my time on the IBM M2 which I was intently eyeballing (thanks for the video Chryos).

[TopreFan333]

If you go back and look at a lot of late '80s / early '90s typography, Univers Condensed Oblique really fits in to what was going on at the time. There was a lot of gratuitous use of italics and condensed type back then. I think when desktop publishing started really taking off (thanks to Apple, largely), everybody went kind of ape**** with all the font choices and designers went through this big phase of "reinventing" typography. Now that we've all had a couple decades to collectively absorb the reality of having infinite font choices for everything, it seems plainer, more straightforward type is more predominant.

Typography was actually of the things that really drew me toward a lot of the Cherry-profile keycaps from Signature Plastics: I love the "retro" look of that Gorton Modified font they use -- makes your keyboard look like it might have shipped with a 1960s-era teletype terminal or something.

[rowdy]

If you go back and look at a lot of late '80s / early '90s typography, Univers Condensed Oblique really fits in to what was going on at the time. There was a lot of gratuitous use of italics and condensed type back then. I think when desktop publishing started really taking off (thanks to Apple, largely), everybody went kind of ape**** with all the font choices and designers went through this big phase of "reinventing" typography. Now that we've all had a couple decades to collectively absorb the reality of having infinite font choices for everything, it seems plainer, more straightforward type is more predominant.

Typography was actually of the things that really drew me toward a lot of the Cherry-profile keycaps from Signature Plastics: I love the "retro" look of that Gorton Modified font they use -- makes your keyboard look like it might have shipped with a 1960s-era teletype terminal or something.

I have Filco yellow keycaps on my keyboard atm, and the legends are mildly italic.

It looks quite nice

[TopreFan333]

I have Filco yellow keycaps on my keyboard atm, and the legends are mildly italic.

It looks quite nice

OH, I'm not anti-italics   The only thing that *really* grosses me out are those Déck keyboards.

[rowdy]

I have Filco yellow keycaps on my keyboard atm, and the legends are mildly italic.

It looks quite nice

OH, I'm not anti-italics   The only thing that *really* grosses me out are those Déck keyboards.

And specifically the US version of the Deck keyboards, because the Oceanic ones had Helvetica or similar legends.