MX8100 - taking the plunge

[Hak Foo]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cherry-MX-8100-Credit-Card-Keyboard-MX8100-Black-PS2_W0QQitemZ370317372143QQihZ024QQcategoryZ46710QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D63#ht_2338wt_781

Well, someone had to buy those double-shot caps.

With such a set, I expect I can do a swap with my '3000-LSCRC to eliminate the unwanted Chinese.

[watduzhkstand4]

wow it's already sold...

[Viett]

Congrats. I was looking at that board, but decided not to buy because I don't have PS/2 ports. There's no way of using the extra function keys and the credit card reader with an adapter.

[ricercar]

There's no way of using the extra function keys and the credit card reader with an adapter.

This appears not to be the case universally. One recent PS/2 POS purchase card reader works fine on a USB adapter. There's no software I can find for the function keys, but they read SHIFT-F1, CTRL-F2 without any software.

YMMV.

[spolia optima]

damn that's a nice deal. I know I'll eventually find one <20bux, but the more i see 'em, the more possibilities spring into my head. i wanna do nasty things to that pos.

[ak_nala]

Well, this was the second one this seller had posted in 48 hours (I got the first one), so it's possible he may have more at this price point. Wonder where they came from.

[spolia optima]

I don't know much about the ebays, but I'd guess that a great number of these recyclers get them from foreclosed businesses and such. Most of it is pos equipment

[timw4mail]

I'm pretty sure those are lasered keys, not double-shot.

Although, the model number seems to suggest double-shot...

I had a fun time with mine getting the card reader to work.

[ak_nala]

Judging by all the conflicting things that have been cropping up about Cherry boards around here of late (G86's with Cherry Browns, etc.), I'm treating it as an adventure. Cherry's are starting to look more and more like Alps these days

As to wondering where they came from, I was just trying to decide whether I'd have to wear a hazmat suit to clean it, is all.

[ak_nala]

Ooooo - a hazmat suit AND anti-radiation shielding. What fun.

Pass the penicillin, with an iodine chaser.

[rdjack21]

That would be this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-Bio-Rad-DigiLab-Joystick-Keyboard-KB-005-0487_W0QQitemZ200425468037QQcmdZViewItem

That actually looks kinda of neat. I may have to keep an eye on that one and see where it goes.

[ak_nala]

Actually, yes, it does - I'd still want to check it out with a geiger counter, though.

[Viett]

My friend just bought the next one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cherry-MX-8100-Credit-Card-Keyboard-MX8100-Black-PS2_W0QQitemZ120516274509QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0f54694d

I bet the seller is wondering why lowering the price by $5 has landed him so many sales. The first was up at $15 for a week before being relisted.

[Hak Foo]

I bet the seller is wondering why lowering the price by $5 has landed him so many sales. The first was up at $15 for a week before being relisted.

We're like a stampede of wild animals, laying a plain of keyboards bare and on to the next one.

[ak_nala]

I should be getting mine later today, if UPS is to be believed. I'll report all the gory details asap.

[ak_nala]

Well, looks like I was looking at the wrong shipping info (that will teach me to order more than one keyboard at a time).

In looking up things, still haven't even gotten a confirmation of shipping on the Cherry board from this seller, so... nevermind.

[ak_nala]

Looks like mine is finally shipping today - Wed - only took them 6 days to get into the mail

Apparently shipping via Priority, but still don't know where this seller is, so could take as many as 4 business days to reach me if from much east of the Rockies. Will report when I receive, unless others get theirs first.

[Hak Foo]

Looks like mine is finally shipping today - Wed - only took them 6 days to get into the mail

Apparently shipping via Priority, but still don't know where this seller is, so could take as many as 4 business days to reach me if from much east of the Rockies. Will report when I receive, unless others get theirs first.

I got my shipping notice yesterday; no life on the USPS site.

I'm sorry, but there's no excuse for it.  I ordered a LS-120 drive from Canada one day earlier, and it's here already.

[ak_nala]

I agree. A board I won the day after this actually shipped the same day I won it and I got it two days before this one even shipped. Lame.

Now that stats are up on the USPS site, know the seller is somewhere in Missouri. I will be lucky to get it by Saturday, more likely Monday. Oh well.

[Hak Foo]

It came.

It was missing the plastic cap over 'Home'.  I will not be offering a positive

The main keys are double-shot, but the Windows key looked pad-printed (or maybe worn laser-and-fill?)  Will pull later and analyze further.

Switches are clearly linear.

[microsoft windows]

I found some beige ones here.

[watduzhkstand4]

mine came as well. They are Cherry Brown. my '-' key on the numpad doesn't work. The very last relegendable key on the top row uses a Cherry clear switch. The spacebar uses the gray switch. Keys are doubleshot. keyboard had leaves in it. I'm gonna use the keys on my Filco.

[microsoft windows]

Do the beige ones have the same re-legendable key caps?

[watduzhkstand4]

@ripster
hahaha yea no lie, there were leaves! I was shocked too!

I took the double shot keycaps off and popped them on my Filco Blues. The sounds of the key is totally different. The pitch is higher.

[watduzhkstand4]

like the keys sounds clicker almost like some sounds clips here of the M10 or the DAS 3. The double shot keys are also more curved. comparing to the original blank Filco keys.

[watduzhkstand4]

The keyboard was really dirty when it arrived. They are Cherry Browns, well the majority of them.


There is a Cherry Clear Switch on my Cherry Brown board? Really?! I also noticed that that's the only switch on the keyboard without a resistor in it.


here is the Filco with the Letters and the numbers replaced with the double shot keys from the Cherry POS board. BTW, not all keys from the POS board are double shot. all the F keys and the pg up, pg down, home, end, etc... they are all printed.


EDIT: BTW, I washed every key by hand before putting it on the Filco. Those keys were so nasty. I could've sworn that I could easily muster up all the crap under that keyboard to make myself a meal. EWWWWWW!

[watduzhkstand4]

I'm pretty sure that's an optical illusion caused by the higher profile of the Filcos/IBM/Topres versus the Cherry keys.

I'll take a pic sometime to illustrate.

You're right ripster. Let me correct myself really quick =D Because the F and J keys don't have the nipples on it, it's more curved than the rest of the keys on the keyboard.

[watduzhkstand4]

Here is the tag. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of it before.

[watduzhkstand4]

I'm really interested in seeing the tag from Hak Foo's keyboard.

[bsvP585hUO2Y6]

watduzhkstand4 wrote on 5981 September 1993:

> There is a Cherry Clear Switch on my Cherry Brown board? Really?! I also noticed that
> that's the only switch on the keyboard without a resistor in it.

You mean it lacks the diode?  The only explanation I could come up with
is that it has been serviced because of a broken switch somewhere, and
the clear was the next best compatible switch the workshop had in stock.

[watduzhkstand4]

BTW the Cherry Clear works great in the Spacebar location.  That's what I did with my SPOS.

I swear I was about to switch the internals out with the space bar too! I think the gray is definitely still too heavy for the space bar.

That's what I did with the 11800 I had before.

[Hak Foo]

I'm really interested in seeing the tag from Hak Foo's keyboard.

Hold on to your pants:

It's not brown.  It's CLEARS (whites?  I can't tell, honestly, my Blue 3000 is the first cherry board I own) with a gray space bar!

My card reader is acting up; will reboot and post pics.

[Chao]

It's not brown.  It's CLEARS (whites?  I can't tell, honestly, my Blue 3000 is the first cherry board I own) with a gray space bar!

Wow. A lucky find indeed!

[Hak Foo]

Wow. A lucky find indeed!

Okay.  Threw it on my PS/2-USB converter (didn't want to power down) and it seems to do 5-6 combinations on the xem.us NKRO test.  (The USB limits it to 6, and it seemed like most of the 5s were from the 6th key not appearing from poor typing on switches with no caps on 'em

Here are the pics!

Aside:  If you remove the mini-ribbon-cable from the ferrite core on the touchpad, it's much easier to put back together

More thoughts:

1.  The Cherry stabilizers >>>>> Solidtek stabilizers.  What a mess trying to restore 'em after lifting off the Enter of my ASK-6600.

2.  If you can put a regular edit block on and Blues, I will buy this board again, in spite of owning a 3000 about to get a double-shot makeover.

[elbowglue]

What the heck - same model, one is cherry clear, one is cherry brown??

Whatduzhkstand - which Ebay listing did you get yours from? Was it from hyprlynk?

[watduzhkstand4]

What the heck - same model, one is cherry clear, one is cherry brown??

Whatduzhkstand - which Ebay listing did you get yours from? Was it from hyprlynk?

yes sir. I checked the other listing that was listed here and hyprlynk used the same pictures.

Also, notice that same key that I mentioned. The last key on the top row of relegendable keys, that specific key does not have a resistor in it. For some odd reason I find that very interesting.

[ak_nala]

I got mine Saturday as well. Just now had a chance to look at it.

Same Seller, same model number and the serial is G  001686  049, so late in the series like watduzhkstand4's. Pulled a few keycaps to see what was hiding underneath - appear to be MX Browns EXCEPT that last F key, which is also a Clear like his. Interesting.

Mine also came quite dirty, but in addition the right bracket key was askew, impinging on the Return key so they both went up and down together when either was pressed. Upon taking the cap off, the bracket key switch seems to be askew with the left side elevated up off the PCB, but not loose at all. Not a good sign. I will have to open up the case to see what's actually going on.

Haven't checked for electrical condition yet, but all this was a big downer right off the bat, except for the double-shots and the Browns, of course

Also, the touchpad's left-click button seems to be completely loose (in contrast to the right-click button, which is tight and firmly attached). Still feel the switch activating, it's just that the plastic button itself is really, really loose and floating in its cut-out.

Certainly not what the Seller claimed:

"This keyboard is in great shape.  It is very clean and has minor wear.  The keyboard has been tested and it works."

I'd say a great big FAIL on all counts since even if there aren't any electrical problems, the jammed Enter/Bracket keys would have made it pretty well non-functional if they'd actually tested it.

Oh well.

[ak_nala]

Worn is one thing, and as you say to be expected on a POS, but this well worn? Not when Seller says it has only "minor wear." OMFG, the left-click button has not only worn off the little nubs it originally had, but it looks like a stone step that's had traffic up and down it every day for a few hundred years. It's now contoured! Quite odd when viewed next to the almost pristine right-click button.

Oh, and checked it plugged in - Everything works save for the expected CLOSE BRACKET key, which is quite dead. ENTER key works fine if you take the other's keycap off.

I e-mailed the Seller, so we shall see.

Speaking of which, looks like he's got another up for sale.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cherry-MX-8100-Credit-Card-Keyboard-MX8100-Black-PS2_W0QQitemZ370321527034QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5638e210fa

Anyone interested, go in with open eyes.

[watduzhkstand4]

just to give you all some details on the shipping on this keyboard, it definitely wasn't the best. I bought it last on Friday the 8th and paid on the 8th. The listing says he will ship same or next business day. So I expected him to ship Monday because it was late Friday when I paid. I never received any tracing info when I messaged her and she said "Oh sorry for the delay, I'll ship today." [that was Tuesday] Never got any shipping info so I sent her a message again on Friday, a week from the day I paid her, she said "sorry I was pretty sure I packed it up and sent it out but for some reason I never got a tracking." (meaning she never sent the thing) So she sends it out on Friday as Express mail and therefore I got it on Saturday morning.

[ak_nala]

Update - Seller is making good on my semi-functional board. She gave me the option for a refund or a replacement. I'm apparently enough of a masochist to ask for a replacement. Did not have to send old board back.

I'm sure the replacement will be just as well used (but hopefully not quite as abused), but I'm kinda liking this thing. Bit of a project, but do some cleaning (OK, a LOT of cleaning) and maybe some switch moving (little used Funciton keys into the alpha section, etc.) and I think I'd have a long-term winner. Not sure what to do about the left-click, however.

Of course, just what I need, another couple of project boards.

I tell you, it's really impressive though - just the fact that all the rest of the switches are purring along just fine despite the obviously considerable wear they've had. I mean, if this were an Alps board every other switch would be either intermittently registering or bouncing all over the place. Wow, Cherry really knows how to make a good switch!

EDIT:  BTW, replacement went out same day she received the e-mail with my decision. Fast turn-around, so possible the slow-ship for all of us was a temporary issue on her end.

[microsoft windows]

ALPS switches definitely take to wear and tear.

My Dell Quietkey though has taken a substantial beating (14 years of very heavy use) and still feels just like new. The keys are worn to the point where they're as smooth as glass.

[ak_nala]

With Alps, just going by a few of the used boards I've acquired. Most with any age or use (or is that abuse) seem to get some switches that start to act up. Don't know if it's dirt or wear. Plan to open them up and take a look some time, but even boards with significantly less wear than this one showing these kinds of problems seems to be a consistent trend with Alps.

These aren't even always heavily used switches, either. On one it's the frigging Caps Lock key! On another it's the M, and another it's the number row 9. Mixed bag.

I agree though, as Alps get older, if they are kept clean, they do break in well and seem to get smoother, but then my AEK I and IIs were smooth to begin with.

[ak_nala]

Update:

Got the replacement for the first board. New one is even earlier in the serial number series than Hak Foo's. And yes, like his they have Cherry Clears throughout!

Seems somewhere in the run they switched from Clears to Browns, except on the F24 key, with no change in Model Number suffix at all.

All keys work on this one (though I'm still going to try to fix the one with Browns), and in general it has less wear. From the shiny smoothness of the Numpad keys, though, it's obvious they were used much more than the rest of the board on this board.

One odd thing is that this keyboard is creaking and flexing a lot more than the other one. As I hear what sounds like a bit of plastic inside, I'm thinking one of the plastic latches that hold the thing together might have broken. It's not a very well built board regardless, from a plastics engineering point of view.

Comparison of Clears vs. Browns on the same model of keyboard - Clears have a more pronounced Tactile bump to go with their being a little stiffer. Like a cross between ALPS Blacks and Cherry Browns - Not in a bad way either. It's almost like ALPS Blacks done the way they always should have been. Much easier to avoid bottoming out than the Browns (or the ALPS Blacks for that matter) and not as stiff as the ALPS Blacks at the top. A win, win, though I'm still liking the gentleness of the Browns - I think I could really get to like that softness.

[ak_nala]

Well, she seems to have more should anybody want to roll the dice. She usually puts up one or two at a time - no idea how many more there are.

http://shop.ebay.com/hyprlynk/m.html?_nkw=cherry&_sacat=0&_trksid=p3911.m270.l1313&_odkw=&_osacat=0

Just stock up on those cleaning supplies.

[Frawg]

I just ordered one of these as my first mechanical keyboard. I also have a logitech coming in the mail today (ordered before I discovered Geekhack). It'll be a nice chance to compare the boards - if I open the logitech that is.

I'll let you know what the condition is when I receive it. I will say, though, that I had my old address for my order address (hadn't ordered from eBay in years), and the seller was, through slight cajoling, willing to waive eBay protection to send it to me at my new address (which is in NY, in case anyone will let me try out their keyboards.)

In any event, I wanted to say hi to everyone, and let you all know that I spent hours looking at the keyboard pictures posted on this site. So much glory.

[Viett]

Provided that the Cherry isn't completely disgusting, you'll be liking it a whole lot better. My friend described his as being "as dirty as a Las Vegas hooker," though, so don't have too high of expectations.

And welcome to Geekhack!

[cchan]

Welcome to geekhack! (:

I have a MX8100 that I bought from someone other than hyprlynk last year - I was ahead of the curve (;

It has browns, and I like the touchpad. I don't have a fixed computer desk atm though (just use my laptop everywhere) so i don't get too many chances to use it. I certainly do miss the cherry browns.

[ak_nala]

My friend described his as being "as dirty as a Las Vegas hooker," though, so don't have too high of expectations.

LOL - Yeah, keep some penicillin handy

[Frawg]

I got the keyboard - and I liked it quite a bit. It was a bit dirty, so I took off the keycaps and did a little dusting off. Shipping was very fast, and the seller was great to work with. For $15 (12 ship though) this was a great keyboard. I killed mine by fiddling with it too much though - but I love these browns. The double-shot caps were nice too.

[ak_nala]

You killed it? How?