Mrinterface Tutorial #4 : From Dell AT101W to Matias!

[Mrinterface]

From Dell AT101W to Matias Quiet.

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Thanx to Matias for supplying the switches and to qwerkeys for providing my keycap

[Kurk]

Looks nice. Several switches of my AT101 don't register properly anymore. Maybe I need to order more switches from 7bit.

BTW, your pics are HUGE.

[7bit]

YES!!!!!

[Mrinterface]

Updated OP with tutorial video.

Comments welcome.

Gonna update the vid soon, I forgot an important piece of info ( how to mount the non standard keys. )

[Ascaii]

The adapter looks awesome.

[tlt]

Great mod! Now I need to update my Dell AT102W I found in a recycling bin with Matias switches. Order incoming, 7bit.

I generally liked the video but it could have been cut a little more and the camera was moving around to much sometimes. The macro shots where good.

An easy way to get ride of the soldering smoke to put a fan on the side that bows over the work area, you can use a PC chassi fan for example

[7bit]

Please post some pictures!!!

Or a link from where I can download the video in real celluloid!

[Mrinterface]

Please post some pictures!!!

Or a link from where I can download the video in real celluloid!

I can send you the DVD

[7bit]

Errrr .... I would prefer a video cassette ...


I use this system:

[tlt]

So I finally made me a Dell AT102W mod. The parts are from the electronics recycling bin except for the Matias Quiet switches. The gray double shot keycaps are from a Toshiba T3200SX, the quality is really good and I like the colors too. The best part is that they are in Swedish layout! Something that seems impossible to find for Cherry switches. Sadly nearly all the non 1U keys are of non standard sizes so they don't fit.

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I used it at home for a couple of days but it turns out I don't like the switches that much. It's hard to describe what I don't like about them but they feel plasticy, mushy and a little uneven depending where on the switch you hit them. Maybe I could get use to them if I used them longer but I just want to go back to MX browns. On of the switches was very stiff and obviously had a quality issue so I had to replace it. If you buy some of these get a couple of extras in case you get a bad one.

[Mrinterface]

Go matias clicky. I'm using a SGI matias clicky and it really is a lot different compared to the Dell matias quiet.

[Paranoid]

tlt, where did you find the black enter and short left shift? Was it a black AT102W? Never seen one of those before
I was going to do the exact same thing. And I mean really exactly the same :p but I don't have the enter and short left shift in black

[tlt]

Yes, I it was a black AT102W. I think it's pad printed or could white on black caps be lasered?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Pretty sweet, although the stock Dell keycaps look a bit naff. From the icky beige lettering, they're going to be lasered; the beige AT10* keyboards have even uglier lasering. That same dirty beige on black is what WASD was offering until they finally managed to pull of white on black lasering. The only way you're going to do better is to harvest caps from an ISO Datacomp or Focus (they also made white-on-black Alps keyboards) and just find something else to go on the Windows key.

The only other thing I would say it needs is the plate painting black — the white plate just seems odd. Otherwise, that colour scheme is excellent!

I agree with you on the switches not being up to par. They're quite scratchy, and feel more like Dell's old Midnight Grey rubberdomes, although they're definitely smoother. I was quite disappointed that they turned out to be nowhere near as good as Matias's hype, when you consider that even a tinker toy baling wire SMK switch is beautifully smooth and perfectly tactile. (I don't know if the partial binding on non-stabilised modifiers is just a defect with my SMK board, or whether the switch needs some improvement.)

The one thing that stands out with the Quiet Pro itself, not the switches, is the perfectly silent stabilisers. The Quiet Pro is incredibly quiet, so much so that a coworker in the office has it and I'm not even aware when he's typing. It sounds loud when I'm using it, but then I am a very heavy-handed typist, and even then, it's still quieter than other keyboards around me that are further away. In terms of noise level, the Quiet Pro is not hyped: it definitely delivers. I just wish that Matias hadn't based their premium switches on such a shoddy design from Alps.

I might try a PC Tactile Pro, although from the recording on the Matias website, the stupid thing has the same ping problem as the Tactile Pro 3 Fuhua switches, so much that even Matias failed to notice that they recorded the wrong keyboard originally! So much for the ping being fixed :(

[domin8r]

Looking sweet! Do the Matias switches also have the same "wiggle room" the Alps have?

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I've never noticed anything in particular with Alps, Fuhua, Xiang Min or Matias when it comes to keycap wobble. I do have a wobbly keycap on my Model M though, and I can't tell why.

[scottc]

Really nice tutorial, thanks for putting the video together. I'm tempted to buy some of those matias switches from 7bit's thread and attempt this myself, but I might tenkeyless mod it first. The possibilities!