Hi. I only post on here once every few years, but I just got a new (to me) board with white alps switches that I think is interesting. It came with a Compaq Portable III clone (like, a clone of the compaq) and uses what looks to be Tai-Hao style injection moulded keycaps... except the numpad zero key has a '/' through it, which I've not seen before. Also, if these are ABS, they're startlingly white. Evidence inside the computer itself (chip date codes) suggests this was made in 1991, but there's no manufacturer information to be found on any component of the computer or keyboard other than an "NMB" sticker on a fan and the Intel logo on the '486DX.
I know, white Alps are probably the most generic you can get, but it's my first time with them so I'm still reveling a little. They feel quite good to me. And the layout is interesting. I have a Sun keyboard, so the backslash/pipe location didn't mess me up too badly. Only changes I've made are swapping right shift and '/', as well as mapping caps lock to control.
I have the computer, too (it came as part of it - $30), but it isn't showing many signs of life, so that's a project on the backburner for me to look into.
Annoyingly, this one doesn't cooperate with the blue cube converters, so I'm going to make a TMK converter sometime. It works fine on my desktop via the PS/2 port though (through an AT-to-PS/2 adapter).
Anyway, on the subject of Alps appreciation, I've had three Alps SKCM boards so far - a Dell AT101W (which was 'meh' at best), an Apple Extended keyboard (with oranges) that I rescued from recycling for $20 and then made a TMK ADB converter for, and finally this new one. I linear modded the AT101W and gave it to a friend, so currently I have just the two. But I really like both of them! The switches in them seem to be nice and clean. As much as I like my buckling spring boards (four M's and an F) I really can't settle on a favorite. The oranges especially are nice for being relatively quiet (and they have a very satisfying 'bounciness,' for a lack of a better descriptor).
I don't have an AT101W pic on hand, but I didn't really care for that board so I'm not too upset about it.
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This new one is my first clicky alps board, and I'm quite enjoying it (even though they aren't blues… I can't afford to even think about those, unless I stumble onto them locally like I did my oranges). These are also my first injection moulded keycaps that weren't on a Commodore 64 or VIC-20, which was a nice bonus. Definitely much nicer looking caps than my AT101W had!
Anyway, yeah. Aside from my AT101W - which I really didn't care for until I linearized it - I've yet to meet an Alps switch I didn't like.
By comparison, my first run-in with MX blues (a friend of mine showed me their Daskeyboard) left me thoroughly underwhelmed. It might partially be because my first mechanical boards used buckling springs and the (nicely tactile) variant of Mitsumi Miniature Mechanical, but to me the blues felt linear with a slight auditory feedback. To this day, I have yet to meet a tactile MX variant I really liked (no, I have not tried, nor do I have money to try, ergo clears). I think Alps switches are the only switches I have tried that really meet or exceed the expectations that buckling springs set for me for tactility.
So in short, yeah, I appreciate and love Alps switches. I hope I can find some nice blues, browns, greens, etc. some day to fill out the collection. I wish I'd bought one of those Japanese IBM keyboards with greens when there were a bunch on ebay around 2016, but I had only used black Alps at that point, and they had set my expectations way too low.
I haven't encountered dirty Alps switches yet, though. People talk about that a lot - is it really that common? Sure, they'd be a lot harder to clean than, say, a B/S board with a lot of dirt and dust… but maybe I've just been getting lucky. I only get a new board every few years, since I have only ever bought them locally. I've taken apart plenty of alps switches, by the way. Had to disassemble around a hundred of them to linearize the AT101W, after all.
