deskthority

The keypad has a serial connector. The legends are printed.
White clicky platemounted ALPS switches.
Might become my first teensy project

Very nice, could we see some guts?

Tomorrow, I have to sleep now

Looks like simplified Alps or Fuhua Alps, from the raised logo and the simple mould numbering.

How did you get it and how much was it?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/151021379037

1€ + 4.90€ for shipping

i wonder if this would work with the ortek mck-84.

Finally got some time to take some picture. I'd really like to have keyboard full of this swichtes, they feel good and don't have that high pitched ping noise of the blues.

Can possibly someone of the ALPS experts identify the switch?

Given the serial connection, it's likely to be Alps simplified (I forget when Fuhua took over, but well into the USB age).

You'll find these switches in some Filco Zeros and the Matias Tactile Pro (originally Alps, later Fuhua), Tactile Pro 2 (Fuhua) and most Tactile Pro 3s (the last few batches used Matias click switches), amongst others. The ABS M1 had the tactile version.

(Perhaps you should split the dead TP2 that someone has: switches for you, caps for matt3o ;-)

[wiki]Matias switch[/wiki]es are very similar in their design to Alps simplified: they have the same one-legged front contact plate and an identically-shaped shell and leaf springs (see the wiki page for comparison shots). I am not sure what the latest is on buying the switches directly from Matias.

I'm curious whether your experience suggests that Alps original simplified switches were less prone to ping than Fuhua's. I don't know, as sound recordings suggest that Matias click switches ping just as terribly as the Fuhuas that they were using before. The Matias quiet switch however is 99% ping free.

A little progress. I guess this is a 2x11 Matrix?

The switches indeed feel very similiar to Matias switches, but they sound different.

The Fuhua switches in the TP1/2/3 were prone to ping — while this is reported to be fixed, the official recording of the TP4 has the exact same sound as that of the TP3 (they originally recorded the TP3 with the old switches by mistake and even they didn't realise the recording was of the wrong switches).

I've heard similar ping in Filco Zero recordings, suggesting that it's not the case/plate of the Matias that's responsible, but there's a lot of mystery surrounding simplified Alps and Fuhua. Since Fuhua retained the same moulds, you can't even tell by looking at a switch who made it. (Sandy may have an idea, but I've lost contact with him.)

The Genovation board itself may be responsible for much of the sound change. Tricky one.

The tops are clearly marked "ALPS." Doesn't that confirm them s genuine?

No. When Alps fully divested keyswitch manufacturing to Fuhua (and no-one knows the true story for certain), Fuhua did not change the moulds and the switches continued to say "ALPS" on them for a while, or so it appears.

The "ALPS" branding was gone by the time the Tactile Pro 2 pro was released, but nobody knows for certain when this change occurred. Probably whenever they got around to it. At some other point, the slider changed from white (the first Tactile Pro batches) to grey (all Tactile Pro keyboards I've ever seen), and then back to white again by the Tactile Pro 3. Strongman told Matias at the time that the Tactile Pro 2 (made by Strongman, which is why it sucked) used Strongman switches, but this is unlikely: they're either 100% perfect replicas (which would be a very odd thing to do), or simply Fuhua switches with the branding removed.

The change from Alps to Fuhua occurred during the lifetime of the original Tactile Pro. Possibly Fuhua changed the colour from the outset, but nobody knows for sure — you'd need to get all Tactile Pro/2/3 owners here to state the purchase date of their keyboard, the model (1/2/3) and the switch colour and branding.

All the old switches are a raft of mysteries!

Alps SKBM White manufactured for Alps by Forward Electronics, surely, right?