deskthority

I have a Zenith Supersport SX 386 laptop with a [wiki]Alps integrated dome[/wiki] keyboard. The laptop has a gaping hole through the middle where the HDD, PSU and other parts would have gone, so it's not of any use except for spares.

The switches feel a lot like tactile Alps, with something like 70 g actuation and a sharp tactile feel; the tactile point is stronger than white Alps, but more rounded at the peak. Despite the domes, it has a nice precise clack to it.

The keyboard has no controller, just a wide ribbon cable, so it would require a custom controller making. If no-one has any interest in the board, then I'll throw it away and someone can have the doubleshot Alps mount keycaps. I just don't want to separate the two until it's confirmed that the keyboard is worthless.

I just wondered whether anyone here would be interested in the keyboard as a whole. I doubt it, but I thought I'd offer it just in case.

The switches use a custom pin arrangement; the PCB won't take any switches other than possibly some other four-pin Alps designs, with pins positioned at the corners of a rectangle 13 × 5 mm.

The layout actually looks quite sensible. I like the HHKB style extra key to the right of right shift.

Unyellowed Alps mount doubleshots in tasteful Helvetica? And a ribbon cable ready for a custom controller? This looks to be as fine a place to earn my Teensy chops as any!

But just how bonded to the rest of the laptop is that keyboard, I wonder?

From what I can tell (there's a radiation shield on the rear¹), the keyboard PCB contains solely the switches, diodes and four LEDs. The ribbon cable appears to be a direct pinout of the matrix itself plus wires to the LEDs.

Also, Fn and LCtrl are trivially reversible.

¹It does unscrew, although in two places it's soldered on for earthing

I like to think I could make something pretty interesting out of it. Bluetooth being a vital component! I've got exactly zero spare keyboards to work with, and really should get to learning the art of custom controller making. A fairly compact keyboard like this is quite appealing to house after I've done the breadboarding, too.

What are you after for her? Are all the caps in place? And are you comfortable separating the computer?

I have all the keycaps; I had removed a few to illustrate the switches.

The keyboard is already removed — it's just secured with two screws. It's a really well-made machine, very easy to work on, but it's for spares only, as half of it is missing :)

I couldn't ask for more than £5 for the keyboard, as that's all I paid for it.

You're a gent, Daniel!

Interesting stabiliser on the enter key: two overlapping wire stabilisers, one per axis. Absolute pig to work on, but it works brilliantly. Much better than the gnarly piece of garbage used in the M0116.

I've got all the pictures I need from it now, so I should be able to ship it off this week.

Nice stuff. Still keen to get into the matrix.

I've already bent all the spoons. Your job will be to straighten them out again.

You very almost just described my day job.