Risk Rewarded

Posted on by under Klik

I took a risk on the NEC, and was rewarded by receiving a fully-functional bit of keyboard goodness!

The first thing I did after unpacking it was plug it into a PC with a PS/2 port.  It performed flawlessly, much to my delight!

I’m 100% certain that the issue was that the seller was running the board through an incompatible PS2/USB converter.  When I plugged the board into my go-to converter (a Ziotek “blue cube”), I experienced the same exact issues that the seller described- typing “too fast” resulted in missed keystrokes, or keys behaving like they were stuck down.  However, I thought I remembered seeing on Geekhack that a Belkin straight-through converter worked for someone.  A good friend (thanks, Tracey!) had given me a straight-through converter cable (IOGear GUC10KM), I tried it, and voila!  I’m typing this up with the board, and it hasn’t missed a beat.  I have no clue why the Ziotek does not work with this one, while the IOGear does.  So, for you other keyboard freaks out there – make a note!

The tactility of most of the keys isn’t as “sharp” or pronounced as the Alps blues in my Omni Key/102, but I’m fairly certain that is because the board has so much mileage on it.  The seldom-used keys like Pause do feel closer to Alps blues.  There is a very cool “ping” to the switches on keypress return that the Alps don’t have.  I like it.  It takes about 75g to actuate the keyswitches according to the nickel method.  As I’d read, it is indeed possible to actuate them without going past the tactile bump – something I’ve never witnessed before.

The seller was accurate in that it is a bit dirty, but I’ve seen worse.  Also quite yellowed, more than the pictures below depict.  It has some strange “melted” looking marks on the right-hand top of the case; perhaps someone tried cleaning or attempted to whiten the board with a chemical that it didn’t agree with.  I think it adds character.

As far as cleaning or whitening it myself, I’m not sure I’m going to.  I’m not offended by its looks, and frankly I don’t know if I want to risk damaging any of the keyswitches by removing the keycaps.  I read in horror (again, on Geekhack) that someone broke a switch by cleaning the board and I shudder at the thought.  A quick wipe with alcohol and some Q-tip action to remove most of the surface pathogens is sufficient for me.

The space bar and backspace key have a unique sound and the tactility does feel different enough from Alps blues to make this a keeper.  It is pleasing to type on, and even in the short time I’ve been using it, find myself craving the click more and more.

For someone that hardly ever takes risks with anything, it sure has rewarded me.  I doubt I’ll make it a habit though – I could have just as well received what I was expecting – a half brain-dead board that I was going to have to do surgery on.

It has found a good home.  Time to put it through its paces with some real work.

nec1

nec2

EDIT: user “Chyros” on Geekhack asked if the NEC blue keyswitches felt like maybe a combination of Alps blues and Cherry blues, and I have to say that is a pretty good description.  Enjoying this board more and more every day.

6 thoughts on “Risk Rewarded”

  1. WHOA! I’m glad the IOGear converter worked. I remember it didn’t work with one of your other boards that needed the active-type converter. I love those slate colored caps. I look forward to typing on it! I will collect vicariously through you.

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  2. This gives me hope that maybe it was not a switch issue at all. I will try the IOGear GUC10KM first and see if it helps. Thankss!!

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  3. The IOGear GUC10KM worked. MAJOR imrovement regarding the skipping and run-away keys. I can type as fast as I want now. There are only a few totally dead keys now (including the exclamation point). Thanks so much for this helpful post.

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    • Excellent. I might advise you to scout out XMIT’s NEC blue oval teardown thread on Deskthority- those switches are not very robust and are prone to breakage if not handled properly – that thread might help you if you elect to get into the switches that are giving you problems. Good luck!

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  4. 1) The IOGear GUC10KM made a major improvement in the -H412, but when I tried it on the -H410E, it’s flawless! The -H410E board sings now at lightning speed (even though it has to travel through the first converter to get there).

    2) Thanks for the tip on XMIT’s NEC blue oval teardown thread! Just read the whole thing and watched his video on how to carefully remove the switch with a flat-head screwdriver. I also saw that he was able to remove the metal back plate rivets with a 5/16″ drillbit.

    3) Over my head: “The fun begins when you have ten switch plates, ten broken switches, and don’t know which one goes to which. This is an O(n^2) problem and it is expected to take (n^2)/2 attempts to match everything again…”

    4) If I ever get this far, I will try his lightening process. However, now the yellowness pales in comparison to the myriad potential pitfalls of restoring this board.

    Thanks so much for posting and sharing this VERY helpful knowledge!

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