Picked up some 'new' stuff for first time in a while today.
First some cards:
Expertcolor 3805A (S3 805 VLB, 1MB with what looks like option for a second MB)
Expertmedia 3240/41 (OPTi 924 + 941 Wavetable)
SMC 8416BT (SMC 83C795 10Mb Ethernet - supposedly the fastest ISA 10Mb NIC)
And then two weird old mechanical keyboards:
Absolutely no lettering or other indication what this is, inside or out. Chips indicate ~1983 age.
Has some nice switches, that feel a bit like a rough Cherry MX Black, but with longer travel. Also nice SA-profile dualshot ABS keycaps:
(and yes, that's a Z80A on the right being used as a keyboard controller...)
The odd thing is the combination of clearly expensive switches + controller and a pretty full layout with cheap, anonymous ABS casing.
The second board has a higher build quality, but is just as anonymous:
Azerty layout suggests France, but no sign of anything like it on ordinosaures.fr . The keycaps are heavy ABS, dye-sublimated apart from the number row, which is etched/lathed.
*Very* smooth, light linear switches of a design I haven't seen before:
This board has a legend on the PCB: KB506/01 (no hits) and 1983 chip codes. It also has a function key explanation strip (in French) for Micropro Calcstar and Wordstar, which strongly suggests a CP/M system. The strip also bears the name "SODIEPIE", which doesn't throw up anything computer-related when I google it.
Anyone recognize these keyboards? I'd love to make my own keyboard controller to hook them up to a modern system (particularly the second one is nice enough to use as a daily drive), but to stand a chance I'd need to know the pinout of the connectors (14-pin Centronics for the first one, 19-pin DIN for the second). Failing that, they are in excellent condition (if a bit dirty, something i intend to rectify). I might be able to make someone with the relevant old systems pretty happy 😉
