Sadly this project has been canceled. See here for the latest update. DCS Wyse Compatibility 2020Don't throw out those vintage Wyse keycaps!Buy this adapter kit and use them on a modern keyboard instead!
Available worldwide,
April 1 - April 30 May 16 Brought to you by
Salt Rock Lamp and
Luffy After a long
interest check with a few twists and turns, it's finally here! In the time-honored Geekhack/Deskthority/KBDLab tradition now spanning a decade, I am proud to present the DCS Wyse Compatibility Kit 2020.
In the early 1990s, Wyse Technology made computer terminals with extremely handsome keyboards. These boards featured DCS-profile doubleshot ABS keycaps made by Comptec, the predecessor to Signature Plastics. While DCS remains available to this day, the old gray-and-blue Wyse colorscheme is uniquely beautiful and classy. Unfortunately, these old keyboards featured layouts that today are considered bizarre and nonstandard, and you typically can't use their keycaps on a modern keyboard. With so many of these boards being harvested for ultra-smooth vintage Cherry MX switches, there are hundreds of these beautiful keysets sitting in bags and boxes around the world. The purpose of this group buy is to put those old keycaps to good use, adorning the high-end custom keyboards we have all come to love.
This is not the first Wyse compatibility group buy, but I want to make it the
biggest and
most accessible yet. With our international proxies, anybody anywhere in the world should be able to get access to these keycaps. And with modular kit design, basic compatibility should remain affordable while making advanced legend compatibility available to those who want it.
This set will be manufactured by Signature Plastics, in their DCS profile, made from ABS plastic with doubleshot legends.
Where to buyOrders are now open for the Americas and South Korea! Proxy links will be announced when they are available.
Prices and MOQsKitPrice (USD)
Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)PC Enhanced$35.5075
ASCII$29.0050
Numpad / 1800$17.0025
Small Form Factor$29.5025
Blue Accent$11.5025
Note that proxy prices are subject to variation due to local taxes and exchange rates.
Kits
The Shift and Menu icons will be standard SP legends, as shown here:
More
The PC Enhanced kit is to use caps from a Wyse PC Enhanced (aka PCE) keyboard.
The ASCII kit is enough to use caps from an ASCII layout keyboard, such as the WY60. It also works on the ubiquitous DEC-layout "Gate Array" keyboards. You will usually need to buy both the PCE and ASCII kits.
ASCII and Gate Array keycaps have text-only modifier legends in a nonstandard top-left position, while the PC Enhanced keycaps have text+icon modifiers in standard center-left position. Signature Plastics DCS legends are positioned center-left, so I am choosing legends to match the PC Enhanced design. The ASCII and Gate Array modifiers will still look good with this kit, but it won't be a perfect 1:1 match.
ColorsThis set uses Signature Plastics stock ABS colors.
- Dark gray: GTD
- Light gray: GSX
- Blue legends: BBI
- Yellow legends: YY
Several color schemes were used on these keyboards under different brand names. This keyset is designed to match the standard blue-and-gray Wyse color scheme. But it should also look good alongside any other neutral-colored DCS keycaps.
Note that ASCII-layout keycaps tend to be in worse condition (i.e. more yellow) than others. It is typically easy to restore them by ultrasonic cleaning followed by "retrobrighting" (see
here for more information).
Fun stuffHere's some code to embed the logo in your forum signature
[url=https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=105438.0][img]https://i.imgur.com/RX8ZTrf.png[/img][/url]
And to whet your appetite, here is the result of an older run of this group buy:
And some original Wyse keyboards to finish things off:
