Siemens PC16/32 keyboard/tastatur review (Multitech foam and foil)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 28 май 2020
- Skip to 8:18 for a typing demonstration.
This week we're looking at a German oddity; a Siemens Tastatur PC16/32. Despite Siemens making their own keyboard switches for quite a while at this point, this model curiously comes with a strange foam and foil switch that appears to be Multitech OEM (currently Acer). An interesting board with some obscure history, then! Hope you enjoy the video! :)
My keyboard reviews: bit.ly/1TbOtft
My switch teardowns: bit.ly/2C1QGHz
My TOP X videos: bit.ly/2FmpZfd
My XL typing demos: bit.ly/2OoAW3w
My tutorials and featurettes: bit.ly/2OrkLUh
My unboxing videos: bit.ly/2TSrr0m
I'm Thomas and I do videos and reviews on mechanical keyboards ranging from the most sickening modern RGB gaming keyboards to vintage hardware relics, or sometimes keycaps or keyswitches ranging from Cherry MX to Alps SKCM to IBM buckling springs and anything in between.
Follow me on Twitter for updates on my keyboard videos! / chyrosran22
The practice sentence was: "Hello my name is Thomas and I'm typing on a Siemens PC16/32 keyboard right now. What a beast, right? But it doesn't type quite as nicely as you'd hope, unfortunately." 
Наука
1:03 I can't imagine how many takes it took to get that right without laughing your ass off XD
Haha that was a single-take pickup scene, funnily enough xD . I originally did something different for it, but dubbed this over at the last minute instead when this idea came to me. If you look closely you can see that my smacking hand doesn't make a noise in the dub ;) .
@@Chyrosran22 what was being said before?
@@iProgramInCpp basically a derp :p .
@@Chyrosran22 ok
@@Chyrosran22 Which of your keyboards can you type the fastest on - and/or make the least amount of errors on?
half the reason I come here if for the imperial units gag, never gets old.
One of the best channel memes on RUclips
lol yeah
Uhugugugugguhuh
It's really great. Today's was especially creative.
@@AtomicShrimp I'm not surprised to see you here, but I don't know why.
Everyone's talking about 1:03 but not 6:10 XD
y'all are talking about 6:10 but not 3:55
@Majd - Tech, Gaming, & More! everyone talks about 1:03, 6:10 and 3:55 but not 8:49
3:56
"Or in Imperial Units... *monkey sounds*" I am not ashamed to admit, I laughed.
That "Deutschland!" sounded painfully constipated. In other words, perfect pronunciation! Excellent work!
Agreed. Thomas' German accent ist Wunderbar.
I lost it at 1:03
I gained it
Wdym it explains it perfectly
shut up furry
@@heusant Wtf.
These aren't just "some German letter keys" - these are UUUMMLAAAUUUTTEEE! 😆
Funniest conversion to imperial units so far, 10/10
1:03 Jesus that caught me off guard lol
I wanna see you get your silver play button. Your channel is so well put together. I didn’t know how much I liked keyboards til now
D9, I know that feeling too. I had always preferred quality keyboards, like the IBM Model M or the Dell AT102W, but it was only after watching Thomases videos that I had the overall framework and understanding of mechanical keyboards.
55.6 CM or in imperial units: 0.24 of Benjamin Franklin's left leg, or 23 Eagle beaks
Wow, Benjamin Franklin's left leg was pretty long lol
Saturday morning with Tom....coffeee, Imperial units und DEUTCHLAND!! Very nice Tom :-)
Almost every foam and foil board I've run into has been rather cringe inducing compared to what I usually use, but just yesterday I got a Keytronics 'Professional series' kb 101 that uses external rubber domes for the return force. First impression is not too bad at all.
Anyway, nice job Tom, I look forward to my Saturday mornings :-)
I would kill for those caps. The layout is really modern and it also has a lot of ortho compatibility! Love the vintage look on them.
i guess they're somewhat similair to the ones that ZX Spectrums(QL and some +models) have
I love those keycaps too. Is there anything close to buy right now?
@@patricklepoutre Look up "Devlin Z keycaps". They are pretty similar. But idk if it's in stock anywhere
Thanks for finally getting the imperial units right, I speak grogg ooga booga very fluently.
the S in Siemens is pronounced like a Z in zoo- I am sure all of you did want to know about this riveting piece of information :)
Sounds like you don't like too much those weirdo imperial units 😂 I tinker a lot with old avionics and military electronics (see my videos), I finally had to order a whole bunch of strange imperial sizes wrenches, sockets and allen keys, now I am set and I can take apart anything from a parking meter to a space shuttle. The strangest thing I have seen lately: screws and nuts with imperial thread BUT metric sized head AND screws with metric thread BUT imperial sized heads. Add to it the fact that some are left hand threaded, you reached the highest level of oddity, needless to say replacement screws are not available at my local hardware store !
Metric units by themselves are good
Imperial units by themselves are good
Metric and Imperial mixed together is FUCKED
Also a side note, kinda fucked as well that that you had to buy 2 different kinds of sets, thats weird hearing that here in the us where I live, tool kits always come with metric and imperial tools together.
Out of interest what's the strangest size head you've come across? In my dealings with lab equipment they seem stuck on imperial for the gas fittings. The worst one I've seen is 11/23". I think the engineer was having a very bad day
this content is absolutely AMAZING
1:03 Nice one XD
lol
Even better one 8:49
That pfp...
sauce?
Thanks for giving the dimensions in imperial units: much appreciated
This seems like a nice daily driver
The switches though. They're crap.
It also seems like a viable bludgeoning weapon in the case of a home invasion.
@@Hat- i mean, it's based on chyrosan's opinion, so honestly who knows?
stonecrestmovies they do sound sort of stiff
consider it binds that's a hard no from me. you have to be a hunt and peck typer to like keys that bind
Imperial units was quite understandable thanks for making it so easy :)
I really have to admit that the pronounciation, even though over exagerrated, was really good .
Best imperial units description!
The yell at the end made me spit out my drink.
I really want those keycaps, they look great!
7:11 when you started explaining the layout I just began laughing more and more with every pot shot
you finally review the "die tastatur". Also, that keyboard look like Lego for some reason
the die
LMFAO the imperial units is bang on! Good stuff
Ah, my old board. When I got it (years ago) I was told it was originally (not) used at the Kalkar nuclear processing plant in Germany, which used Siemens technology. That plant was never put into service and it's now a theme park, "Kernwasser-Wunderland".
Bom Cabedal How did you get it to work with your PC? Did you need some kind of DIN-to-something-else converter cable?
@@XalphYT Well, I didn't, which is part of the reason I gave it to Thomas. I did get a DIN converter plug whatchamacallit, but that didn't work.
Bom Cabedal Thanks for sending this to Thomas. It was a good video and a keyboard worthy of review.
You're my new favorite RUclips channel, in the past week or so I have watched nearly all of your uploads. I know you have one of the GK61s, the contact mechanical variety. Have you looked at the GK61 optical keyboard, it is also modular and uses Gateron style light block optical switches. The prebuilts seem to include blue, red, black, brown, yellow, silver, white and blue Gateron switches. I also believe Kaihl has some compatible models such as Optical Navy and Optical Clear box switches. Would love to see your take on this style optical switch.
Each time I read "die Tastatur" in class it makes me laugh so hard because of you lmao
1:03 lol wtf
Could you please elaborate on those pesky old plasticizers and how to get rid of sticky layer, from your Chemiker point?
1:03 Yes but I want to know its weight, specifically in stone.
1.7kg is 1/58 of the Sisyphus' one, I think.
1 to 2 stones
Oh my, that's a gorgeous Keyboard. Especially the keaycaps and the colors. Btw love your German pronouncement, got me smiling. Greetings from Germany😉👍
thats a very clean design. damn
I wonder if there’s anywhere I could find keycaps like that. They would be great for a photo shoot for a case design I’m looking to start selling
ZX Spectrum +models and Sinclair QL have visualy similair caps, not shure about compatibility though.
That imperial unit just got you a subscriber.
LOVE the look of it. The Franklin too. Have you reviewed the STB switches?
Yes, IIRC the K1197 used them!
I hope someone puts together a compilation of all the imperial unit conversions
The imperial joke actually made me laugh so hard.
just another day of Chyrosran22 chasing the new hot stuff again
As a german, I really like your german impression.
The layout straight away got me thinking of original AT crossed with Enhanced AT. But yeah, even more stuff than that.
Oh that looks so sinclair :) love it
Can one source similar keycaps from somewhere? They look awesome. I thought I was ready for the imperial, but you still caught me off guard.
hey chyro, i am very curious about you opinion on the HyperX alloy orings core. i hope you make a video on it, and thank you for all the great content
Great key caps
Tandberg and Norsk Data had similar looking keyboards, however with a different layout.
This is a little bit off-topic, but have you tried a Fujitsu Libertouch keyboard?
No, I haven't, actually!
Thank you for including inperial units for our US "friends"
Isn't it pronounced "Zeemenz" ?
No that's the German Branch of the X-Men
@@squabbbb Oh god.
In imperial units:
Brain shuts down from the conversion
What exactly are the issues with the Fujitsu Siemens keyboards?
Have you ever used the QS1 switch and do you have plans to take a look at the Wooting Lekker switch.
Yes & yes!
Chyrosran22 very nice, I look forward to your video on the Lekker.
So after a bit of google-fu, it looks like this keyboard was intended for the SICOMP PC 16-05 which was the first Siemens-made XT compatible. So I'd guess the communication protocol is XT in spite of the AT plug.
2:18 whats wrong with fujitsu keyboards? They're kinda unique? Every key has these stab legs and the A key is stepped :o also they sound better than most rubber domes + it has a metal backplate
I fucking wish that right shift was normal length. I would for sure get a set of these with the bottom and legend of the keys being transparent. Someone needs to get onto this as a design for modern keycap sets
You get a like on this one for the ape noises alone, haha
That Franklin FKB 3 looks fucking awesome. If those keycaps are MX Compatible I need to find a set - even if they're attached to a board.
They are!
I need more reviews of German keyboards. Haha!
You should do a redux of your FK-727 keyboard if you haven't already, or talk about some of their other keyboards from the zeroth generation.
You might like the FK-555 video ;) .
What about in freedom units?
That keyboard bears many similarities with the keyboards for the Tandberg TDV line of terminals, I wonder if that's just a coincidence?
And similar to keyboards in the KonTiki or Tiki100 computers of Norway too. But they were integrated in the case though.
Hey Thomas, I don't know if you have already answered this question but I really want to get into mech keyboards without spending a fortune of money. What is a good entry point?(in your opinion)
Anything that's mechanical and cheap. You'll never get it right the first time, but it'll give you an idea of what you might like to buy next :) .
It's sounds nice
If enough people are interested I will buy some of these SIEMENS keycaps, model them and make the STL and Fusion 360 files available for 3D printing.
I use a redragon vada. It had blue switches but I am going to buy a set of reds tho.
it's probably ment to be used with some industrial automation product. like a HMI.
The jokes on countries and languages get better and better.
Mmm siemens nostalgy
Wait? Does this 5 pin plug compatible with space cables ?
I figured commenting on your most recent video would be a good way of contacting you, would you be interested in doing a video on a keyboard I just put together? using Aqua Zilent 62g switches, PBT caps, and a normal human typist's layout (with layers for pc controls, of course). It is a 60% board on the DZ60 pcb.
I know you aren't the biggest fan of small keyboards, but I haven't seen a video of yours covering these switches, and was curious if you'd like to use mine as an example. You have full permission to disassemble and explore its inner workings, and how I put it all together. It has a small "easter egg" that I have hidden that is yours to find!
does that space bar need its own zip code?
"later partner ships" got me
Why's it peas and carrots?
Judging by the reactions in comments, I'm surprised that this company is known lesser in worldwide. In my country back then, the company used to knowns for making phones too.
my school has a partnership with siemens for engineering program as we have a siemens branch office in the region
C'mon people, where's the group buy for these keycaps?
hey guys how u doin this fine friday
Can I ask what keyboard is making the sounds in your into?
Acer KB-101A, Alps SKCM Blue
@@Chyrosran22 Thank you! For some reason they sound different in your intro
In imperial units, *insert monkey noises here*
A YZ and ZY key. Why not throw in a QF and FQ key just for the heck of it?
I love how you make fun of Imperial units 😂
I guess Siemens simply does not care for their quality for keyboards.
I own a siemens keyboard model number f500. It is falco terminal keyboard and it seems to be a XT keyboard. It comes with vintage Cherry MX black.
6:19 i choked on my soda xDdd
He sounds like a vicious German dictator PMFSL! 😜🤪😂🤣
I've never been able to take those circular-but-square keycaps seriously after being scarred for life by the execrable 'keyboards' on the Spectrum plus-whatever series of computers --- in some ways those things were actually _worse_ than the cold-flesh touch of the 48k models because at least the 48k rubber keys weren't pretending to be a real keyboard.
These switches were standard for Siemens Keyboards since ca. 1980. First used for control equipment and mainframe terminals - like the 9750 series, whose keyboard was even wider than the IBM - so maybe carrier class? These keyboards were almost undestructable. See here twitter.com/DL1YOV/status/783004829237014528/photo/1
It was as well used on various other systems like here www.katalog.iser.fau.de/index.php?ort_id=322&tree=1&picture=I0934
While the switches were a Siemens development, manufacturing was already before 1980 mostly moved to Tandberg, which at the time was a Siemens subsidiary. So it wasn't really layed of. You'll find that their products of the early 80s quite reassemble Siemens design of the same time. It was a company wide design covering anything from teletypes and control over Mainframes, all the way to medical devices and PCs. Maybe take a look at the PC-D/-X keyboard of ca. 1982: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Siemens-PC-D.jpg
During the early 1980s UB-E, responsible for any kind of control systems, like for power stations (including nuclear) used for a short (Until the PCD-2 a fully IBM-PC compatible design) was ready) time Multitech PCs. But while the machine (not complying to Siemens CD) could be hidden within cabinets, the keyboard user visible. So they ordered a series of custom made Keyboards from Multitech, using their keyswitches and keycaps, making them blend in with their other devices. Like their own PC-16-10 which shows another variation of this layout: www.sammlungen.uni-mainz.de/files/2020/01/Simens-PC-16-10.jpg
Comparing the PC 16/32 layout with the 9750 terminal or the PC-D shows that it uses the same basic layout, except where the PC-D also used the same PCB (There was a high degree of standardisation) the PC 16/32 got a new (by Multitech), resulting in a different shape for the return key. Still the colouring for function, cursor and transmission keys (none on the 16/32) was kept to blend in. The criticised case is as well not made by Siemens, so way below the quality of the former mainframe keyboards and even the PC-D
The 'empty' spot beside the shift key was used for modifiers - like ALT on the PC-D or META on some Unix terminals. Similar the XT-like layout is due the fact, that this keyboard was designed for the PC 16-05, an IBM-XT clone as well by Multitech. It was later modified to work with other compatible PCs - including Siemens designs, giving a consistent impression.
Now for the switches. They are anything but crap - at least for the ones used in all genuine Siemens/Tandberg keyboards that is. These are among the most reliable and long term usable in existence - and generally are very comfortable to type on.
I had one of mainframe keyboards in heavy daily use for 20 (!) years without any problem. So you may be right, that Multitech (re)did the switches and only used the keycaps provided.
---
A last remark about timeline, these dreaded rubber dome keyboard happened already before selling the computer business to Fujitsu in the late 90s, in fast, even before buying Nixdorf in 1990. The first of these showed up with the PC-D Redesign units as well as the PCD-2 in 1985/86. They are not bad, and quite long time stable, but a world away from the quality of the original mainframe keyboards
Very interesting, thanks for the information and the link-up with Multitech!
get rekt imperial system !!!!
The synth teenage engineering op 1 uses the same kind of keys
The keybord was actually 3 cheese burgers and a peice of bacon
The first thought about this was "why do the keys look like legos!"
I subbed!
Sorry, you didn't put proper units on your imperial units. It's actually "Ooogg booga **booga** by booga ooga **bonga**"
How many keyboards do you actually have?
About 300 different models.
What????
I am sorry, I didn't get that, you mean freedom units.
I laughed at the imperial joke until I realized that’s what I used, maybe it’s not a joke after all
Thank you for pronouncing it. Because the way its spelled, i wouldve.... pronounced it differently.
where can i buy your voice
This should be called the Siemens Lego Board
My dad used to work at Siemens but his branch closed
Reminds me alot of a tandberg keyboard.