Re: Pining away for your old Northgate keyboard?y

[Wendell Cochran atrypa@xxxxxxxx]

On Thu, 13 Nov 1997, Michael P. Kube-McDowell wrote:

> > If a keyboard is grimy, you may need something strong like Mr. Clean. Just
> > don't have the sponge too wet, and hold the keyboard *upside down* as you
> > wipe the keys.
>
> Jerry Pournelle used to recommend taking your keyboard into the
> shower with you--warm water, no soap. I've never tried this yet, but
> I'm going to have to try it soon--one of my three Northgate OmniKey
> 102s fell victim to a Pepsi spill, and started trying to write my
> novel-in-progress on its own...

My OmniKey Ultra ran fine for 6 years, with thorough cleaning at each
equinox & solstice. I'd blast with compressed air, hoover, blast,
hoover. I'd scrub with Windex & cotton swabs, & I'd spray lightly
with electronic cleaner/degreaser from Radio Shack. More than once
I pulled all keys & cleaned under them.

The feel always improved dramatically.

Then the keys at upper left fell to sticking & nothing alleviated the
problem. Partial disassembly proved to me that going further would
be wholly impracticable. And I concluded that I'd used too much
cleaner/degreaser . . . Or maybe Windex . . . .

In D.C. I heard of a dishwasher as last resort -- heard that it worked, too.

ObXy note. I bought the Northgate specifically to accommodate XyWrite,
& feel strongly that every Xy manual & FAQ file should recommend a
keyboard with F keys at left.

Wendell Cochran
West Seattle