Northgate OmniKey 101

The Northgate OmniKey 101 is an Alps keyboard that was produced by Northgate Computer Systems. At least two distinctive generations were issued, the OmniKey 101 and OmniKey 101P.

Both variations have a top shell made of plastic, with a Northgate badge at the top left, and the position of the Num Lock and Caps Lock lights swapped.

On the original ANSI-like 101 series, the badge may be opened to reveal the set of DIP switches. The eight switches inside allow the user to change the protocol the computer uses so that it may be used with non-PC compatible systems, or change the keyboard layout. The bottom tray is made entirely out of metal and hosts six screw sockets. The rather large label on the tray issues the P/N and S/N, along with the FCC ID.

The later 101P series introduced a layout very similar to that of the Windows key-version Focus FK-2001, with the exception of the equals key on the keypad. This variation lacked the DIP switches and used a fixed 5P DIN cable, despite being produced in temporal symmetry with the introduction of the PS/2 interface.

The OmniKey 101 is documented to have been shipped with complicated Alps SKCM White, and the 101P series shipped with simplified Alps SKBM White switches.

Both variants used the star-mold doubleshot ABS keycaps that were also provided on a large number of Focus keyboards. The producer of these keycaps is unknown, despite resembling the Tai-Hao TI series and genuine OEM Alps keycaps.

However, the OmniKey's keycaps subtly detract from those used by boards like the Focus FK-2001. The Caps Lock key is noticeably distinctive compared to those used on Focus boards. This unique Caps Lock key is present across both the ANSI and Focus-layout editions. Several keys on the ANSI edition do not appear on any other Focus boards, such as the ANSI enter, ANSI backslash and keypad equals key.

Consistent across many Northgate keyboards are characteristics shared with boards manufactured by Focus Electronic, as the star-mold keycaps and unique lock light sticker seem to only appear on boards distributed by the two companies. Despite these similarities, there is no evidence that proves that any OmniKey 101s were manufactured by Focus Electronic. Furthermore, differences in the internals (such as the OmniKey 101s being capable of NKRO, which Focus boards did not achieve) detract from this proposal.

• ANSI variant using Alps SKCM White
• FCC ID: GT6OMNIKEY 101
• P/N: 555,0012
• S/N: 1125713