"Model G" as the original designation for Model M & the existence of Models "1A" and "1B"

[sharktastica]

Hello!

Almost a month ago, rocco_16v posted in the Help Dating a Silver Badge Model M thread something that gave us very concrete IBM-written evidence for the existence of "Keyboard G"/"Model G" outside some inner assembly rear labels found on IBM U.K. made keyboards in the mid-'80s. Seeing that gave me the itch to dive deeper and write about it, and what I found was very interesting. "Model G" lived on after that 1985 internal IBM communiqué; no longer a major family designation like Model F or Model M, but more narrowly defined and repurposed. Models 1A (122-key Model M Converged Keyboard) and 1B (104-key Micro Switch ST Quiet Touch Keyboard) were introduced as G's counterparts. The evidence for G, 1A and 1B had been sitting under my nose for ages...

https://sharktastica.co.uk/articles/model_g

TLDR (as per my understanding)

• Keyboard/Model G was intended to be the Keyboard/Model F successor that at some point became Keyboard/Model M. As very early Enhanced Keyboards have "Model M" on the back, this must've happened very early on and likely just before general availability.
• Model G was relegated to designating the IBM Enhanced Keyboard under the Model M umbrella, unlike how "F" and "M" were applied to many keyboards.
• To complement this "new" G, Models 1A and 1B became counterparts and in the case of the latter even transcended the Model M family. This new nomenclature survived into the 2000s via IBM i documentation.

As always, I won't draw an absolute line under these conclusions. I still have questions to answer and will make updates if needed. Any further input or comments are appreciated.



Thanks for reading!

[webwit]

I like it, except for the blue sticker. As far as I know IBM never used stickers like that, certainly not in the eighties. It has inspection date 9 10 10. It reeks of 3rd party service company.

[sharktastica]

I like it, except for the blue sticker. As far as I know IBM never used stickers like that, certainly not in the eighties. It has inspection date 9 10 10. It reeks of 3rd party service company.

I disagree, I've seen it in quite a few 1985-1987 IBM UK made Model Ms that don't have the simpler dot-matrix style versions. When I was looking for examples during my research, their possible dates all seemed to be uncannily close to the typical rear label's date as well. If the cover set also has a stamped date, the blue sticker's ones make chronological sense of being 'newer' than that but 'older' than the typical rear label's. I've also seen the sticker applied partially under a typical rear label.

Starting with the cover photo's, IMO the numbers you're referring to look like separate days of the same month (so 9th, 9th and 10th). There are other short-form dates above and below them ("9/10" and "13-10") which seem to indicate October, which is just before the typical rear label's 1st November date.

Here's another example where part of the blue sticker is under a typical rear label. There's "12.2" and an (upside-down) "17/2", which both lead up to the typical rear label's 1st March date.

IMG_20231123_184303.jpg (762.23 KiB) Viewed 10435 times

Here's another one where a part of it is covered by a typical rear label.



In this thread, you can see another that's partially covered with dates "25.2", potentially two singular "26" and "25 2" that are after the case's stamped 5th Feb date but before the typical rear label's 18th March.

In the "1A" M122 example I have, it has dates "17/10", a singular "12", "20/10" and another (upside-down) "20/10", which are very close to the outer rear label's 29th October.

bitteneiteGeneric_1387901_IBM-UK.jpg (66.33 KiB) Viewed 10435 times

20230603_220232.jpg (356.53 KiB) Viewed 10435 times

[webwit]

The photographs with those stickers under under the dot-matrix versions are certainly interesting!

Still (playing devil's advocate)... why would these keyboards before "general availability" have a sticker with a vendor code on it? Isn't "12 26/10" like 26 december 2010 in American date format? Why does the font strike me as something not used by IBM in the eighties? Why do the stickers not have "IBM" on it which is not typical? Aren't blue labels/seals their historical color for certified reutilized parts?

[sharktastica]

why would these keyboards before "general availability" have a sticker with a vendor code on it?

These are not keyboards before "general availability" (the first new example in my previous reply is a keyboard from 1987). What I meant in the conclusion is that "Keyboard/Model G" as a potential new keyboard family was scrubbed likely before general availability because even the earliest production Enhanced Keyboards from IBM U.S. (for example) I've seen had "Model M" on the back. "Model G" became a designation for just "Enhanced Keyboard" and was joined by "1A" for 122-keys, which is what these IBM U.K. stickers seem to portray.

Isn't "12 26/10" like 26 december 2010 in American date format?

As a singular example, it looks like it (but forgetting one "/"), but on that same sticker there's a "17/10" and "20/10" as aforementioned. Why would they write DD/YY without month or switch to use UK-style MM/YY all of a sudden? Why would they use MM/DD/YY on stickers inside exclusively (to my knowledge) IBM U.K. keyboards with UK date formats nearby?

Why do the stickers not have "IBM" on it which is not typical?

Not having "IBM" is very typical for IBM U.K. rear labels until ~1995/1996.

Aren't blue labels/seals their historical color for certified reutilized parts?

If that was the case, why is the "1A" counterpart red?

IMO, these stickers are not "suspect". The sudden change in font and style is interesting, but ultimately it's not like it's something outside of IBM's capability. Whilst not as contrasting as these, IBM U.S. keyboards could have one of several variants of rear label after all.