deskthority

I just recently acquired a Univac 1701 keypunch keyboard and was curious if anyone had an IBM 29 or 029 keypunch keyboard?

We actually have one of these at work but the keyboard must be electric because the keys don't move. I am guessing they require power but I don't know and that's why I'm curious. Is this keyboard like an electric typewriter?

The keys don't move? I assumed those were beam springs. Maybe they're like the Selectric and need power to work. Well if they're not beam spring, I won't need to search so desperately to find one.

The keyboard in your photo looks like the same one I had saved on my computer for a few years (notice the MC and PROG ONE keys are low):

Mu has the caps from the IBM 29. And they are with Matteo for 3d scanning puproses!

Here's a video that shows the internals of the keyboard and how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkM_FRXNXqU

Wow, that's pretty complicated. There's also this video of it in use:
It looks like those MC and PROG ONE keys are meant to be down and are not just crushed or damaged.

Yeah, they're brilliant caps. Classic colour scheme, beamspring compatible, intensely spherical tripleshots. What's not to like?



If anyone has a U key spare, you know who to PM…

Muirium wrote: ↑. What's not to like?

The fact that they are not PBT.

In all honesty they are some sexy caps. I think as far as plastic goes there are different grades. I don't see a beamspring cap going shiny any time soon, yet i have found some ( slightly) shiny XT caps, now that takes dedication!

I just want my R4 repair kit!

And i wish i had some round 5 , ahh well , one day

I am guessing R5a has black on white and white on black mods AKA bemspring replica ?

joc wrote: ↑Here's a video that shows the internals of the keyboard and how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkM_FRXNXqU

Thanks for the link. It was exactly what I was looking for. I just didn't think to check YouTube.

That was very interesting. I guess I can see why you don't see too many for sale.

I actually worked one summer as a student in an IBM facility that used to destroy old off-lease equipment and salvage the precious metal. I "acquired" a wonderful PC AT at the time but I used to trash terminals (break the CRT necks and remove the glass). You guys would cry at the keyboards that arrived and never left that facility in one piece. It would have been the summer of 84 or 85 and the PC AT was brand new. I think it was actually a 3270 AT, in fact, with a 122 key terminal keyboard.

Anyway, there was one person who would strip these IBM key punches. He was in his later years and this facility was where the older IBM line workers would be assigned (they used to call it "Syberia"). That person that stripped the key punches was the same guy who built them years before.

Nice video, I like how the guy is pretty much blown away calling it a "complicated mess". Good thing he's got those detailed IBM manuals.

snuci wrote: ↑

joc wrote: ↑Here's a video that shows the internals of the keyboard and how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkM_FRXNXqU

Thanks for the link. It was exactly what I was looking for. I just didn't think to check YouTube.

That was very interesting. I guess I can see why you don't see too many for sale.

I actually worked one summer as a student in an IBM facility that used to destroy old off-lease equipment and salvage the precious metal. I "acquired" a wonderful PC AT at the time but I used to trash terminals (break the CRT necks and remove the glass). You guys would cry at the keyboards that arrived and never left that facility in one piece. It would have been the summer of 84 or 85 and the PC AT was brand new. I think it was actually a 3270 AT, in fact, with a 122 key terminal keyboard.

Anyway, there was one person who would strip these IBM key punches. He was in his later years and this facility was where the older IBM line workers would be assigned (they used to call it "Syberia"). That person that stripped the key punches was the same guy who built them years before.

What a great experience you worked in IBM facility!
Wish to hear more about the old stories with keyboard and computer!

Oh man i would just be like . Don't destroy anything i will have it ALL!

Makes you wonder what they did with all the caps. (Easily the best part of those boards, to us.) Melt them down or bury them?

We need map coordinates!

andrewjoy wrote: ↑Oh man i would just be like . Don't destroy anything i will have it ALL!

Its easy to say that now, but was tough at the time. What is getting scrapped today that someone 30 years from now will desire. I worked for IBM in the 90's and remember seeing them hauling off 10 or more 3279 terminals from our education building when IBM was transitioning from the mainframe based VM to PC based Lotus for internal tracking. At the time I was happy because is was a bitch trying to do anything productive on those 3279s, although I did enjoy the keyboards.

Sometimes even if an individual would want to save them it would be forbidden by their employer. I followed the Thinkpad group to work for Lenovo in the mid 2000's. I worked for a group that prepped drive images for sales of large numbers of PC's to institutions and large companies. The factory would produce a few Thinkpad's with the exact specs the company was ordering and the engineers would create a preloaded drive image that would be pre-loaded at the factory. Once the image work was completed, these "pre-production" Thinkpads were placed on a big pile in a access controlled stock room. Every few months an entire pallet of brand new Thinkpads would roll out of this room to be scrapped. It was forbidden to keep them or any parts from them.

Interesting Engicoder, these internal regulations of large companies do not suprise me one bit though.

What a fucking waste of money.

They could have used them to update staff workstations ! For almost no extra cost.

seebart wrote: ↑Interesting Engicoder, these internal regulations of large companies do not suprise me one bit though.

Yes...very true. I also have had a similar experience at a recycler. I visited a local one that had several gaylords of interesting stuff (not keyboards), but he couldn't sell any of it to me because his contract with the source was to ensure it was all dismantled and destroyed. Very similar to the infamous 4704 incident.

Engicoder wrote: ↑Very similar to the infamous 4704 incident.

Ahh yeh that asshole. Hey idiot hows that working out for you ? Oh wait your dead!

**Reader discretion advised: due to the graphic nature of this content**

At the IBM facility, you had skids with cardboard bins (a big open top box) about three feet high. In it you would place various items. Interface cards and motherboards in one. Cables in another. CRTs in a third, keyboards in a fourth and so on. Skids would come in wrapped in cellophane piled high with equipment. You would take each item off the incoming skid and separate it into it's main components. Screws would be flying as you dismantled each item and ripped out the interface cards that were easy to remove. I used to have a knack for spinning flat keyboards like the model M's into the keyboard bin to get the most key caps to fly off while still getting the keyboard into the bin. The heavier keyboards were thrown and arched into the bins because they were too heavy to spin. For those, I would try to see how high I could go so that the crashing sound was optimal. These would have been terminal keyboards.

It was a little game I played to make things interesting because it was mind-numbing work. Nothing was placed gently because things like interface cards would eventually be melted down for the precious metals. The only exception was CRTs. These were heavy and could explode. Those were placed in layers. We didn't actually do more than separate the incoming equipment and place them in the various bins. I imagine these got carted off to the niche recyclers that could break each item down further.

One time we had a brand new IBM 9370 mainframe come in because it fell over in the truck while being delivered. It looked to be in great shape but was scrapped because of the possible damage. The cost of this machine would have been in the 6 or 7 figure range. I did manage to "liberate" an internal vacuum cleaner that was part of that mainframe. I guess it was used to dust the interior occasionally? I don't know. I put a socket on it and used it when vacuuming my car.

Nothing was to leave the facility out the front door but being a poor student on a summer job, some of the old timers did let me leave with one computer. I was very grateful and used it as my home computer for school work for years after that. Wish I still had it but I did buy an IBM PC AT in the last little while to make up for my disposing of it several years ago.

At that time, it wad all junk and nobody even considered there being any value in it. It's funny that I write this on my IBM Model M SSK keyboard right now My original one was the best I ever used and was the only thing I kept to this day.

Hey guys sorry to sound off a bit late to this thread. I enjoyed watching the video of this classic in operation. I never had the opportunity to use one, but a good friend back in 1978-80 did use this in High School. His school had three of these units, while my school started up with a Ohio Scientific computer. Anyway that is my back story.

Now to the meat of why I am posting. I recreating a set from a old TV program called "Battlestar Galactica" that ran from 1978-1979, and the bridge was stocked with Tektronix computer, and desk equipment. I have purchased a lot of the old Tek equipment, and still buying. While studying screen caps, and promo photos I just spotted a IBM 029 keyboard. Not the complete system, but just a keyboard. Finding, and buying the old Tek test equipment is easy, and cheap really. Now trying to find the IBM 029 is a different story. By chance does anyone have a lead on finding a keyboard or parts. I am not looking for the card punch system, just the keyboard section only. Here is a image of the unit in the comm section of the Galactica bridge. Thank you for any help or leads.

That thing sitting on top of the punch looks like it's just a movie prop like much else in the room. It sort of reminds me of the 3277 display terminal Model 1, which has a 5" screen, but this one looks even flatter.

Someone might have a real answer, though.

Thanks for the feedback on the top item.

One of these turned up in a collection for sale near me. It's a bit too exotic for me and it likely won't be super cheap, but if someone here really wants it I'm happy to facilitate a deal.