deskthority

Hey everyone. I've been lurking for awhile and finally decided to make an account today because of this purchase to ask yalls advice. I'm not used to being on forums so I apologize in advance if I accidentally break some rules. Anyways I bought this lot of old parts off of eBay for $130 mainly just for the keyboards. There is definitely one IBM model M, one unicomp mini-M, and one of those Lenovo travel keyboards which i've been curious about and have been wanting to snag one. Two of these keyboard are mystery meat and I was hoping yall could fill me in. The one in the back corner looks like another IBM model M but I don't see a logo. The black and gray one below the model M I have absolutely no clue about. Am I stupid or was this a good deal? Seems too good to be true.

P.S. the seller posted very little and unhelpful details in the description
P.S.S. this is the seller's picture I'll make sure to post an update when it arrives.

I'll say its a good deal, congrats.

Black and gray looks like a BTC-5100. Rubber dome, but one that folks actually like.

Polecat wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2022, 04:29

Black and gray looks like a BTC-5100. Rubber dome, but one that folks actually like.

Oh awesome, I've been wondering what an actual good rubber dome feels like. Thanks for the ID.

You got a good deal. The yellowed one in the corner is not a Model M though, it probably has Alps or Alps clone switches.
The black and grey one does look like a BTC 5100 - they could come with either rubber domes or foam and foil switches.

Good lord, each of those model M's is worth at least 100 bucks. Awesome deal you found.

The blank keyboard on top of image you'll just have to look at the sticker cuz there's like 20 different boards that look exactly like that.

XR6 wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2022, 04:54

You got a good deal. The yellowed one in the corner is not a Model M though, it probably has Alps or Alps clone switches.
The black and grey one does look like a BTC 5100 - they could come with either rubber domes or foam and foil switches.

Yeah it looks like a Chicony KB-5162F or 5151 after some research. The ridge along the top is what clued me in that it wasn't a model M.

And a CRT? How much was shipping? Over here, even shifting that locally would cost more than $130. Envy y'all, so I do.

The Unicomp and the Model M should be pretty good. If the bone fide M feels loose compared to the Unicomp, open it up and check for snapped rivets: might need a bolt mod. The Unicomp will too, someday, but they're still so young it's likely not due yet.

The circuit board in the front looks like the motherboard from an early-revision ("bread bin") Commodore 64, but it is missing a couple of chips. I suppose it had been a donor for a restoration.
You could resell it on eBay, or perhaps pry the socketed chips out of their sockets and sell those separately (The VIC-II chip is under the big shield). Just mark them "untested" if you're not into that.

Muirium wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2022, 11:04

And a CRT? How much was shipping? Over here, even shifting that locally would cost more than $130. Envy y'all, so I do.

The Unicomp and the Model M should be pretty good. If the bone fide M feels loose compared to the Unicomp, open it up and check for snapped rivets: might need a bolt mod. The Unicomp will too, someday, but they're still so young it's likely not due yet.

Shipping was $130. I got all it for a penny because nobody bid on it

Some mini-Ms have a known issue with the Q key not working and you need to unplug the keyboard and plug it back in. There is a fix for the issue, but you need to send it back to Unicomp so they can swap the controller out. I believe they're out of chips at the moment, so they won't be able to do the swap out.

But if you run into that problem, reach out to them so they can add you to the queue.

Welcome to the forum! I’d say that’s a great score. If you don’t mind me asking, what was the description of this listing? I’ve heard you can find some good scores if you search for “lot of” or terms like that in the vintage computer section.

Muirium wrote: ↑

04 Oct 2022, 11:04

even shifting that locally would cost more than $130. Envy y'all, so I do.

Shipping is escalating fast over here too, and international shipping outbound from the US is crazy.

I could see the 2 big pieces in a large box going ground for $80 and $50 would probably ship a smaller box with the rest of it.

Welcome to DT!

As has been said above, the board in the back corner likely contains some variety of Alps or Alps clones. Could be branded Opus. My money is on Pine Whites, but you could get lucky with some Blues in there. Let us know what they end up being. Hoping that it all arrives unscathed.

Here’s is an update to this thread now that everything has arrived.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27614