deskthority

I recently acquired a IBM "Space Unsaver" keyboard. I have been searching for this particular board for over a month.

All I could find was the one Ellipse was selling for 550$. I actually did consider paying this, but I slept over it and decided that there had to be another way. I knew I could find my dream keyboard for a feasible price.

I was right. In this thread:

http://deskthority.net/photos-f62/ibm-3 ... 10494.html

I learned that a user named dorkvader(who is also global moderator over at GH) had two. I PM'd him afterward and after discussing it in depth, why I want it etc he offered a very reasonable price of 150$ shipped. He included the original cable, xwhatsit controller, let me have the nicer case and unmodded unsaver, and superb packaging on top of all that.

I would also like to point out he helped me a lot when I was converting my wyse to USB with a pro micro on which I am typing on now.

Now on to the pictures!

When It Arrived
Sorry I didn't get better photos of the outer box and great packaging. A family member had mistaken the parcel for their own by the time I got home that day. I had 1000% excitement at this point
Everything that came. The cable is quite oddball. Before I took this picture I had clicked the keys a bunch

Overview

At this time I had my F122 close and I could definitely tell that the unsaver felt much better compared to the F122.

This could be because of multiple reasons:

-The keyboard could be used less, and the springs have less wear.
-Due to its smaller frame, the metal tabs compress the board better and it has a better tactile feel.
-I messed something up while doing my ANSI mod( I hope not) or the art foam I used doesn't work that well.

The day I got it I knew I was going to take better pictures of it the next day and I wanted to be able to move the keyboard around easily without damaging/breaking the internal components or breaking off the plastic outside of the piezo clicker or DIP switches.

This is one of the CAD unsavers. The difference is the rainbow plate and the odd connectors and DIP switches and a clicker comes with the CAD ones. The other unsavers have a 5-pin DIN cable that can be converted easily. I would need the other unsaver model in my possesion or some better pictures other than what I can currently find to list some more specific differences.

I am critical on preserving all original parts of the board and to store the stuff I probably won't ever use such as the D-sub connectors or insulation paper and have the parts that I could use in the future like the piezo clicker stored to where they won't get lost/damaged in the meantime.

Next part, the better photos I took

Unsaver Keyboard Pictures
I love the symmetry of this board. Dreamy Layout. Some of the keys have some odd front printed legends on them. I don't think these are pad printed. They look dyesub to me but I can't be sure. One of these keys should interest Muiruim.
The case has three screws that hold it together. The assembly is secured to the board with metal clips instead of screws. I added in screws after I properly stored all the original components. The barrel plate has some corrosion and rust, but nothing I can't handle and certainly not as bad as quantalume's. The foam appears to be in good condition.
The plate is beautiful. The vibrant colors are a vivid rainbow that shines like gold. Makes the back plate for my F122 so drab and boring.
There are two tags on the back. The feet are still rubbery and are the same ones on my F122.
Also the 21 on the date means the 21st week of 1984 I believe.
Not much to see here. Moving along.
The back of the board had tape along the tabs that I removed and stored properly. There is also a rather large controller and another sticker.
Don't really know what to make of these numbers.
This thing is definitely the largest model F controller I have ever seen. Or on any keyboard for that matter. It connects to the DIP switches, clicker and both D-sub connectors. Look how small the xwhatsit is compared to it.

Unsaver Keycaps
All of the keys are one piece and have a thick grainy texture that I like and the dyesub legends are very thick, you can tell that IBM used more ink for these keys.
Compared to a regular two piece model M cap. I think the legends are bolder on the unsaver but less sharp and refined. The texture in my opinion is better than the M cap however. The unsaver cap is the one on the left.

Thats all for this post, stay tuned for the next one featuring all the pieces inside the keyboard and how they were stored.

Unsaver Components and Storage
These are all the screws used in the board excluding the ones that secure the ports to the backplate. They all have a certain heft that seems bulkier than the screws on some of my other model M's. The gold screws are for the controller, the blue anodized ones are for the outer case.
Here is the clicker for the unsaver. This component is exclusive to the CAD ones. At first I thought it was a solenoid, but turns out I was wrong. I am curious however if this clicker is any different than the ones on 4704 keyboards. Could someone in the comments post a detailed picture of the clicker for his/her F107 or kish? After hearing the difference between both the clicker and the solenoid, I like the solenoid much more and I see how the clicker could get annoying very fast. dorkvader mentioned he has one around somewhere that I could probably have. The little knob on the front is volume control, I believe.
Two wires soldered to the back and on the connector, but I notice the pins on the xwhatsit controller have six. How do I connect this clicker to the xwhatsit properly?
Here is the main connector that plugs into the original cable. I think the keyboard output goes through here.
I heard in a few places that this is the input or something. I don't know what this was used for, but I would love to be enlightened if anyone else does.
I actually quite like the look of these DIP switches. The red on the switches look very sharp when on the back plate. If can, I want to use these after I convert the board to USB. I would definitely rather use the switches than just have an empty hole in the back plate.
I have the original clips and port screws in this little baggie. I decided to use screws instead of the clips so I could open the board easier and I think screws will hold it together a little better.
As you can see, this has all components in the keyboard excluding the controller, tags, and tape.
All sealed up and ready to be put in drawer
I didn't want to just shove the tags still on the port connectors in the box too because they felt brittle and delicate. So I put them in baggies with a paper slip to indicate which component they belonged too so I could keep track. The clicker did not have a tag I do not know if this is the case for all CAD unsavers. There were three pieces of tape that sealed the metal tabs on the back. You can see some of the sticky residue on the back of the assembly in the previous pictures.

Stay tuned for more pictures and info regarding what will happen with the funsaver.

FEEL THE RAINBOW!!!

Place holder 3

super awesome shit stuff. Love it

Congratulations on acquiring a very beautiful board, and at a non-Elliptical price as well! The unsaver is up there with the kish at the top of my list of boards I would love to own. Quite jealous, if I'm honest!

Congrats Redmaus! Your collection is getting impressive. Nice pictures.

Congrats, it's a fine board!
Glad you decided not to go elliptical on this!

Congratulations.

We will be waiting for your pictures.

Ugh.. Very jealous

Redmaus wrote: ↑I have been searching for this particular board for over a month.

Pfft.. That's nothing! Try 16 months..

How true, this is one those keyboards I don't think I will find. Ever. Now if I was living in the states the chances would be higher.

photekq wrote: ↑Ugh.. Very jealous

Redmaus wrote: ↑I have been searching for this particular board for over a month.

Pfft.. That's nothing! Try 16 months..

Try finding one here!

Wow such a beauty, and all of that for that price...
I would say i'm searching for an Unsaver even longer, and it seems like that won't change very quick.

Absolutely my dream keyboard, nearly perfect layout, superb look and Model F switches.
I would say i want an F50 keypad more then a Kishsaver.

Dorkvader with the hookup. Nice.

photekq wrote: ↑Ugh.. Very jealous

Pfft.. That's nothing! Try 16 months..

What exactly are you searching for? I might be able to help

Redmaus wrote: ↑What exactly are you searching for? I might be able to help

NIB Original Cherry ANSI dyesubs w/ red cyrillic legends..

The $750 offer from my classifieds thread is still standing..

Redmaus wrote: ↑What exactly are you searching for? I might be able to help

1x Kishaver. 1x Beamspring. 1x Unsaver. That's all. I'm a modest man.

I'm placing this order with you Redmaus!

seebart wrote: ↑

Redmaus wrote: ↑

photekq wrote: ↑Ugh.. Very jealous

Pfft.. That's nothing! Try 16 months..

What exactly are you searching for? I might be able to help

1x Kishaver. 1x Beamspring. 1x Unsaver. That's all. I'm a modest man.

I'm placing this order with you Redmaus!

Sorry if I get only one unsaver somewhere it goes to Ace first. But I find more than one consider yourself lucky!

But before I can even attempt to look for people I need to sell all of my other boards first. I don't even need huge profit gain just enough to make back the time I spent grabbing the boards. We can work with prices everybody I am very flexible. I made a GH thread on it and not a single reply. So I need some buyers if you guys want me to find rare kb's.

Beamspring is yours seebart if you find those dyesubs for me..

photekq wrote: ↑Beamspring is yours seebart if you find those dyesubs for me..

yeah you had to throw that in... Damn it. All this leverage.

I'm gonna quote this from today just for the hell of it...

Today's µTranslation: Der Schatz im Elektromüll = The shitstorm in the electronics mall?

seebart wrote: ↑

photekq wrote: ↑Beamspring is yours seebart if you find those dyesubs for me..

yeah you had to throw that in... Damn it. All this leverage.

Did I mention that the internals are immaculate? The foam is like new! I will even throw in a free controller once I get one

Now get searching..

photekq wrote: ↑Ugh.. Very jealous

Redmaus wrote: ↑I have been searching for this particular board for over a month.

Pfft.. That's nothing! Try 16 months..

I was looking for the right buyer for over 2 years.

dorkvader wrote: ↑

photekq wrote: ↑Ugh.. Very jealous

Redmaus wrote: ↑I have been searching for this particular board for over a month.

Pfft.. That's nothing! Try 16 months..

I was looking for the right buyer for over 2 years.

If that was your problem i would have been glad to take that Unsaver...
But maybe Redmaus was the better choice, as i don't really had the chance to test Model F buckling springs, but from what i can read it has to be better then Model M buckling springs.

Grats! nice board there. My was in pretty much worser shape than this and its missing 3-5 caps. Don't remember cause im using other board caps.

macmakkara wrote: ↑Grats! nice board there. My was in pretty much worser shape than this and its missing 3-5 caps. Don't remember cause im using other board caps.

Now you can't torture me anymore with your unsaver!

hammelgammler wrote: ↑ If that was your problem i would have been glad to take that Unsaver...
But maybe Redmaus was the better choice, as i don't really had the chance to test Model F buckling springs, but from what i can read it has to be better then Model M buckling springs.

Don't think that is fair, having you as a choice would be as good as me. But I think I wanted the unsaver more though.
Yeah model F is 3x better than M springs.

Redmaus wrote: ↑

photekq wrote: ↑Ugh.. Very jealous

Pfft.. That's nothing! Try 16 months..

What exactly are you searching for? I might be able to help

1x ANSI Olivetti doubleshot 1x ANSI Olivetti dyesub. That's all I am looking for.

1x APL Unsaver for me please.

1x Kishy pl0x

+1 1x kishy please !

1 Kishy for me as well! Where do I pay?