IBM Model M AT - 76X0035 - POS Keyboard

[taylorswiftttttt]

Recently picked up two of these AT Layout Model Ms.









Has two ports, including one huge SDL-style port.







Has a cool blue stepped control key.











Closeup of the lock mechanism




Some interesting things I noticed:

1. Made in Canada
2. Has an old-style chromate plated backplate, even though it was manufactured in 1998
3. One had the light labels in french, the other in english
4. Has the barrels to accommodate alt keys
5. The lock mechanism is not IBM made

[wobbled]

I had no idea these even existed, where did you even find them?

[Parak]

Another neat thing about these (I grabbed one on ebay a while back) is that the spacebar stabilizer is normal top plate mounted wire, and not the crappy underplate one that is in Fs.

[Myoth]

Weird thing is that the lock lights have french legends, when the keyboards are Americain

[seebart]

Wow, quite rare to see something completely new by big blue here. Impressive!

[orihalcon]

I have a couple of these as well. My long term plan is to fit AT Model F guts inside the case doe a sort of AT spacesaver with lock

[taylorswiftttttt]

removed

[Harshmallow]

They were likely used in Québec or some other French/bilingual part of Canada where that would have been required. Didn't know any M derivatives were made in Canada - must have been at the IBM facility in Toronto. It does seem odd that the key legends are not in French though.

[Redmaus]

I bet any people that use ctrl in place of caps lock would kill to get ahold of one of those blue stepped keys.

[emdude]

Taylorswiftttttt kindly proxied one of these keyboards for me! I cleaned it up, bolt-modded it, and changed the modifiers to something more ANSI-ish in the process. Pardon the potato pics!



In my research about the keyboard, orihalcon suggested an 8-pin SDL IBM 54P8828 cable might work one of these, which I purchased. If it works, I'll post a pinout and convert the keyboard with a Teensy.

The membrane has contacts for an ANSI pipe key as well as Alt keys, but the blockers on the case are too wide for the latter keys to fit, sadly. It was definitely made in 1988 as well, the date was deceptively misprinted. Compare the 8 to the 9 character in the plate part number.

The keycaps were by far the most interesting part of this keyboard. The popular belief is that Unicomp uses the same old molds as IBM/Lexmark did. I did not believe this was true. Their caps had a sprue mark location was different (to the sides rather than centered), mold markings/recesses at the intersections of the interior walls, mold numbers on the ceilings of some keycaps, and softer/more rounded edges (this being due to "deteriorating" molds). Since no other IBM keycap I had seen up to that point had these characteristics, I always assumed Unicomp did indeed retool at some point. But I was wrong.

The keycaps (the pearl ones at least) of the 4683 keyboard use what appear to be the same molds that Unicomp uses today! The 4683 and Unicomp caps look nearly identical, right down to the rounded edges.

Below are some comparison photos of a 4683 keycap with one from an IBM Model M 1390120 and Unicomp Ultra Classic.

4683 (L) and 1390120 (R)

Spoiler:

Unicomp (L) and 4683 (R)

Spoiler:

EDIT: As an addendum, I was just reading the wiki's entry on the Model M when I saw Daniel Beardsmore's photos of his 1996 Greenock Model M. The keycaps on those seem to use the same mold as well. I've never owned a Greenock M so I did not know about these either. Good to know, still.

[seebart]

Great information on those keycaps thanks emdude!

[Mr.Nobody]

Wow, quite rare to see something completely new by big blue here. Impressive!

Not completely new.
taobao-f71/goodies-from-china-thread-re ... ml#p351077

[seebart]

God damn new enough for me when I say so. Another example why DT is turning to shit.

[Mr.Nobody]

No，DT is turning into something better; before, it's just a forum of keyboard enthusiasts, now it's a real international community.

[kbdfr]

No，DT is turning into something better; before, it's just a forum of keyboard enthusiasts, now it's a real international community.

Now that's an interesting statement.
Apparently the "keyboard" part has disappeared in the process,
which would then corroborate seebart's view:

[…] Another example why DT is turning to shit.

[taylorswiftttttt]

removed

[XMIT]

Thanks, Mr.Nobody, for proxying these for other forum members.

kbdfr: I agree that 2015 and 2016 were tough years to follow. It's up to all of us - you and me included - to keep this forum a good place to be.

Mr.Nobody: this was a petty international forum for a while, though we've had relatively fewer East Asian participants. Why do you think that is?

[naidnegib]

In my research about the keyboard, orihalcon suggested an 8-pin SDL IBM 54P8828 cable might work one of these, which I purchased. If it works, I'll post a pinout and convert the keyboard with a Teensy.

emdude: did you finally get the cable? I've received a box full of IBM keyboards that only have the SDL connector but the cables were lost. I'd need the pinout to try to check them. In my case the keyboards also include magnetic card reader and mouse.

Thanks!

[emdude]

In my research about the keyboard, orihalcon suggested an 8-pin SDL IBM 54P8828 cable might work one of these, which I purchased. If it works, I'll post a pinout and convert the keyboard with a Teensy.

emdude: did you finally get the cable? I've received a box full of IBM keyboards that only have the SDL connector but the cables were lost. I'd need the pinout to try to check them. In my case the keyboards also include magnetic card reader and mouse.

Thanks!

Sorry, I forgot to post with my results. I did! And it did not work.

The LEDs (nifty orange ones!) lit up but I didn't get any response from the keyboard. Guess it uses a protocol specific to its POS operating system.

No matter, I got the cable for pretty cheap and I was planning to convert the keyboard at some point anyway, just a little more challenging now. I'll probably rip out the connectors and wire it up to a teensy.

[naidnegib]

emdude: Thank you. Could you, please, post anyway the pinout when you can? I've found this one for another similar keyboard and I'm trying to make a cable now (I'll post if it works):

Code: Select all

          _.-'..`-._         _________________
        .'          `.      |                 |
       /   5  ||  6   \     | | | | | | | | | |
      |       ||       |    | | | | | | | | | |
      |  3          4  |    |                 |
      |                |    | 1             8 |
       \    1    2    /     |                 |
        `._        _.'      | ==============  |
           `-....-'         | ==============  |

                               AMP branded
        PS/2 Male Plug       RJ-45ish looking
                              male connector



                      ,--------------1
                      |
             1-----,  |   ,----------2
                   |  |   |
             2-X   |  |   |  ,-------3
                   |  |   |  |
             3------)--)--+  |     X-4
                   |  |   |  |
             4------)--)---)-+     X-5
                   |  |   |  |
             5------)-'   `---)------6
                   |         |
             6-X   |         `-------7
                   |
                   `-----------------8


              1-------------->8
              2---NC
              3-------------->2,6
              4-------------->3,7
              5-------------->1
              6---NC
                         NC---4,5

It's on: http://www.nyx.net/~cbrown/hardware/13H7674.html

[emdude]

Sure, and thanks for the link. I've modified the above graphic with the pinout I got.

Code: Select all

          _.-'..`-._         _________________
        .'          `.      |                 |
       /   5  ||  6   \     | | | | | | | | | |
      |       ||       |    | | | | | | | | | |
      |  3          4  |    |                 |
      |                |    | 1             8 |
       \    1    2    /     |                 |
        `._        _.'      | ==============  |
           `-....-'         | ==============  |

                                8-pin SDL
        PS/2 Male Plug          Male Plug
                              


              1-------------->1 (Data)
              2---NC
              3-------------->3 (GND)
              4-------------->2 (+5V)
              5-------------->8 (Clock)
              6---NC
                         NC---4,5,6,7

I got the above from the male ends of the respective connectors. The pins appear to be the same--reversed in the original graphic--but based on the plug/connector distinction, I read the image of the SDL connector as being the female end.

In any case, please let us know the results of your effort!

[Mr.Nobody]

Thanks, Mr.Nobody, for proxying these for other forum members.

kbdfr: I agree that 2015 and 2016 were tough years to follow. It's up to all of us - you and me included - to keep this forum a good place to be.

Mr.Nobody: this was a petty international forum for a while, though we've had relatively fewer East Asian participants. Why do you think that is?

IMHO, the reasons are:
1.Asian enthusiasts are mainly focusing on new(and overpriced) models for some unknown reason, not the vintage ones.

2.Generally speaking, Asian people are more fond of crowded places where the audience is bigger to show off or to develop potential business. Obviously, DT is relatively not HOT enough to them, only a handful of visits per day looks extremely bleak in the eyes of an Asian, so some dudes came and left.

3.The language barrier is also a factor.

PS:Sorry for the delay, I forgot about this thread completely.

[alh84001]

Just archiving my base layer non-ANSI-modded Soarer Controller config.