Yep, this is the one I think I'd stop collecting for if I were able to find/buy.
For the record, this is not the largest beamspring or the one with the most keys. For that, you'll need to beat 254 keys:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... key_kanji/
There was some speculation on whether this actually was a beamspring (versus some other switch type like hall effect) or not for quite a while until a guy that worked in the IBM location in Japan where it is displayed was able to pull a cap.
During my hunt, I've spoken to people who claim that there are single vintage computer collectors who have 10 or more complete working Series/1 systems, but won't part with any of them. Then of course, if you Google it, all you find are articles about how the US military STILL USES the Series/1 to control nukes, so I'm sure the US government is in possession of A LOT of these. Even when they are eventually retired, I doubt they are going to show up at military surplus stores or anything, they'll probably be destroyed sadly.
The extra capsense pads are wired into the matrix, so they would be functional with a modern controller, but I'm sure that the original controller ignores them as those without a switch above them would be read as "pressed" constantly.
Since I'm a fan of the Xwhatsit controller myself, after spending a ridiculous amount of money on one of these, I probably wouldn't hesitate to commission a modern PCB redesign with a 16x8 layout for only the capsense pads that are actually being used, though with your wanting to have dual use with the original system, that option is kind of out, though it really wouldn't be that much more work to swap the capsense PCB depending on how often you'll do that.
As far as edge connectors, that's the easy part to find. This will work:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/140887820549, but you will have to do a little cutting on the sides to have two of them to have enough space to plug in right next to each other. The other alternative would be to use original edge connectors from other original beamspring controllers that I'm sure other users have no use for once they've converted theirs to USB.
I never realized there were all of those extra capsense pads there AND the holes in the barrel plate for additional switches. Would be really easy to split the spacebar any number of ways, or turn all the 1.5 width keys at the top into single keys for like 30 FN keys in that top left block alone, all without any modifications to the case. I also like how the double width vertical keys each have two stems with capsense pads below each, meaning that you can move those wherever you want. It's too bad it's not ANSI convertible with those extra TWO keys on most rows in the main block. However, I think it is the ONLY beamspring that has a double wide horizontal ANSI style return key. If I were to eventually find one, I probably wouldn't mod the layout at all, but knowing the customization potential is there is just pain awesome.
Amazing find, no doubt about it!
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? I am pretty sure they are worth at least $10k a piece conservatively, I have even seen some sources claim they are worth as much as $100k. And having enough space to store that many of them would be quite impressive at any price.
