Alternate Reality IBM colours

[SneakyRobb]

Hi,

I was reading the Thinkpad book. "Thinkpad a different shade of blue." I had seen this section before about how in the late 1970s Germany introduced new workplace laws. These laws as well as other concerns basically resulted in most things being gray or off white.

The relevant pages are here.

all gray and beige.JPG (157.94 KiB) Viewed 21066 times

So this got me thinking into what might have happened if the law and the other factors did not occur. What if there was an alternate reality where the selectric colour scheme lived on into Model F and Model M.

I only quickly made 1 image and my GIMP skills are not great but I will occasionally upload selectric colour scheme Model F/M when ever I am feeling artistic here. Anyone else is also free to do so.

I found this colour swatch thing in this thread
viewtopic.php?p=407885#p407885

Selectric-Colorsx.jpg (60.89 KiB) Viewed 21066 times

This F122 is in sapphire blue selectric. I am not great at GIMP so I was unsure how to make the keycaps maybe gray with the legends turned white.

Anyway thanks for reading. Hopefully I can make better versions later.

wut122.JPG (105.2 KiB) Viewed 21066 times

[PlacaFromHell]

Just imagine a raven black 3178 with gray alphanumeric keycaps and blue modifiers. Sweet.

[SneakyRobb]

Just imagine a raven black 3178 with gray alphanumeric keycaps and blue modifiers. Sweet.

Hi,

Yeah that would look cool. I was actually trying to figure out how to do a black F122 with blue modifiers.

I have found a better way to change the colours. Maybe I'll make a few more. Will finish the blue white keycaps later today.

emerald f122.jpg (2.07 MiB) Viewed 21027 times

F122 raven blue mods.jpg (1.92 MiB) Viewed 21027 times

[snacksthecat]

I would do unspeakable things to get a hold of that green one.

[browncow]

damn i didn't realize there was such a law. as always bureaucracy ruins everything, including keyboard colours lol. i think "garnet rose" one would look incredibly neat. funky.

[snacksthecat]

Anyone want to do a small run of F122 cases in alternate reality fun colors?

Not at all asking because I have a huge crack in my F122 case. Nope, that's not why.

[PlacaFromHell]

Just imagine a raven black 3178 with gray alphanumeric keycaps and blue modifiers. Sweet.

Hi,

Yeah that would look cool. I was actually trying to figure out how to do a black F122 with blue modifiers.

I have found a better way to change the colours. Maybe I'll make a few more. Will finish the blue white keycaps later today.

emerald f122.jpg

F122 raven blue mods.jpg

Lovely

[SneakyRobb]

Hi,

I would do unspeakable things to get a hold of that green one.

The emerald green one would legit be the best.


I think ill need to take a better base photo as there is lots of glare. Like a proper setup to make it look better.

Anyway I took some liberties with this blue one.

F122 raven blue mods.jpg (1.92 MiB) Viewed 20952 times

[kbdfr]

[…] the Thinkpad book. "Thinkpad a different shade of blue." I had seen this section before about how in the late 1970s Germany introduced new workplace laws. These laws as well as other concerns basically resulted in most things being gray or off white.

The relevant pages are here.
link
[…]

Precisely this IBM claim has been debunked there:

The thing is, I couldn’t find any evidence of a German law stating that office equipment must be in ‘light-value’ colours. I asked Mascha Tobe at the Computerspiele Museum in Berlin, who said “Even if there might be [such a] law, I have never heard about it.” I then got in touch with Christian Bartsch at The Software Preservation Society in Germany, who said that he “wasn't able to find a specific law requiring computers to be beige”, but did add that German workplace standards in general are “pretty strict”, giving the example that “high contrast between displays and the surrounding things should be avoided”. Indeed, German workplace law stipulates things like all office workers must have “visual connection to the outside” (in other words, be near a window.) Which I'm sure will be a great comfort to all the UK workers reading this on their lunchbreak in a windowless office-coffin.

I even contacted the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, which specialises in video-game law and computing, to see whether they could find out anything about this German law, and the firm kindly asked their research librarian to look into it. Sadly he “wasn’t able to find anything authoritative” aside from “some anecdotal comments.”

And a "standard" is not a law.
"Wer lesen kann, ist klar im Vorteil", as they say in Germany.

[Invisius]

The green does look nice, I'm not sure why they moved away from the Selectric colors. They added a lot of character, and could have easily fetched a premium if they made special edition Fs.

Here's what it looks like on two different generations of typewriters, although It might be a lighter shade on the model D (top). The Selectric72 keycaps are also another shade, more of a matching green vs the grey on the model D from 10 years later.

[JP!]

I LOVE that raven black with the blue accents. This needs to be a reality.

[SneakyRobb]

And a "standard" is not a law.
"Wer lesen kann, ist klar im Vorteil", as they say in Germany.

Hi, thanks for the "alternative" perspective, really appreciate the effort of your numerous single line posts in general.

I'll be sure not to post any claims next time I'm refuted by a single kotaku employee who can't use google.

[SneakyRobb]

The green does look nice, I'm not sure why they moved away from the Selectric colors. They added a lot of character, and could have easily fetched a premium if they made special edition Fs.

Here's what it looks like on two different generations of typewriters, although It might be a lighter shade on the model D (top). The Selectric72 keycaps are also another shade, more of a matching green vs the grey on the model D from 10 years later.

Hi,. I really like this colour scheme and will make some images based on this!

[kbdfr]

And a "standard" is not a law.
"Wer lesen kann, ist klar im Vorteil", as they say in Germany.

Hi, thanks for the "alternative" perspective, really appreciate the effort of your numerous single line posts in general.

I'll be sure not to post any claims next time I'm refuted by a single kotaku employee who can't use google.

Not sure what you're implying, that "single kotaku employee" apparently did a lot of research (as shown in the part of my post you did not quote) about the exact IBM text you simply took as granted - just that you interpreted "standards" as "laws".

There are standards for almost everything. They are simply rules agreed to by the industry, a good example being the one concerning the width of toilet paper, which has wide implications for the design of toilet paper dispensers, of course, but also for the industrial transport and storage of toilet paper.
It is not a "law", it is a "standard", as was the grey colour for computer equipment.
If that had been a legal obligation, the mention "not for office use" used by IBM would have legally prohibited employers from providing such non-grey items to their employees - which certainly was not what IBM intended nor even feared.

Oh, and given the rather prolific style of my posts, I resent you calling them "your numerous single line posts" as quite insulting

[webwit]

You guys are like...

[kbdfr]

I rather see myself as one of these:

[zrrion]

off topic nonsense aside, a modern case it this style would be excellent


Would also be nice if buckling spring had spherical caps to complete the aesthetic

[SneakyRobb]

off topic nonsense aside, a modern case it this style would be excellent


Would also be nice if buckling spring had spherical caps to complete the aesthetic

Hi, Agree.

That is quite aesthetic. I will attempt to create with GIMP. Anyone else is free to post images as well!

[SneakyRobb]

Hi,

Okay this one was actually hard... someone on deskthority discord pointed out that it looked like yellowed abs. :\

Cannot unsee.

Its canary though...!!!!!!!!!!!

canary m.png (2.85 MiB) Viewed 20488 times

[SneakyRobb]

I actually like it a lot

[SneakyRobb]

The green does look nice, I'm not sure why they moved away from the Selectric colors. They added a lot of character, and could have easily fetched a premium if they made special edition Fs.

Here's what it looks like on two different generations of typewriters, although It might be a lighter shade on the model D (top). The Selectric72 keycaps are also another shade, more of a matching green vs the grey on the model D from 10 years later.

Hi,

I also tried to make the green M

emerald m.png (2.5 MiB) Viewed 20457 times

[SneakyRobb]

The green does look nice, I'm not sure why they moved away from the Selectric colors. They added a lot of character, and could have easily fetched a premium if they made special edition Fs.

Here's what it looks like on two different generations of typewriters, although It might be a lighter shade on the model D (top). The Selectric72 keycaps are also another shade, more of a matching green vs the grey on the model D from 10 years later.

Hi,

And one with the lighter 2 tone.

emerald m 2 tone.png (2.1 MiB) Viewed 20447 times

[zrrion]

Iirc PVC is pretty easy to dye, so it wouldn't be impossible to dye a model M case. Whether the colour will match close enough or not is a different matter.
Failing that you can always paint the case.

[snacksthecat]

Iirc PVC is pretty easy to dye, so it wouldn't be impossible to dye a model M case. Whether the colour will match close enough or not is a different matter.
Failing that you can always paint the case.

You don't have many options when it comes to dyes. At least not on the consumer market. It's also really tough to predict how the dye is actually going to look in the end. But a green model m is unlikely to look anything other than awesome so there's probably a good amount of cushion before it turns into a failure. Anyone wanna try it? Anyone judge me if I try it?

This is the brand of dye that I've used when doing plastics. Never dyed PVC before, I don't think.

https://www.amazon.com/Jacquard-iDye-Sy ... ref=sr_1_4

[PlacaFromHell]

Hi,

Okay this one was actually hard... someone on deskthority discord pointed out that it looked like yellowed abs. :\

Cannot unsee.

Its canary though...!!!!!!!!!!!

canary m.png

The don't tread buckle on me keyboard. BTW, what kind of Photoshop filters or tools are you using to change the keyboard colour?

[swampangel]

Whew I'd love to see those colours on one of Ellipse's Model Fs

[E TwentyNine]

Modern case you say?

e29.png (2.26 MiB) Viewed 20278 times

[SneakyRobb]

Hi,

Okay this one was actually hard... someone on deskthority discord pointed out that it looked like yellowed abs. :\

Cannot unsee.

Its canary though...!!!!!!!!!!!

canary m.png

The don't tread buckle on me keyboard. BTW, what kind of Photoshop filters or tools are you using to change the keyboard colour?

Hi, I am using GIMP. It is pretty simple. I am using "paths" to outline the areas I want to colorize. Then I add them into a mask and adjust the colour so the light values are preserved.

I was trying to make this Red Selectric on a wheelwriter. The only issue I had is that the keys are very flat white and thus its hard to make them look good in a gray/black colour given my skills.

red typewriter.jpg (56.93 KiB) Viewed 20232 times

wheelwriter red 1.png (783.38 KiB) Viewed 20232 times

And here are the paths to colourize the parts you want.

paths selected.JPG (233.04 KiB) Viewed 20232 times

[snacksthecat]

This is 2020 in a nutshell.

• Ellipse model Fs finally starting to ship
• New quasi-authentic IBM color designs discovered

My F77 deserves to be green!

[ramnes]

This whole discussion reminds me my (not IBM but Cherry) Sailor Radio H2099: viewtopic.php?t=16826