Thinkpads Forum

I received this several days ago as the eBay seller said that it was a 02K5730 (Japanese layout keyboard for a T2x):

http://www.kawakami-ca.com/ibm_t2x/630/630_keyboard.jpg

It works fine on one of my T23s. However, the first thing I noticed is that the plate on the keyboard says "630". I tried searching for this particular model number without any success (ThinkWiki, Wikipedia, even IBM). I know that I can change out the plate with one of my existing systems, but I'm curious as to the origin of this keyboard. Was the 630 only available in Japan and if so, why can't I find anything about this system which at least shares the keyboard with the T2 series.

Do the Japanese have thumbs on the left hand only, that space bar looks freaky!!

Found this link http://auction.da.vn.ua/item/560759.htm on Google searching for: ibm "thinkpad 630"
It's Russian. Have it translated. At the bottom of the page are the details.

@vanaya: Can't tell you how many times I've tried to hit that space bar with my right thumb and missed . Even going against my typing habits and using my left thumb doesn't help .

@RealBlackStuff: Thanks for that link. It seems to say that the 630 is (was) based on the 600 series, but that can't be right since the keyboard designs are totally different.

With a good night's sleep and a fresh start at searching again, I found this still being hosted at an IBM site:

http://t1d.pc.cacheibm.com/us/thinkpad/ ... 3_img2.gif

It's from a version of this page:

http://web.archive.org/web/200008160127 ... ofuse.html

For some reason, the graphics at the top of the page gets displayed for only a second or two when I go to some of the "newer" versions of the site, like this one:

http://web.archive.org/web/200012142323 ... ofuse.html

I'm still in the dark as to what the 630 system was and where it was sold. Maybe it was an early version of the T20 since that was what eventually followed the 600X. In any case, the keyboard has been installed in a 2647-N22 and will be going down to L.A. so my older daughter can use it for her Japanese class.

ref: Search for "http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/thinkpad/easeofuse.html" at http://www.archive.org