IBM Keyboards

[AlphaKilo470]

I just found my old 1993 vintage IBM Model M keyboard in my closet and decided to brush the dust off it and hook it up to a working computer in my bedroom. I had forgotten how nice that thing is, I'd be willing to say it's just about as comfortable to type on as the keybaord on my old Correcting Selectric II, if not more. Still, I don't know if this things more comfortable than the old Northgate Omnikey I had for a few shor years before it finally died on me (after many spills and tons upon tons of heavy typing.) That keyboard was the best and those things last too. My dad had got it back in 1990 or 1991 and it got passed on to me in 1999 or 2000.

That's my opinion, as for it's worth to anyone, I really am unsure. If anyone else wants to state their favorite keyboard, go ahead, I also have a poll here. The last two options in the poll are typewriter keyboards.

[farmer kev]

The compact version of the M, no seperate number pad. Mine died so am using a FRU# 1392090 made on 27May1993.
I don't type a whole lot but remisive carpel tunnel and a touch of artherites make using the buckeling spring keysboards an easy choice.

[AlphaKilo470]

93? Same year my model M was made in.

EDIT: I'm thinking mine was made right before they were redesigned as I've seen a few blue logo keyboards with permanent cable made in 1993 while mine has the grey IBM logo and detachable spring. Mine also has a speaker on the underside which I thought was noteworthy as most Model M's just have the grille on the underside, with no speaker. I'm still wondering what the point of the speaker is.

[Navck]

My elementry school had Model Ms, I loved them.
Even the BTC keyboard I'm using can't withstand my 150 WPM (Keys with no letters, many with holes, but works)
I would love to get a Model M with a trackpoint...

[AlphaKilo470]

I did some research and it turns out that in 1996 or somewhere around there, Lexmark who had been spun off of IBM a few years before had sold the keyboard patents for the Model M to a company called Unicomp and they still produce Model M's under their own name, so in essence, you can still get a brand new Model M, just not with the IBM logo on it but hey, the logo's not what made the keyboard to begin with, it's those clicking keys.


http://www.pckeyboard.com/customizer.html
http://www.pckeyboard.com/onthestk.html

[jdhurst]

The desktop keyboard I like best is the one made by Lexmark in 1994. Solid overaction spring keys with removable caps (cleanable and replaceable). I would have got it with the Windows 3.1 PC350 I purchased back then, and it sits on my PC300PL Windows 2000 machine that I purchased in 1999 and still have for odd jobs. ... JD Hurst

[bhtooefr]

Your Lexmark keyboard is a variant of the 2nd generation (read: a little cheaper feel - I've got one lying around that has a broken plug) Model M.

I <3 my Model M, P/N 1391401, ID/N 8015230, DOB 08-19-91...

They just don't make keyboards the same... this X21's KB isn't BAD, but it's no Model M...

[Nolonemo]

Model M, for sure. Boy, they were expensive back then, too, well over $100, if memory serves. I remember driving half way across LA to buy one from someone who had advertised a used one in the recycler.

When the office moved this year, I snagged a model M with the trackpoint out of a dumpster full of abandonded computer gear (64MB Simms, anyone?). Sacrilege, it was I had forgotten how noisy that sucker is, but man, what a feeling under your fingers!

[bhtooefr]

*looks at Nolonemo, grabs the Model M, smashes his skull in, steals his Model M13*

I hate you...

FWIW, whoever said Dell QuietKey... go feel a Model M. The QuietKey is a direct membrane (yes, I said direct membrane, instead of just membrane. That's because the second generation BS technology that the Model M uses has a membrane in there...) keyboard. Granted, it's one of the best DM keyboards there is, but it blows chunks compared to the Model M.

[AlphaKilo470]

I don't care too much for the Dell QuietKey. They are nice keyboards and I don't mind using them and theres nothing particularly bad about them, it's just that everytime I use one, it just has this cheap keyboard feeling.

Nolonemo, if I wan't all the way on the other side of the country, that keyboard would be sitting on my desk, not yours, and probably from drastic measures too. Just kidding, but that's an amazing find, congrats. I am jealous.

Oh, I went onto eBay today, typed in trackpoint keyboard and found three black IBM brand Model M w/ TrackPoint all going for about 60 or 70 dollars. I also typed Model M and found more keyboards than you can imagine, most going for pretty low right and have buy it now too.

[farmer kev]

Humm, I have a M13 sitting here too, fru#92G7461. Bought it used for maybe $20 from a computer recycler, with cord.

[carbon_unit]

I have 4 model M's of various dates at home. One is connected to my port replicator for my T23, one is at a computer repair station and the other two are waiting for ther chance to be used.
I got my first one with a dead IBM PS/2 model 50 someone gave me. The other three I got from ebay cheap!
I've been using them for about three years and I hate cheap keyboards now.

[AlphaKilo470]

My day went from mediocre to awesome just now. At school, a teacher was going to throw out a circa 1989 model m because it was missing so many keys and caps. Luckily I saved it, brought it home and fixed it by using the keys and caps from my dead circa 1987 model m I kept for any just in case scenarios, now I have two fully functional, clean and decent looking model m's, both in great shape.

I also did some looking at my 1993 model M and compared it to my 1989 model m and to pictures of a newer 1994 lexmark model m and I am now just 100% baffled by it. It's new enough to have the drainage channels but old enough to have the buckling springs, black on white IBM logo and detachable PS/2 cord. It also has a speaker inside of it, not just an empty grille like most Model M's. Since the label from the underside wore off from over the years (I clean this thing regualrly and after so many years, that label which always was in the way of the rag gave way) so I have no part number to go by on this. Does anyone out there think they have a clue about this very odd model M I have?

Oh yeah, I think it might also be notable that the cable on my 1993 model m is somewhere between two or three times as long as that of my 1989 keyboard.

EDIT: An oddity about both my keyboards is that neither has a normal left side Ctrl key. My 1989 keyboard has a left Ctrl key that says Reset on the top and Quit under and the 1993 has a left Ctrl key that says Ctrl/Act.

[benplaut]

i was lucky enough to get ahold of a Model M clone (buckling spring Tandy), i frikkin love this thing

the only problem is some bad design on the shift key (can't press it on the end of the key), but other than that, it rocks

[bhtooefr]

My day went from mediocre to awesome just now. At school, a teacher was going to throw out a circa 1989 model m because it was missing so many keys and caps. Luckily I saved it, brought it home and fixed it by using the keys and caps from my dead circa 1987 model m I kept for any just in case scenarios, now I have two fully functional, clean and decent looking model m's, both in great shape.

I also did some looking at my 1993 model M and compared it to my 1989 model m and to pictures of a newer 1994 lexmark model m and I am now just 100% baffled by it. It's new enough to have the drainage channels but old enough to have the buckling springs, black on white IBM logo and detachable PS/2 cord. It also has a speaker inside of it, not just an empty grille like most Model M's. Since the label from the underside wore off from over the years (I clean this thing regualrly and after so many years, that label which always was in the way of the rag gave way) so I have no part number to go by on this. Does anyone out there think they have a clue about this very odd model M I have?

Oh yeah, I think it might also be notable that the cable on my 1993 model m is somewhere between two or three times as long as that of my 1989 keyboard.

EDIT: An oddity about both my keyboards is that neither has a normal left side Ctrl key. My 1989 keyboard has a left Ctrl key that says Reset on the top and Quit under and the 1993 has a left Ctrl key that says Ctrl/Act.

First off, looks like you're dealing with a terminal emulation model of the Model M. In fact, two different ones of them. Good finds.

Anyway, your 1993 Model M is a fairly rare model, from what I've seen. I have one, however. Mine is part number 1391401, just like the regular 1991 Model M I've got. I'm fairly sure that there's a blue logo on those models.

Try OneTrueKeyboard... there's not many people there yet, but the more posts we get, the more people we get. Not trying to leech people away from this forum - I'll actually direct people over to this forum from the IBM/Lenovo forum there, if it's not something REALLY simple. I want to complement this forum, not replace it.

[AlphaKilo470]

Try OneTrueKeyboard... there's not many people there yet, but the more posts we get, the more people we get. Not trying to leech people away from this forum - I'll actually direct people over to this forum from the IBM/Lenovo forum there, if it's not something REALLY simple. I want to complement this forum, not replace it.

I just joined and made my first post. My username almost rhymes with the one I have here, has the same beginning letters and even similar ones in between.

[doppelfish]

My elementry school had Model Ms, I loved them.

Heh. First computer I got to bang my sticky fingers on was an IBM PC (so I'm scarred for life, I guess). It's poor little 8086 was hardly able to keep up with my typing, and I hated that Model M beast.
Various products carrying the 'Cherry' logo crossed the narrow space between my fingertips and my desk ... ouch, my fingers.
First step to betterness was a keyboard from an old HP workstation ... solid, quiet, nice, take-apart-able, cleanable. Hint: Silicon Spray works wonders. Apply sparingly. Don't spill on solid floors (ok, that's another story).

Now, a two-digit number of years later, I'm standing guard at our computing centre, waiting to grab the Model Ms from the RS6000 machines they decommission, and HEY: I got one! Whohooo!
I guess I never realized how much I enjoy the clickety-click action.

cheers,
-- fish

[AlphaKilo470]

In the same classroom I got my 1989 model M from, there's also a newer blue-logo model m and later on today, when I'm done with my lunchbreak, I'll stop by his room and ask if I can get that one too.

I also finally found the down arrow and F9 key for my 1989 keyboard.

[leoblob]

The desktop keyboard I like best is the one made by Lexmark in 1994. Solid overaction spring keys with removable caps (cleanable and replaceable). I would have got it with the Windows 3.1 PC350 I purchased back then, and it sits on my PC300PL Windows 2000 machine that I purchased in 1999 and still have for odd jobs. ... JD Hurst

I'm writing this on a Model M that came with the WIN3.1 PC350 I bought in August of 95. The PC350 is gone, but I'm using this keyboard on the PC300GL in my sig (which has become my every-day machine). I hung onto this keyboard since it "felt" right, but I never realized that it was held in such high esteem (Mine has FRU #71G4646, is this the same one you're referring to?) And how do you get the keys off for cleaning???

[bhtooefr]

This is a good guide to a complete Model M teardown: http://www.preater.com/modelm/

[leoblob]

Thanks! Great link!

From reading the info, "71G4644 is also labelled as Model M, but it is not a clicky keyboard.. it uses rubber-dome switches," I guess mine is a quasi-Model M, but it is still very nice. (Part# 71G4644, FRU# 71G4646, mfg date 04/11/95)

[bhtooefr]

leoblob: You might not be able to remove the keys, with it being a direct membrane model (I was afraid that that one was a membrane model, the FRU didn't sound familiar to me...)

Try to get yourself a true clicky Model M. You can find them for $5 or less at a thrift store. Right now, you don't have the One True Keyboard, though.

[AlphaKilo470]

Wow, this is rather fun and annoying at the same time. This post took forever to type because I'm using the 1989 keyboard which I just converted to Dvorak so I could try learning the layout.

Surprisingly enough, I'm picking this up faster than I did the QWERTY layout though.

[leoblob]

leoblob: You might not be able to remove the keys, with it being a direct membrane model (I was afraid that that one was a membrane model, the FRU didn't sound familiar to me...)

Try to get yourself a true clicky Model M. You can find them for $5 or less at a thrift store. Right now, you don't have the One True Keyboard, though.

It's still a relic, though! BTW, your site is very interesting!

[leoblob]

It's now about a year later...

I was never able to find the 7/32" nut driver which appears to be essential for getting the keyboard open. However, just this week I went into Sears and got a 7/32" DEEP socket (for a quarter-inch drive socket wrench). It works. You need a deep socket as the regular ones don't reach far enough. (a buddy of mine thinks a 5.5mm deep socket will also work, but we haven't tested that)

I got the thing open and it's disgustingly dirty in there. My quasi-Model M keyboard does have the membrane switches, but the key caps do come off, so I have a project to keep me busy for a while.

[Nigellus]

Odd that one can select the ThinkPad keyboard in a poll in the desktop forum

I taught myself how to type properly on my TP 600E, so that might have something to do with my choice. When I try to type fast on my Gateway and Dell desktops, my fingers seem to trip over the keys; it's annoying. When I have something important to type, I try to stick to my ThinkPad; the only thing it lacks is a number keypad, but that's a small price to pay (I have not typed on my Aptiva keyboard lately, so I can't compare them).

[tomh009]

Odd that one can select the ThinkPad keyboard in a poll in the desktop forum

Think Ultranav!

[tghlk]

For some strange reason, I did like the feel of the old IBM AT keyboard. You could bang on those keys all you want with no problems. The layout of the keys was intolerable though. The early PS/1 keyboards seemed to be a thinner version of the Model M since they also had noisy keys. Later they went to rubber dome type. I have the old PS/2 era keyboard with detachable 10 foot cable and also have a later options by IBM one still in the box, used for less than a day. I do like the spacesaver keyboard without the keypad though. I managed to snag a tan keyboard with a trackpoint built in, but I dont think it works right so I may throw it out and finally have a fairly late model USB black one with fingerprint reader. I use a IBM rubber dome one now since the Model M makes so much noise when typing fast and it annoys my old lady.

[bhtooefr]

The early PS/1 keyboards seemed to be a thinner version of the Model M since they also had noisy keys.

That's called the Model M2. Actually, the rubber dome PS/1 keyboards are also Model M2s.

[tomh009]

M2. Actually, the rubber dome PS/1 keyboards are also Model M2s.

All "real" M2s use buckling springs. I got my first one on our original RS/6000; the last one I had -- which sadly died earlier this year -- was from a PS/1. (I "bought" a PS/1 for about $20 on eBay, and then asked the seller to ship me just the keyboard and keep the rest! )