Keyboard interchangeability - A20 to T20?

[Boinng]

The spacebar on my trusty T20 is giving out, and I'd like to replace the keyboard - I've seen a few old ones on ebay, but there's nothing new at the moment for a T20. There are, however, some new A20 keyboards that look extremely similar, and the same seller has sold them in the past as compatible with both the A20 and T20 (although he's now dropped that claim and mentions the A20 only). He describes the keyboard as "Part number 02K5010 FRU number 02K5036 Model MC86-UK"

Obviously there's something a little fishy about this as the part has two part numbers, one of which IBM identify as being for the A20 and the other for the T20 - but I'm wondering if the difference is simply the bezel at the top (giving the model number) - in which case I can simply replace it with the one I've got. Does anyone know if the A20 and T20 keyboards are actually identical?

[Boinng]

I know how annoying it is when you're searching the forum for an answer on something like this, and all you find is the question as above, with no replies... so having gone ahead and bought an extremely cheap A20 keyboard on ebay, I'll go ahead and answer it myself.

Well - it's yes and no. Yes, the A20 keyboard is exactly the same as far as the keyboard itself goes, and it fits in the same space, and exchanging the blank A20 bezel for the T20 clear plastic strip s easy, BUT there are a couple of crucial (but not insurmountable) differences to overcome.

The T20 keyboard has two brass screw fittings poking down underneath, lining up with holes in the case (these are the screws you undo first to remove the keyboard)... unfortunately the A20 keyboard has three - one is completely extraneous, and another one is slightly in the wrong place, so to get it to fit you have no option but to get a pair of pliers and tug two of them off - it's a wrench, but not too difficult if you pull hard enough. This leaves you with just one screw fitting as opposed to the two the T20 usually uses, but as it's the one at the bottom under the mouse, and the top and sides are all clipped into the case, it's sufficient to hold in place just fine.

There's one other hitch, and that's that the actual connector thingy on the base of the keyboard (under the Y key) is in ever so slightly the wrong place - it needs to be unstuck and repositioned a smidge. I found it easiest to just unstick it and, with the keyboard almost in place, connect it up to the motherboard port myself before lowering the keyboard down into place. The ribbon connections attached to the connector do need to flex slightly for this, but that doesn't seem to be a problem.

So in the end I did get the A20 keyboard to fit a T20, but it wasn't quite as easy as I was hoping. On the other hand, it did save me plenty of money, as this was a brand new part for £8.99 as opposed to £30-40 for a T20 version.