Model F AT in ISO?

[thefarside]

I'm taking apart my Model F AT and noticed the big ass enter has stabilizers for an ISO enter:

IMG_6807.jpg (720.83 KiB) Viewed 1383 times

This made me curious if the AT was ever offered in an ISO format. I didn't see any references online or in the wiki. My guess is the stabilizers were on all Model F barrel plates since some versions had an ISO enter, but thought I'd ask

[fohat]

I don't know the specific answer, but back in the day IBM was exceptionally good about covering all the possible bases.

[Obin]

But ISO Enter has the stabilizer tabs on the right on the early Model Ms (and F122), not on the left.

The answer is that an F AT BAE-key has two stabilizer wires, one horizontal, one vertical in addition to the stabilizer insert it also has... IBM went for a complete stabilization overkill after the not-stabilized-at-all policy on the F XT.

This however makes the key stick down very very easily when the board gets even slightly dirty, so it's not surprising to me that someone with ANSI muscle memory would just remove the vertical stabilizer wire as a quick fix.

[thefarside]

But ISO Enter has the stabilizer tabs on the right on the early Model Ms (and F122), not on the left.

The answer is that an F AT BAE-key has two stabilizer wires, one horizontal, one vertical in addition to the stabilizer insert it also has... IBM went for a complete stabilization overkill after the not-stabilized-at-all policy on the F XT.

This however makes the key stick down very very easily when the board gets even slightly dirty, so it's not surprising to me that someone with ANSI muscle memory would just remove the vertical stabilizer wire as a quick fix.

Thanks I didn’t realize the big ass enter used both stabilizers. Mine only has the horizontal stabilizer. I took it off and installed it on another Model F and it seemed to work fine without it so I might not use it.