Jackpot

[The Laptop Lagger]

Thursday at work I hit the fuckin jackpot, I saw it there in a cart.
IBM Model F XT
1986 model.
As with many older boards it was likely slated to be chopped and recycled, obviously not wanting to let that happen I swooped in and asked my boss for a price.
I ended up spending €0,75 on this near pristine IBM Model F
It was a good day, now to convert it to a modern protocol and use it as my new daily


(Horrible pic but fuck it)

[guidemetothelight]

No Way ! Thats so cool !

[M9HM]

meanwhile, some idiot who found out yesterday about what this is after finding one in his grandmas garage, is now asking 300€ for one in ebay.

[del20nd]

Thank you for restoring my hope that this kind of thing still happens to people! You're going to love the Model F key feel, and with hope, will aquire a taste for the layout

[The Laptop Lagger]

Thank you for restoring my hope that this kind of thing still happens to people! You're going to love the Model F key feel, and with hope, will aquire a taste for the layout

This keyboard has been a personal holy grail ever since I first got myself acquainted with XT for my Toshiba T1500 (which I've never gotten working sadly)
I really like the idea of a navless layout and I am fairly quick when it coimes to switching between keyboard layouts, since I switch keyboards regularly.
I'm REALLY looking forward to using this thing as my new daily. It'll be a while however since I'll be ordering an XT to USB converter from Tinkerboy which will take a hot min to get here.

[del20nd]

Thank you for restoring my hope that this kind of thing still happens to people! You're going to love the Model F key feel, and with hope, will aquire a taste for the layout

This keyboard has been a personal holy grail ever since I first got myself acquainted with XT for my Toshiba T1500 (which I've never gotten working sadly)
I really like the idea of a navless layout and I am fairly quick when it coimes to switching between keyboard layouts, since I switch keyboards regularly.
I'm REALLY looking forward to using this thing as my new daily. It'll be a while however since I'll be ordering an XT to USB converter from Tinkerboy which will take a hot min to get here.

If you have no issues with the layout and you like clicky then it'll probably be your favorite keyboard!

Have you checked if the space bar stabilizer feels correctly seated? Is there any evidence that the board needs a refoam? (Just trying to think of things I'd check while killing time before the converter arrives.)

[hellothere]

I've got at least one Tinkerboy converter and I'll confirm that it's good.

1. If you're going to restore it, there are a lot of great articles here. I would highly recommend any one that specifies a lot of clamps. These work great.
2. I failed cutting straight lines in kindergarten, so my attempts to cut art foam and use hole punches didn't work well for me. However, ebay comes to your rescue with pre-made foam for about $20 US, sans shipping (ships from Canada).
3. Don't remove the spacebar until after opening the case. Here are some good ideas on how to deal with the spacebar.

The Model F isn't my cup of tea, but I know it's on the top 10 lists for a bunch of folks. I hope you enjoy it!

[The Laptop Lagger]

Spoiler:

I've got at least one Tinkerboy converter and I'll confirm that it's good.

1. If you're going to restore it, there are a lot of great articles here. I would highly recommend any one that specifies a lot of clamps. These work great.
2. I failed cutting straight lines in kindergarten, so my attempts to cut art foam and use hole punches didn't work well for me. However, ebay comes to your rescue with pre-made foam for about $20 US, sans shipping (ships from Canada).
3. Don't remove the spacebar until after opening the case. Here are some good ideas on how to deal with the spacebar.

The Model F isn't my cup of tea, but I know it's on the top 10 lists for a bunch of folks. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks so much for the advice!
I think I'm gonna try to use it as is for now, I've also personally got the Tinkerboy ADB converter which is why I'm inclined to go with the same for XT.

[fohat]

ebay comes to your rescue with pre-made foam for about $20 US, sans shipping (ships from Canada).

I never had any trouble cutting foam (I put the sheet under the plate when I spray paint it, so I have the exact location of the holes) but this looks like a clean (if pricey) product.

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see what type of foam it actually is cut from. ?

[hellothere]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see what type of foam it actually is cut from. ?

In the ebay ad? Ummmm. Black foam? I'll go with that. Black foam.

Slightly more seriously, the ebay ad doesn't have the foam type listed. It felt like art foam and was easily twice as thick as what I pulled out of the XT. I did have to do a slight bit of trimming, regardless of what it says in the ad, but it otherwise fit great and I had no problems putting the barrels back in.

According to Amazon, the foam I used for an XT restore in 2020 was this. That's the one where I realized I failed scissors and hole punching. I bought the hole punch on ebay, so I don't have the link, but it was similar to this.

[The Laptop Lagger]

I have good news! Finally got around to ordering the TinkerBOY adapter, can't wait for it to come