deskthority

Hello DT! This is my first post as I'm relatively new here. Although I feel guilty having my first post be one in which I ask for help, I feel this is the most helpful place around - so I hope you'll forgive my selfishness.

I recently purchased an IBM model M from ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/381633701865) and I got it in the mail yesterday and looks nothing like the one in the photo (doesn't have the blue logo or same model sticker on the back) - which I'm fine with. There were 7 available and I probably just didn't get that one, whatever.

What is peculiar about the board I got is that there are two different types of keycaps. To me I had thought, depending on manufacture date, model M's had either single piece caps, or two-piece caps - but mine has both. Is that normal?

Another interesting thing is that even the caps that are two piece have a different shade to their plastic base piece. My f10 key is a two-piece cap and it's inner part is a grey color; however my f11 key, which is also a two-piece cap, has a white colored inner piece. The barrels are also white, instead of black which I've usually seen in online tear-downs.

Did I get some kind of IBM mishmash of a model M?

Thanks for any input!

//gains.

Well, all non-stabilized keys should either be one-piece or two-piece, perhaps the seller filled in missing keys with leftovers they had on hand.

Later Model Ms used key stems of a variety of colors, that is normal; barrel plates were also made in different colors, depending on the year. They can either be black, off-white, or gray.

Yeah that's what I was thinking also. The board was described as "new" and "only opened to check contents" but also listed as "used", so I really didn't know what to expect. Other than the different keycaps within the same board and the missing model sticker I would have guessed it to be brand new. The keys even feel a little stiff, as if they haven't really been typed on much or broken in at all (is that a thing or did I just make that up?).

Seems weird a board in this kind of condition would need replacement caps.

Welcome to DT! There's nothing wrong with asking questions as first posts, IMO.

White barrels are totally normal, there were both black and (off-)white ones.

There are some keys that are always 1-piece on a Model M, namely the larger keys like Return, Numpad +, left Shift etc. On some boards, F, J and Numpad 5 are also 1-piece. If you have a seemingly ramdom mixture of 1-piece and 2-piece otherwise, it's probable that you got a board that had some keys replaced at some point for some reason.

Same for the white base/slider pieces: I have seen several Model Ms that have all bases in grey except for F,J and Numpad 5 that are white. It has been argued that this could have been a visual help for the people (or machines ?) that put on the key caps in production originally. If your board was cleaned by a user along the way, they might have put them back to different places. Or some keys were replaced at some point.

Hope that helps,
Halvar

//gainsborough wrote: Yeah that's what I was thinking also. The board was described as "new" and "only opened to check contents" but also listed as "used", so I really didn't know what to expect. Other than the different keycaps within the same board and the missing model sticker I would have guessed it to be brand new. The keys even feel a little stiff, as if they haven't really been typed on much or broken in at all (is that a thing or did I just make that up?).

Seems weird a board in this kind of condition would need replacement caps.

If the keys are stiff, then it probably is fairly unused. I am not sure what to say about the key caps or the missing model sticker, your Model M appears to be a terminal keyboard; it might be some peculiarity that just isn't well-documented.

Out of curiosity, can you give an example of some keys that are one and two-pieced?

Halvar wrote: Same for the white base/slider pieces: I have seen several Model Ms that have all bases in grey except for F,J and Numpad 5 that are white. It has been argued that this could have been a visual help for the people (or machines ?) that put on the key caps in production originally. If your board was cleaned by a user along the way, they might have put them back to different places. Or some keys were replaced at some point.

I have encountered a couple of Model Ms (particularly Lexmark-made ones) that have an amalgam of key stems that seemed to have been placed randomly around the board. I actually have never seen a Model M like the ones you are referring to. Perhaps they did this for a short time between having all gray stems and just not caring anymore (when Lexmark took over).

emdude wrote: If the keys are stiff, then it probably is fairly unused. I am not sure what to say about the key caps or the missing model sticker, your Model M appears to be a terminal keyboard; it might be some peculiarity that just isn't well-documented.

Out of curiosity, can you give an example of some keys that are one and two-pieced?

After checking all the caps it ended up being very close to what Halvar had mentioned. F, J, numpad 5 are all two-piece keys. And interestingly, so are f8, f9, f10, f11, f12, "jump" (where num-lock usually is), and a blank key in the top right of the numpad. Everything else seems to be a one-piece key.

Hm, that is very unusual indeed! But being a terminal Model M, perhaps it was serviced at some point.

Yeah that makes sense. Thanks for the help, both of you!