IBM 77 Key 4704 Keyboard 6019303

Ellipse · 27 Nov 2014, 05:31

IBM 77 Key 4704 Keyboard 6019303

One of xwhatsit's converters will soon bring this keyboard back to life! My bulk Model F controller order should arrive next week.

Does anyone else have one of these besides Parak? Let's see some new photos!

Parak · 27 Nov 2014, 06:06

It's purdy and in great condition

What's your story for getting it? Also, where did you pull the extra keycaps from, as the legends are not particularly common..

Ellipse · 27 Nov 2014, 06:14

Yep! A lucky find I guess. No grinder will touch this one! The other keys are mostly from a 1988 1393464 airline-customized Model M with extra bold key caps to better match the original 4704 keys.

seebart · 27 Nov 2014, 09:23

WOW what a find! Congrats!

btw what is that round thing?

: DSC_5144.jpg (16.06 KiB) Viewed 7128 times

jacobolus · 27 Nov 2014, 10:56

seebart wrote: ↑btw what is that round thing?

I believe that’s for the buzzer volume.

rindorbrot · 27 Nov 2014, 11:43

Correct, it's the volume knob for the beeper.
Beautiful board!

Muirium · 27 Nov 2014, 13:36

Another 77 key. It's Christmas time, and I'm a kid peering through the candy store windowpane!

Got a picture of the original layout?

chzel · 27 Nov 2014, 13:58

It's the very first photo Muirium!
Candy got your attention?

Muirium · 27 Nov 2014, 14:02

Too much drooling. Ignore me until I somehow get my paws on one of these!

@Ellipse: That "PD2" cap you freed up is very handy indeed to those of us who like an HHKB layout.

Also, that bar on the underside is different. Kishsavers naturally sit flat on the desk, on their rubber feet, which you can see still present beside it.

Khers · 27 Nov 2014, 14:13

What a beautiful board!

snoopy · 27 Nov 2014, 16:01

argh, I need one...

Hypersphere · 27 Nov 2014, 16:19

These must be rarer than the F62 Kishsaver. It is my idea of what an SSK ought to be -- no F-key row and capacitive buckling spring switches. Superb!

cinnamonrollz · 27 Nov 2014, 18:11

Your lucky! I had all sorts of corrosion all over the barrel of my board. Looks great!

pyrelink · 27 Nov 2014, 18:24

Very nice board. Its in immaculate condition too. It even looks like that is the stock foam still in one nice piece. A truly incredible find.

I see you also have a long bar foot on this one too! I actually really like the elevation that the foot gives, on my 107. Does anyone know if the Kishsaver also has a version of a long bar foot? I have yet to see a Kishsaver with one.

Ellipse · 27 Nov 2014, 19:28

pyrelink - After seeing some photos of the bottoms of some F62s, it looks like a bottom plastic bar should exist for the F62. Some photos even had outlines of where the bar was, plus a plastic tab that broke off in the plastic bar socket on the bottom of the F62 (the bottoms were attached by plastic columns).

Parak · 27 Nov 2014, 19:50

*cough*

beltet · 27 Nov 2014, 23:29

I sent a letter to santa claus with only "kishsaver" written all over it, now I want to change that to "IBM 77 key".

faceyourfaces · 28 Nov 2014, 13:47

I really like how you did the layout with the numpad and arrow key cluster together. Coming to think of it, I would rather have this than a Kishsaver. I wonder why I never see anything about this keyboard.

snoopy · 28 Nov 2014, 14:24

faceyourfaces wrote: ↑I really like how you did the layout with the numpad and arrow key cluster together. Coming to think of it, I would rather have this than a Kishsaver. I wonder why I never see anything about this keyboard.

cause it seems like there are currently only three out there (that we know about)

Muirium · 28 Nov 2014, 14:30

Exactly. The big 107 key and the little 62 key are both merely Super Rare, while the 77 key is pure, dazzling Unobtainium.

jacobolus · 28 Nov 2014, 22:40

However, there’s also the AT keyboard, which can have its plate modified to support Alt keys, so it can turned into something overall fairly similar to the 77-key keyboard, but with the addition of 2 columns of keys on the left and 1 column on the right. (see wcass's guide; unfortunately no pictures remain https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=25919.0)

Hypersphere · 29 Nov 2014, 16:49

And for a superb Model F typing experience that is still quite obtainable, let us not forget the IBM XT. The current right-side layout is not to everyone's liking, but thanks to wcass and his Xtant project, the XT is being transformed for the 21st century.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51767.0