Could you help me to identify this keyboard ?

[lork]

Hello,

I found this PS/2 keyboard but i'm unable to identify it.
It seems to have buckling springs switches but it is smaller than a model M.





Thanks in advance,

Christophe

[guk]

IBM Model M2 aka Selectric Touch

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Must get my hands on a working M2 one day!

[lork]

Thank you for you quick reply guk

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Did you actually get a working one? These things are notorious for being found dead due to capacitor failure.

[Firebolt1914]

Wouldn't it be easy to swap out the faulty capacitors, or is there a reason for it being hard to make it work again?

[elecplus]

Must get my hands on a working M2 one day!

You need to come scrounge my attic! XMIT found a whole pile of them, I think. But the top edge is different on mine; they have an L-shaped section missing from both top corners.

[lork]

Did you actually get a working one? These things are notorious for being found dead due to capacitor failure.

One pin on the ps/2 connector is broken. I've to find another cable and swap it.

[Muirium]

I'm on a working M2 right here, incidentally. From Cindy… (1994 Lexmark, ANSI US.)

The only thing broken on mine is one of the legs, which snapped the moment I tried to extend it. Ouch! I never even use those, I was just cleaning everything as usual.

By the way, what tool do people use to go inside theirs? Mine has evil square allen bolts, or whatever you call those things (typically hex) Allen keys fit. I wanted to go inside to check the caps, but couldn't. Fortunately it's working fine… for now.


@Lork: I'm happier with the M2 than I expected to be. It's slim and modern compared to a typical Model M. The integrated plastic stabs on the caps are quite smart too. And I like the pale colour scheme. It feels a bit spongy compared to a traditional Model M, but nothing too bad. It's actually quite a nice change from my other IBM boards. Not better, for sure, but different. If only they'd kept exploring this direction instead of ditching buckling spring entirely!

[Findecanor]

Wouldn't it be easy to swap out the faulty capacitors, or is there a reason for it being hard to make it work again?

The difficult thing is to open the case. Beside the two bolts there are dozens of snaps - and those snap off easily.
To get to the snaps, you need first to remove the keycaps. It is also easy to harm the stabilisers - that are only plastic parts integrated with the keycaps.

[Firebolt1914]

Ah, that would make a lot of sense. Thanks for the info.

[Touch_It]

Working on them makes me angry as it is hard to reassemble without de-seating springs and snapping plastic tabs but the feeling is nice. Certainly different than an M. And not necessarily in a bad way. I have one from 1990 I believe and it has good caps. It might be the only one ever with good caps lol

[Halvar]

I exchanged the capacitors on mine and it wasn't too hard. Well actually I ended up only replacing the larger one because the keyboard worked after that. If I can do it with my soldering skills, then most people here can probably do it. The most unnerving thing, as Touch_It said, was to reassemble the keyboard afterwards.

I agree that key feel is not comparable to a "real" Model M, but compared to most modern switches it's not bad either.

lowpoly's good how-to article is here: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=5065.0

[Findecanor]

Oh, I also damaged a couple of springs the first time I reassembled one. They need to point straight up when you put a keycap back on so they don't get crimped in-between the barrel and the keycap. The barrels are shorter on the M2 than on the Model M.

[Touch_It]

Intresting the barrels are shorter. I bet that plays a big factor in the different feel as they use the same spring/hammer assembly.

[ramnes]

Typing on my M2 feels very scratchy to me. Is that just my board being dirty or is that the same for every M2?

[Touch_It]

Mine does not feel scratchy at all. It definitely has a higher ring vs a thock from a Unicomp M but nothing that I would consider scratchy.

[bitslasher]

(Double posted)

[bitslasher]

My first keyboard ever was a buckling spring M2 that came with my very first computer, an IBM PS/1, in 1993. I had fond memories of it. But, that being said, I obtained another board more recently and almost tossed my lunch right on it when I started typing with it.

I like the look and size, however it is very poorly made. The body is too flimsy (it has no plate). The key travel distance on this board seems too short. The keys are very scratchy, and the electronics are very bad. It's not just the capacitors either, the contact sheet also seems to be prone to oxidation. Not to say you maybe can't find a good one out there, but these boards have a lot working against them in my opinion. They went too far trying to cheapen the model M with this one. Maybe because I've used a model M or F daily for the past 20 years has affected my feel for this board.

One fun thing about this board is that like the M, there are also a rubber dome version as well. I got one of them really cheap to get a working controller and contact sheet for my buckling spring version.

[tactica]

I'm surprised that nobody complained about the tiny snaps keeping the controller in its place. I have two M2's here and in both of them those snaps are broken. Not to mention the cheap way the membrane contacts are held together against it, which only adds to the pain of fixing those dam*** snaps. I've seen rubber domes designed better than this.

[Touch_It]

Must get my hands on a working M2 one day!

You need to come scrounge my attic! XMIT found a whole pile of them, I think. But the top edge is different on mine; they have an L-shaped section missing from both top corners.

Those sound like the rubber dome version.

On another note I have "had" one. Good capacitors. I took it to work but somehow it got lost. I quite enjoy the feel of them, but a pita to wok on. Much harder than model f's. Not sure about difficulty vs a bolt mod, as I've never done one.