deskthority

Wow, thank you for all of the great photos and documentation!

This a truly incredible find. It's definitely one of the best I've seen among IBM / Beamspring enjoyers in the last 10 years. The only other known examples I can think of are this one at the Computer History Museum and another garbage ...

Very interesting!

Sometimes, for prototypes and limited production items, it will help to have a good story to augment the value of the physical item. If you can document some more information on the history of this item and how it fits into the community's overall understanding of the SPOS's ...

What makes you say the G86 is a pre-production / engineering sample? Any related visual features you can share?

Just wanted to say that I support you in your efforts, and I may follow along one day with my Scorpius + Trackball!

Anyone remember buying the 5.5mm Wiha 341SF to work on Model Ms?

Well they're on sale for $1.89 on Amazon right now! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JGAOLE/

Because at first, they were emulating IBM's OG (1st to 3rd gen) Model Ms with using plastic stalks to guide the controller card. But during testing, it was found the friction fit was insufficient. On my early prototype Mini M, you could easily lift the PCB from the outside , which was pretty ...

Wonderful guide Sharktastica! Just finished programming my Mini M with the Justify controller. The hardest part was prying off the retaining rings used to hold the old controller in (seriously, why on earth did Unicomp design it this way instead of using screws?).

Everything is working great so far ...

This is what Unicomp told me to do:

Yes! You can order one now; add 2x customization fees (totaling $24) here: http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/product/CUSTOM and write in the text field, "New Mini M logic card with Pico"

Thank you,
Troy Fletcher

Thanks for the tip, just grabbed one, arriving ...

FYI, I reported a few issues with my Mini M and have been asked to send it back for repair. Unicomp customer service seems excellent, but the production Mini M does still have some teething issues. Compared to one of their M classics that I own (manufactured in the 2000s), I would say key ...

Just spent a little time on the Mini M this evening. Aesthetically speaking, I think the new Unicomp keycaps are absolutely gorgeous. Would love to see a full set of white keycaps with blue dye lettering.

That being said, I am immediately reminded of why I prefer the Model F strictly over the Model ...

I'm happy to have shared my find with everyone, but congrats to JP for the best furniture discovery of the year! Also happy to see the fat brown ALPS up here, I voted for both of them.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but are there any restrictions on nominated members voting (for themselves or other nominees)?

Daniel Beardsmore wrote: The switches are [wiki]Sasse series 25[/wiki].

Very good, more rep for you Daniel!

Anyone know who made this vending machine keypad?

Don't forget about the kanji beamspring board!

And also, all the blank buttons (tilt, button next to return key and button next to send key) are not pressable. Was this designed like this? If so is it possible to replace that single module with a working beamspring module from say xwhatsit to get it working?

Great looking board, I have this ...

This would seem to confirm a theory I had that the keyboard is implemented using two matrices (as does the presence of two controller chips, two 'magic capacitive chips' and what looks like a double-dose of 74-series logic). Would be very interested to see the layout of the PCB.
I concur, and I ...

XMIT wrote: Great find - welcome back REVENGE!

Thanks!

Wow, that is spectacular! I love the relegendable keycaps. :o

EDIT: Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the beam spring shown here?

https://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/images/overlay/4506VV4024.jpg

Really awesome if that's the case.
Yes, that's the one, although I don't have ...

I've had this keyboard for over a year, but I didn't have the motivation to give it a teardown until today. I first became aware of this model when I watched the IBM Manufacturing Systems documentary on YouTube that depicts the process of building Model Fs (the Series/1 minicomputer and 4978 ...

Really glad to see this finally launch! RGB is not my thing, but I've already started recommending it to people I know who want RGB.

Consider:
photos-f62/univac-f-1355-00-t6489.html

photos-f62/univac-1710-keyboard-t6918.html

Nice find! Lexmark also had 1387033s done in the same manner. I have one from 1996.

Thanks for the comments.

However:

+Keyswitches (Rapoo linear version, NOT Kaihl) feel great
wrong ... they are Kailh, Rapoo does not make their own switches, Kaihua is the OEM, just like Razer green and orange mech switch are not made by Razer (thanks god ... ) but Kailh custom design
I've ...

Somebody go convince this guy to not strip the boards for keycaps:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/48t8c7/found_mechanical_keyboard_in_the_junkyard_at_work/

That's a Micro Switch Hall Effect keyboard BTW, pretty sweet.

https://deskthority.net/wiki/Micro_Switch_Hall_Effect ...

Somebody go convince this guy to not strip the boards for keycaps:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... d_at_work/

Although I ordered my keyboards with blank caps, I wonder how you'll ship orders with no keycaps, which is an option ("Use your own keys"). The thing is, I've had IBM keyboards lying around all naked with no keycaps, and when you move them, the springs tend to interact with the barrels. Sometimes ...

Ellipse wrote:

If you make it, that's the one for me!

Probably one of the nicest Soviet Bloc keyboards I've seen.