Any love for a customized Model F 122

[ivanthetolerable]

My daily at work. (I man an IT dept). I replaced my old XT with this 122 USB C converted F122 with Wi-fi controlled RGB lighting under the F1-24. Each colored key has at least two layers of macros I use to inject email strings, run scripts, launch applications, etc. The Extra_F keys range from copy/paste, to find, print, GETMAC, macro switching. I love it. Would love to see any other nonstandard M's or F's.

[John Doe]

Nice keyboard. The color caps look more like kinda diy result other than from unicomp, right?

Tbh, more curious about the detail inside, perhaps you could share about that later.

[SneakyRobb]

Hi, I am glad you are getting the full functionality out of the board. Always good to see those buttons put to use.

There is always love for keyboards here.

Would you share how you setup your LED system?


Also I am not sure what brand this board is

[Chyros]

[ivanthetolerable]

Nice keyboard. The color caps look more like kinda diy result other than from unicomp, right?

Tbh, more curious about the detail inside, perhaps you could share about that later.

haha, yes they are very DYI. Painted and clear coated. I had so many spare M/F keys so I have different colored extras I swap around when I make or change a macro.

Inside isn't anything special yet. Just a Teensy with some adapters and a Wifi RGB controller from a tv strip soldered to the teensy. I'm planning on trying to put a bluetooth mod into it..

[ivanthetolerable]

Hi, I am glad you are getting the full functionality out of the board. Always good to see those buttons put to use.

There is always love for keyboards here.

Would you share how you setup your LED system?


Also I am not sure what brand this board is

Pretty sure it's a Dell board or maybe a Commodore...

The LED system is just the guts from a cheap Amazon tv strip lighting that I cannibalized and soldered power leads to the Teensy 5v line.

[Weezer]

[Redmaus]

Didn't know these came with BAE.... Did you mod in that layout yourself?

[snacksthecat]

My daily at work. (I man an IT dept). I replaced my old XT with this 122 USB C converted F122 with Wi-fi controlled RGB lighting under the F1-24. Each colored key has at least two layers of macros I use to inject email strings, run scripts, launch applications, etc. The Extra_F keys range from copy/paste, to find, print, GETMAC, macro switching. I love it. Would love to see any other nonstandard M's or F's.

Talk about getting the most out of a keyboard. That thing is like a Swiss Army Knife! Very creative and well executed.

[Weezer]

Didn't know these came with BAE.... Did you mod in that layout yourself?

Yeah I modded it when I replaced the foam, although the stabilizer clips were already inside the keyboard so maybe it was an additional option. I used this keyboard for phone work so it has a weird layout for filling out tickets.

Since I brought up stabilizer clips, does anyone know why there're stabilizer clips underneath where the 2u zero is on the numberpad? What key was supposed to go here?

[Fkazim]

My daily at work. (I man an IT dept). I replaced my old XT with this 122 USB C converted F122 with Wi-fi controlled RGB lighting under the F1-24. Each colored key has at least two layers of macros I use to inject email strings, run scripts, launch applications, etc. The Extra_F keys range from copy/paste, to find, print, GETMAC, macro switching. I love it. Would love to see any other nonstandard M's or F's.

Looks really nice great job, Model F's are so good for customisability.

I modded my F AT to ISO layout added F11 and F12 also added media keys with relegendable keycaps.

[Chyros]

Nice, that looks really good . Love the BAE too!

[SneakyRobb]

Didn't know these came with BAE.... Did you mod in that layout yourself?

Yeah I modded it when I replaced the foam, although the stabilizer clips were already inside the keyboard so maybe it was an additional option. I used this keyboard for phone work so it has a weird layout for filling out tickets.

Since I brought up stabilizer clips, does anyone know why there're stabilizer clips underneath where the 2u zero is on the numberpad? What key was supposed to go here?

It's not definitive, but I wonder if your current layout answers this question?

[fohat]

does anyone know why there're stabilizer clips underneath where the 2u zero is on the numberpad?

I don't understand the question, they are for the 2u zero.

[SneakyRobb]

does anyone know why there're stabilizer clips underneath where the 2u zero is on the numberpad?

I don't understand the question, they are for the 2u zero.

Hi,

The f107 has the numpad stab holes between the bottom row and the next row up.

http://i.imgur.com/3NQuG0X.jpg

The rest of model f have such hole along the bottom

Edit for f122
https://i.imgur.com/KO60jZu.jpg

[John Doe]

does anyone know why there're stabilizer clips underneath where the 2u zero is on the numberpad?

I don't understand the question, they are for the 2u zero.

Appreciate the pics as always, saw them somewhere before tho.

I think what he means is his keyboard has stabilizer clips under the 2u 0 key which located at the left bottom numpad zone, and from my limited experience, it's quite correct for an F.

[SneakyRobb]

does anyone know why there're stabilizer clips underneath where the 2u zero is on the numberpad?

I don't understand the question, they are for the 2u zero.

Appreciate the pics as always, saw them somewhere before tho.

I think what he means is his keyboard has stabilizer clips under the 2u 0 key which located at the left bottom numpad zone, and from my limited experience, it's quite correct for an F.

Hi,

Negative. What it means is that the F AT and the F122 have the stab holes at the bottom left of the numpad. The f107 stab holes are 1 row up

[John Doe]

I don't understand the question, they are for the 2u zero.

Appreciate the pics as always, saw them somewhere before tho.

I think what he means is his keyboard has stabilizer clips under the 2u 0 key which located at the left bottom numpad zone, and from my limited experience, it's quite correct for an F.

Hi,

Negative. What it means is that the F AT and the F122 have the stab holes at the bottom left of the numpad. The f107 stab holes are 1 row up

Ohh, my bad. Never have chance to get hands on f107, and that looks pretty because of its original layout?

Spoiler:

11EE1128-D1C8-4198-B31D-E02F041CE108.jpeg (245.95 KiB) Viewed 4877 times

[Weezer]

When I said "where the 2u zero is on the number pad", I meant where I had the 2u zero key located on my particular keyboard. This was my bad, it was an ambiguous statement. Sorry guys for the confusion on this! The F107 has its stabilizer clips one row above where the clips for the 2u zero are normally located, but I haven't ever seen a keyboard produced by IBM that features a 2U key in that location, so I was curious about what key was possibly meant to go there. The F107 is also lacking the stabs for where the number pad enter and number pad plus normally go.

[SneakyRobb]

Hi,

This is what I mean and I think the OP means about stabs on the F107 vs the F122/AT

This is why I said the OP Numpad could solve the question

107 v 122 stabs.jpg (222.89 KiB) Viewed 4844 times

and edit for the Zero key

F107.jpg (403.29 KiB) Viewed 4836 times

[Weezer]

Yep! Thanks for the pics SneakyRobb! IBM definitely could have intended for the numberpad to be arranged in the way I have pictured, but I haven't been able to find any documentation to confirm or deny that, so I was wondering if anyone else knew. Maybe the stabs were for a special function key for some banking application?

[SneakyRobb]

Yep! Thanks for the pics SneakyRobb! IBM definitely could have intended for the numberpad to be arranged in the way I have pictured, but I haven't been able to find any documentation to confirm or deny that, so I was wondering if anyone else knew. Maybe the stabs were for a special function key for some banking application?

Hi no worries. Yeah I haven't seen any documentation related to the layout. What I think happened, speculation, is that the previous beamspring keyboards had a similar numpad arrangement like the 3101 and maybe that carried over somehow.

wiki/IBM_Beam_Spring_Keyboards#3101

The 3178 and other model F also had the numpad shifted up 1 unit although with 1 unit zeros.
wiki/IBM_Model_F#IBM_3101_Model_F_Keyboard

The other thought right now though is that the "banking" beamspring has the numpad like modern keyboards...and that board is very old.
wiki/IBM_Beam_Spring_Keyboards#3604

So I am unsure as to why the F107 is like that. Regardless the F107 has the numpad stabilizer there for some reason. A bit weird, but that's it.

I guess I should add to the custom model f post though..so here goes. Although if I am counting correctly this might be a F120...?

Optimal F122 layout.jpg (2.15 MiB) Viewed 4539 times

[Weezer]

Spoiler:

Yep! Thanks for the pics SneakyRobb! IBM definitely could have intended for the numberpad to be arranged in the way I have pictured, but I haven't been able to find any documentation to confirm or deny that, so I was wondering if anyone else knew. Maybe the stabs were for a special function key for some banking application?

Hi no worries. Yeah I haven't seen any documentation related to the layout. What I think happened, speculation, is that the previous beamspring keyboards had a similar numpad arrangement like the 3101 and maybe that carried over somehow.

wiki/IBM_Beam_Spring_Keyboards#3101

The 3178 and other model F also had the numpad shifted up 1 unit although with 1 unit zeros.
wiki/IBM_Model_F#IBM_3101_Model_F_Keyboard

The other thought right now though is that the "banking" beamspring has the numpad like modern keyboards...and that board is very old.
wiki/IBM_Beam_Spring_Keyboards#3604

So I am unsure as to why the F107 is like that. Regardless the F107 has the numpad stabilizer there for some reason. A bit weird, but that's it.

I guess I should add to the custom model f post though..so here goes. Although if I am counting correctly this might be a F120...?


Optimal F122 layout.jpg

Good stuff. Youre always very thorough when it comes to keyboard research.

Also, nice bae

[fohat]

This what I have used most of the time for the past couple of years, along with a large tall gel wrist rest. Regardless of opinions on whether it looks better, to me it feels better and easier to use without the top case shell. And since someone will ask, the green is a cut glass drawer pull which is surprisingly helpful when I move the keyboard, and the bottom shell infills are Hydroanthus (aka "Ipe" or "Brazilian Walnut").

Although it is marginally louder without the case, I always floss mod Model Fs to cut out the annoying overtones.

F-122-2020-06-e.JPG (638.07 KiB) Viewed 4432 times

[SneakyRobb]

This what I have used most of the time for the past couple of years, along with a large tall gel wrist rest. Regardless of opinions on whether it looks better, to me it feels better and easier to use without the top case shell. And since someone will ask, the green is a cut glass drawer pull which is surprisingly helpful when I move the keyboard, and the bottom shell infills are Hydroanthus (aka "Ipe" or "Brazilian Walnut").

Although it is marginally louder without the case, I always floss mod Model Fs to cut out the annoying overtones.

F-122-2020-06-e.JPG

That actually does look really cool. I think customization looks good when it's done by someone for a functional reason like your use case. So I do like that. The wood pieces are also a nice touch.

I notice it also has 3 inserts between the Top F-keys and the Number row on top of the exposed pcb?

[fohat]

I notice it also has 3 inserts between the Top F-keys and the Number row on top of the exposed pcb?

The PCB is anything but exposed!

Those are original holes in the top plate, below that is the foam mat (chestnut brown color in this case) then there are the barrel bases and the PCB is at the bottom of the stack below that. Oh, well, actually the PCB is slide fitted to the bottom-most steel plate with a mylar insulating sheet between them.

Also, if you look closely, you see the locations of the 3 brass screws for the "bolt enhancement" that I do to ensure that the plates keep in proper tension.