IBM Numeric Keypad P/N 69H8533

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sharktastica

06 Oct 2020, 12:13

(Re)introducing the P/N 69H8533... and that's all I know about this. Not even a name.

I picked up this numeric keypad from Yahoo! Japan Auction for a very decent price out of curiosity, a purchase made very much in the dark. I'm hoping someone here much more familiar with Japanese IBM gear can tell me more about this thing. My preliminary search found not much other than this could have possibly sidecar'd the IBM 5535-ZAD, a large ThinkPad-looking thing that looks to be a buckling sleeves TrackPoint keyboard (possibly an adaptation of the Model M4-1 or M6-1).
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Anyway, my initial impressions are somewhat pleasantly surprised. I think it's got a fairly nice expanded layout, it's very rigid, and the legends have held up well over the years. Whatever domes this thing employs are okay all things considered - decent tactility, not much mush. Nothing exceptional though.

Rayndalf

10 Oct 2020, 12:52

If the switches were mechanical I'm sure you'd like it more (even if they felt the same :P)

It's an interesting layout (back tab could actually be useful). The left column and divisions make it symmetrical, so the 0 key's size and spacing really stand out (in a good way).

xpaceseven

16 Oct 2020, 20:57

i'm facing very similar issue

User avatar
sharktastica

11 Jun 2021, 02:44

So, I finally converted this keypad. Like many ThinkPad numpads from the '90s, it's got a mouse pass-through on it but it all runs through one PS/2 plug. Standard active PS/2 converters and Soarer's (etc.) won't work with it.

I couldn't find any good pinout diagrams for them, so, after some continuity probing, I decided to make them myself and I've hosted it on my site (https://sharktastica.co.uk/topics/kb_connections). IBM of course achieved this by using the two unused pins on a PS/2 mini-DIN for mouse clock and data. However, for some reason, they put the mouse signals in the standard pin positions and thus pushed the keyboard clock and data to the other side. Not sure why they did this, since having the keyboard pins in the standard position would make the keypad infinitely more universal. But, eh.

Host computer-side socket pinout:
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User avatar
sharktastica

12 Jun 2021, 12:27

So, wrote an article about this keypad: https://sharktastica.co.uk/articles/69H8533_discovery

One correction to what I said before: it's for the 5535-ZPP not 5535-ZAD.

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Muirium
µ

16 Dec 2021, 10:56

[qwuote=dukevid post_id=496758 time=1639643965 user_id=22129]
interesting share, keep it going.. [SIzZE=1] spam 2014 instagram saver[/SIZE]
[/quote]

Size = 1 is his new trick now. :roll:

User avatar
sharktastica

17 Dec 2021, 09:13

Funny enough, this bump (by a bot?) prompted Findecanor to check out my article and found an issue with the PS/2 socket pins diagram. Diagram has now been corrected, and big thanks for Findecanor (and the bot, I guess) for bringing this to my attention.

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paperWasp

18 Dec 2021, 17:00

Looks like an interesting item for accountants etc.

@Muirium: That dot at the end! :shock: :shock: :shock: We are definitely at war here.

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