Soooo. What's the age of this Model M 122?

hellothere · 08 Dec 2020, 23:36

Definitely a Model M 122, with black writing oval label. RJ45 terminal model.

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Warrantied for your protection. I haven't seen a sticker like this on any of the 10ish Model Ms I've played with.

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Mmm. Interesting sticker on the back. Model number is 1395660. Made in USA.

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Let's hold off on that model number. How about 1394100? Made in USA in 1992.

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Let's crack the case! Model number 1394177. Made in the UK in 1997.

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No other labels. The stamp on the inside bottom case is part number 1393997. The other unique thing? No missing rivets.

Rayndalf · 09 Dec 2020, 00:58

The new label and seal suggest it was opened up for warrenty work of some kind and reassembled. Wouldn't surprise me if IBM was short on parts at the time (I didn't realize they made M122s as late as 1997)

Normally they didn't replace the rear sticker with warranty work, so it's like they labeled a rebuilt board for sale to a new customer (like they started building frakenboards to support warrenty claims).

Nice that you have all the rivets.

hellothere · 09 Dec 2020, 18:40

I misremember the date that Unicomp took over production from Lexmark. I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple non-Unicomps that were made pretty late.

I'm also pretty much of the opinion that the core was made in place X and the case was made in place Y. I think that extends to the key caps, as the Wiki mentions one of those model numbers had two-tone legends. The Wiki also says one of these model numbers came with an RJ11 connector. I'd assume that would be an entire electronics swap.

depletedvespene · 09 Dec 2020, 18:45

Looks to me like the keyboard was indeed made in 1992, but at some point it was serviced and the entire innards (including the keycaps as well) were replaced with whatever available part there was (1394177 is a P/N for the plate, not a keyboard).

Quartz64 · 09 Dec 2020, 20:08

I remember the similar issue with one of my M122s: 1989/1996 chassis/backplate.

hellothere · 09 Dec 2020, 21:14

That's actually quite interesting. IBM had a separate number for JUST a steel backplate and not the entire core. You'd think that the whole core would be a drop-in replacement with one part number. It's not like IBM was doing bolt mods or anything.

FWIW, this may become my daily driver. However, I have two or three other 122s that need bolt mods. I think one is from 1985. It'll be interesting to compare them all.