deskthority

paat wrote:Hi guys. I just won this auction for an IBM Model M keyboard:
http://cgi.ebay.de/IBM-Model-M-1391403- ... fresh=true

Is this a good bargain or too expensive?

those usually go for 30-40, you got lucky (i was watching it and forgot to set my snipe...just noticed after you posted XD)

congratz!


oh and if i find the guy that grabbed that nixdorf softkey from me....i am disappoint. seriously.

Ty Ascaii and sorry . Next time i'll drop a post before we overbidding each other

paat wrote:Ty Ascaii and sorry . Next time i'll drop a post before we overbidding each other

did you get the nixdorf?... I dont really care about the model m, dont worry about that.

Honeywell 102RXI

is this something some asian people are interested in?

This looks like something I might be interested in. I know I haven't been very active on this forum, but for the lack of a better candidate you can consider me the resident expert on Cyrillic keyboards.

Anyway, the Cyrillic lettering used on this one is very ugly, it probably comes from a Win98-era CJK font like MS Mincho. Fonts like that were seen often on cheap Chinese fake wares, and have sort of come to be associated with them. A respectable manufacturer would be unlikely to use it on a keyboard. I wonder if it's a production model, or some custom printing. And, what switch technology does this board have?

mbodrov wrote:This looks like something I might be interested in. I know I haven't been very active on this forum, but for the lack of a better candidate you can consider me the resident expert on Cyrillic keyboards.

Anyway, the Cyrillic lettering used on this one is very ugly, it probably comes from a Win98-era CJK font like MS Mincho. Fonts like that were seen often on cheap Chinese fake wares, and have sort of come to be associated with them. A respectable manufacturer would be unlikely to use it on a keyboard. I wonder if it's a production model, or some custom printing. And, what switch technology does this board have?

I would appreciate an estimate on my set of cyrillic caps as well:

Like I said, I can only pass off as an expert in the absence of a truly knowledgeable person, so please accept this limited information. Well, these are nice keycaps, pleasant font, ALPS compatible as you of course know, so my guess would be Chicony 5xxx series. There is almost no awareness about the ALPS switches in Russian-speaking countries; Cherry MX are at least somewhat known and appreciated. You can sometimes (rarely) find these Chicony boards listed for 30 cents or given away for free under "Ancient computer junk". There are no keyboard collectors in Russia, and typists prefer Cherry boards. How much a Korean collector would pay for these, I honestly don't know, you'd have to ask the Koreans directly.

Not much. The ALPS cyrillics are well saturated in Korea since I posted a link to that one guy selling the Kranich(?) boards on ebay.de. Turned out he had 30 more of those stored away.

In Soviet Russia keyboards collect you.

Razer BlackWidow stock, mint, non-ultimate, a few smudges, no original packaging.

benis wrote:Razer BlackWidow stock, mint, non-ultimate, a few smudges, no original packaging.

why is that p in your name upside down?

Considering Frys had them on sale for 59$ new last week id wager anything from 30-50$ depending on condition.
And I consider mint ≠"a few smudges"

Lexmark Space Saving Model M, 1397970, 02-27-92, German ISO. Has only seen a few months of rather light usage. Suggestions?

I dunno, but I guess if it was mine, I would be disappointed to get less than 125 EUR for it. Maybe you'd get a lot more for it.

first time I see an ISO space saving :O

I bet he got it from skcheng, the Mad Dentist who used the same tools for his profession as for modding his IBM Space Saving keyboards. Great guy who got to the bottom of the principle you need to ask Unicomp the right questions.

So... it was converted to ISO?

No, he asked them if they had any New Old Stock, and they found some ISO versions of different languages. Some he passed on, some he converted to ANSI, and he repaired broken rivets (he mentioned quite a few had those).

I guess it's too late...

When I spoke to him last a couple of months ago he claimed there are lots of space saving keyboards out there, and that he harvested 8 in just 3 calls. The mistake people make is that they only use the Internet to find and buy one.

webwit wrote:I bet he got it from skcheng,[...]

Yep, truly a nice guy. What happened to him anyway? He has not been posting anything for a very long time.

Oh, and thanks for the estimate, webwit.

He got some other hobbies and a busy practice.

Chuck Cropper is retiring from Unicomp in a week or two.

I herd he is really Comptek2wk in his "online life" and can afford to retire after clearing the Unicomp warehouse of hidden IBM NIB Minis.


Retiring before the Unicomp Mini ships.

The nerve.

I wonder how he plans to spend his time in retirement. Some people just wither and post thousands of messages on Internet forums about toys of various nature.

The ISO versions of space saving keyboards were quite common. Skcheng got UK, French, German versions, but moreover, I remember while searching for IBM parts and product numbers, I frequently bumped into lists of international versions. So they made these and sold these worldwide, and then.. they got lost. Probably most of them trashed like old printers get trashed.

webwit wrote:The ISO versions of space saving keyboards were quite common. Skcheng got UK, French, German versions, but moreover, I remember while searching for IBM parts and product numbers, I frequently bumped into lists of international versions. So they made these and sold these worldwide, and then.. they got lost. Probably most of them trashed like old printers get trashed.

That's a sad death
But at the same time, the most awesome time you will have, if you hate it atleast. I hated my printers with a passion, and I still do!

I have a few people writing me about my finds, could use a heads up what to ask approx.

I got these keycaps from an old video editing console. Here you can see two of them compared with a standard Cherry PBT.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Sorry for the bad pic! The caps are:
- Cherry MX compatible;
- Spherical;
- Low profile;
- Black with white legends deeply engraved;
- Windowed with dark red windows;
- Extremely thick (much thicker than the regular cherry).
They sport mysteryous legends like "traj v" or "traj h" alongside the numbers.
I don't know if they're worth anything. If anyone is interested i could get the whole set. I think it includes in 30-40 caps. Don't expect regular alpha keys though...

They don't look standard size from the pic or is that an optical illusion. Just stack the bottoms together to check.

I've also found key tops vary little key to key. Most of the time people get thrown off by higher keys on a mechanical and start complaining the keys are too small.

They do look smaller in the pic, but they're actually standard size.
Tomorrow I should be able to post a pic of the full set.

Have a brand new iso azerty lasered ptb set in black/white from filco. how much is it worth?