deskthority

It looks fantastic! It would look great on my soon-to-arrive Dell Model M. Problem is, you can only buy it in the US, and you have to buy ALL the keys on a Model M to get the alphanumeric keys and the single F6 key that are APL-related. And I don't have money for ALL the keys, but I could sell the vintage keys to save money for these maybe?

I can't stop thinking about how cool this would look.

.. uh oh! Today I went to the Unicomp Amazon page, and after looking at the reviews, I found out that it looks a little different:



It looks good, but I'm not sure if it would look as cool.

Do you know of any other ways I could pimp my Model M?

Colored blank modifier keys from unicomp,... then there are the buckling spring artisans which are expenive as all hell and in my opinion not worth it. You can also try and get your hands on a ruined YU layout model M (what I have), it has a lot of keycaps with side printing

Thanks! I doubt I will get artisans or Yugoslavian keys, but those colored modifiers look interesting. But I want it to stand out a bit more.

green-squid wrote: Thanks! I doubt I will get artisans or Yugoslavian keys, but those colored modifiers look interesting. But I want it to stand out a bit more.

Post some pics when you are done

green-squid wrote: ...

It looks good, but I'm not sure if it would look as cool.

Do you know of any other ways I could pimp my Model M?

Hey there. You can still get the orange APL set from Unicomp. Just start a support ticket and ask for them. Worked for me.

digital_matthew wrote:

green-squid wrote: ...

It looks good, but I'm not sure if it would look as cool.

Do you know of any other ways I could pimp my Model M?

Hey there. You can still get the orange APL set from Unicomp. Just start a support ticket and ask for them. Worked for me.

How much was it

I can't lie, the colourway of IBM is just too nice to be changed. All my IBM keyboards will remain in that Beige colourway, I love it too. fucking. much. So I'd say, try to get some cool keycaps from Terminals or just cool layouts in general, they make for great looking keycaps and don't change the aesthetic too much.

I mean ... how good does that look ?

Only $30 for the set, I think. I have a set. The alphas are really good, but the mods were a bit lacking so I used my original IBM caps for that. Well worth the price!

Myoth wrote: I can't lie, the colourway of IBM is just too nice to be changed. All my IBM keyboards will remain in that Beige colourway, I love it too. fucking. much. So I'd say, try to get some cool keycaps from Terminals or just cool layouts in general, they make for great looking keycaps and don't change the aesthetic too much.

I mean ... how good does that look ?

Yea I'm hesitant about changing anything on mine as well, just love its beige color

scottc wrote: Only $30 for the set, I think. I have a set. The alphas are really good, but the mods were a bit lacking so I used my original IBM caps for that. Well worth the price!

But I would only need the alphas and that F6 key. Is that possible?

green-squid wrote:

scottc wrote: Only $30 for the set, I think. I have a set. The alphas are really good, but the mods were a bit lacking so I used my original IBM caps for that. Well worth the price!

But I would only need the alphas and that F6 key. Is that possible?

Probably, try writing to them

Dingster wrote:

green-squid wrote:

scottc wrote: Only $30 for the set, I think. I have a set. The alphas are really good, but the mods were a bit lacking so I used my original IBM caps for that. Well worth the price!

But I would only need the alphas and that F6 key. Is that possible?

Probably, try writing to them

I will see. I hope that it would cost less than $30 that way (since you get a full set for $30)

green-squid wrote: Do you know of any other ways I could pimp my Model M?

buy a model f

mike52787 wrote:

green-squid wrote: Do you know of any other ways I could pimp my Model M?

buy a model f

Look at Mr. Moneybags over there!

Dingster wrote:

digital_matthew wrote:

green-squid wrote: ...

It looks good, but I'm not sure if it would look as cool.

Do you know of any other ways I could pimp my Model M?

Hey there. You can still get the orange APL set from Unicomp. Just start a support ticket and ask for them. Worked for me.

How much was it

It was actually the same price. They printed it for me by request, so this is not an original IBM set. JP!'s criticisms are correct; these are a bit washed out compared to the original IBM Model M APL set, and nowhere near as good as the ones for the Model F. Still, the fact that you can find them with out being rich, lucky, or both means it's worth it. I've posted a pic. The potatoness doesn't quite do them justice. I agree with Myoth about IBM's colorways. They were the best keyboard company ever to exist as far as I'm concerned.

green-squid wrote:

scottc wrote: Only $30 for the set, I think. I have a set. The alphas are really good, but the mods were a bit lacking so I used my original IBM caps for that. Well worth the price!

But I would only need the alphas and that F6 key. Is that possible?

Just buy the entire set. They probably won't let you buy a random subset of the keys and give you a discount for it.

That looks pretty damn cool, I'd just leave the stock modifiers

green-squid wrote:

mike52787 wrote:

green-squid wrote: Do you know of any other ways I could pimp my Model M?

buy a model f

Look at Mr. Moneybags over there!

most things worth having cost money

scottc wrote:

green-squid wrote:

scottc wrote: Only $30 for the set, I think. I have a set. The alphas are really good, but the mods were a bit lacking so I used my original IBM caps for that. Well worth the price!

But I would only need the alphas and that F6 key. Is that possible?

Just buy the entire set. They probably won't let you buy a random subset of the keys and give you a discount for it.

Okay. But is there demand out there for replacement full set of IBM keys(one piece design)?

green-squid wrote: Okay. But is there demand out there for replacement full set of IBM keys(one piece design)?

Yes actually, you can probably get around 20-25 eur for a nice full set (just a guess, I have never sold bs caps apart from the keyboard)

Dingster wrote: That looks pretty damn cool, I'd just leave the stock modifiers

Lol yeah this is pretty zany by Model M standards. I just wanted to push the aesthetic to the limit.

[quote="digital_matthew" post_id=404568]
That's insaaaaaaaaaaaanes!

I actually have a plan that may or may not work out - get Unicomp to print an APL keyset (in some cool color like Yellow or green) and a matching color enter key and sell the stock keys on the Model M to recoup costs - is this a good plan?

green-squid wrote:

digital_matthew wrote: That's insaaaaaaaaaaaanes!

I actually have a plan that may or may not work out - get Unicomp to print an APL keyset (in some cool color like Yellow or green) and a matching color enter key and sell the stock keys on the Model M to recoup costs - is this a good plan?

I'm not sure they can customize it like that. The dark blue set that they currently carry is the newer APL set, which replaces the older, orange version. It's not merely a question of color. The sub-legends are different shapes which are on different keys too.

green-squid wrote:

digital_matthew wrote: That's insaaaaaaaaaaaanes!

I actually have a plan that may or may not work out - get Unicomp to print an APL keyset (in some cool color like Yellow or green) and a matching color enter key and sell the stock keys on the Model M to recoup costs - is this a good plan?

I don't think a lot of people are looking to buy a plain regular ANSI set of keycaps ... they're not really interesting and they're easy to get a hold of and even then, most people will more likely save up for an M...


it would be like selling a cheap set of keycaps from a BlackWidow or something like that, you see ?

Myoth wrote:

green-squid wrote:

digital_matthew wrote: That's insaaaaaaaaaaaanes!

I actually have a plan that may or may not work out - get Unicomp to print an APL keyset (in some cool color like Yellow or green) and a matching color enter key and sell the stock keys on the Model M to recoup costs - is this a good plan?

I don't think a lot of people are looking to buy a plain regular ANSI set of keycaps ... they're not really interesting and they're easy to get a hold of and even then, most people will more likely save up for an M...


it would be like selling a cheap set of keycaps from a BlackWidow or something like that, you see ?

But how will I recoup costs then?

You might not recoup costs and that's fine. If trading up regular ANSI caps for APL caps could be done for basically free, then practically everyone would be doing it.

Unfortunately, things in this hobby do cost money and you will probably be down some cash for it.

green-squid wrote: But how will I recoup costs then?

I don't think you'll be able to recoup the cost of those keycaps, honestly.

I personally have a really hard time making profit or even recouping from this hobby, I'm not trying to but it still hurts when I see others being able to afford easily some things when I'm so cautious about the money I spend, I'm not jealous, I'm just a little disappointed in myself.

Gotta bite the bullet you know

Myoth wrote:

green-squid wrote: But how will I recoup costs then?

I don't think you'll be able to recoup the cost of those keycaps, honestly.

I personally have a really hard time making profit or even recouping from this hobby, I'm not trying to but it still hurts when I see others being able to afford easily some things when I'm so cautious about the money I spend, I'm not jealous, I'm just a little disappointed in myself.

Gotta bite the bullet you know

You shouldn't feel bad. You won't be one of those keyboard impulse buyers who buys everything and wastes money!

Now I'm REALLY not sure if I should pull the trigger (given that with shipping, it may cost MORE than the M itself ). I think I won't. But I will do something with the LEDs that will be pretty cool!

Now I wish I didn't discover this keyset..

green-squid wrote: Now I wish I didn't discover this keyset..

Don't feel bad, I was in the same (if not worst) situation than you when I started collecting keyboards a year ago. You can separately sell your normal keycaps for replacement. Also sure you can do something to get some money, man I bought a beamer painting houses and kneading donuts, and there is still more money to expend in keyboards. The most important source here is patience, if you can't buy your keycap set right now, that doesn't mean that you would never have it.
Also look in pages from countries that were part of the NATO during the cold war (you will hardly found a model M in Bulgaria for example). Every country that had model M's has his own weird keycaps, so there is a lot of cool things to discover!