deskthority

This weekend at the e-waste recycle center I found this Honeywell Model M Keyboard.

While doing my usual cleaning I found a few things about it that are a little bit different than a normal Model M.

- Has a Honeywell Badge on the top left where the IBM logo normally is.
- All keycap stems where white in color instead of being a mix of white and grey.
- There is a sticker on the back that says "Dell Field Service" Im thinking this might mean that this keyboard was used for military use? More info needed here.

Other than those little differences the keyboard is basically your standard Model M. Pretty cool little find I think. I continue to be impressed with the amount of variations of the Model M there are and its a joy to find a new one!

P.S. sorry I didnt include a photo of the keyboard with its keycaps on. I was in the process of cleaning them. They are exactly the same keyset and layout as a standard Model M.

Larger Photos can be seen here: https://imgur.com/a/zFQGTiO

Oh yea, I forgot to mention this other sticker that reads "underwriters laboratories"

https://imgur.com/LdfyVn9

What a cool find ^_^

Is it possible that this Honeywell branding was a part of some sort of Dell subcontract that was covered by the contract with LexMark? I just had a quick look at at Dell-branded Model M on eBay (see https://www.ebay.com/itm/192682063972?ul_noapp=true), and its own part number is 1369050, a rather distinct number from this Honeywell's 1397651 number.

Neat find. Your 1397651 looks similar to this

https://clickykeyboards.com/product/199 ... -07-19-91/
Back in 1991, Dell was a much smaller company than the ubiquitous company that it is known as today.

I think it was not until 1996 or 1997 that Dell started their e-commerce store that was direct to consumer.

The "Dell field service" sticker probably means that a service technician from Dell installed it as an original part or a replacement spare part to an existing system already in use in the field.

That Honeywell badge is kinda neat. I do not see a military connection with this. I'm with Clicky on this one.

Nice find. Although, as pointed out elsewhere, "field service/technicians/engineers" is a common term in the industry to refer to an engineer who is sent to a customer site to fix a problem.

One other weird thing about these Honeywell Ms is that Honeywell were making their own rubber dome keyboards at the time. These probably came as part of a system bought from another manufacturer - and bought in sufficiently large numbers that Honeywell got their own branding installed on the machines.