deskthority

Is this really a Model F keyboard? I took this from an IBM 6746 typewriter. The inspection label said Model F, but it has rivets on its back, also a thin rubbery mat between the metal plate and the plastic top. Some pics of the board: Also this might not belong to this thread, but i have some spring that moves around freely inside the chamber. Is there a way to set them back without having to take apart anything? A link to a thread discussing this is ok.

I didn't know IBM had a keyboard plant in Mexico — I thought that would be Maxi Switch.

It's like they grabbed the wrong label, as the Model F part is pre-printed.

I'm pretty sure this is a Model F but I definitly need someone to identify what this keyboard is. And if it's somewhat rare ?
EDIT : I got all of my responses from this thread photos-f62/ibm-wheelwriter-system-40-ke ... 15276.html

Daniel Beardsmore wrote: I didn't know IBM had a keyboard plant in Mexico — I thought that would be Maxi Switch.

It's like they grabbed the wrong label, as the Model F part is pre-printed.

They had one in Guadalajara - Maxi Switch's plant from what I understood at least is in Hermosillo (headquartered in Tucson, Arizona).

Tuntematon wrote:

Keybug wrote: Turns out it's a Chicony 5162. I guess no one can say for certain what switches it has, just from the label...

I would say green Alps, going by the letter designation at the end of the serial number.

Very impressive! Green SKCL it is. It's on its way to me for around 30€ shipped. Hope it works 100%.

Keybug wrote:

Tuntematon wrote:

Keybug wrote: Turns out it's a Chicony 5162. I guess no one can say for certain what switches it has, just from the label...

I would say green Alps, going by the letter designation at the end of the serial number.

Very impressive! Green SKCL it is. It's on its way to me for around 30€ shipped. Hope it works 100%.

Interesting, we'll have to update the Chicony 5162 wiki page then.

seebart wrote: Interesting, we'll have to update the Chicony 5162 wiki page then.

Yeah, because the 5162 didn't come with anywhere near enough different types of switches .

Chyros wrote:

seebart wrote: Interesting, we'll have to update the Chicony 5162 wiki page then.

Yeah, because the 5162 didn't come with anywhere near enough different types of switches .

Keybug wrote:

Tuntematon wrote:

Keybug wrote: Turns out it's a Chicony 5162. I guess no one can say for certain what switches it has, just from the label...

I would say green Alps, going by the letter designation at the end of the serial number.

Very impressive! Green SKCL it is. It's on its way to me for around 30€ shipped. Hope it works 100%.

I'm not sure about that. The one I have with Alps SKCL Green is in an ANSI layout and its a three digit serial number. This one isn't exactly close enough to be so certain, in my opinion.





Another thing to note is the "Scr Lock-AT/ Power-XT" on the label, which is something both this and an SKCL Green NTC 6151 I have share. It appears that the Chicony in that picture does as well.

I guess we shall see.

Chicony used a whole bunch of different serial number formats. All the 5161/2 and 5160 examples I have recorded so far with the switch type letter codes at the end have held true to their codes. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find a rule breaker though.

Something to note is that the controller of this board says "NTC 6151." Strange, right? I wonder how many of these companies were actually just a single company running under different names or something.

Does anybody know anything about this board? I picked it up the other week and can't find a thing about it. It has a 4P4C plug if that helps.

E3E wrote: Something to note is that the controller of this board says "NTC 6151." Strange, right? I wonder how many of these companies were actually just a single company running under different names or something.

Did I miss all the pictures of it somewhere?

From what I gather, when Nan Tan were bought by Clevo, the keyboard division went to Unikey, a Chicony subsidiary (based on the KB-625x series becoming a Unikey/Chicony model). I'm not aware of any reason for Nan Tan/Chicony involvement as far back as what you appear to be suggesting.

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:

E3E wrote: Something to note is that the controller of this board says "NTC 6151." Strange, right? I wonder how many of these companies were actually just a single company running under different names or something.

Did I miss all the pictures of it somewhere?

From what I gather, when Nan Tan were bought by Clevo, the keyboard division went to Unikey, a Chicony subsidiary (based on the KB-625x series becoming a Unikey/Chicony model). I'm not aware of any reason for Nan Tan/Chicony involvement as far back as what you appear to be suggesting.

Yes, Mr. Beardsmore. Let me open up my keyboard for you to take a picture.





I also have an NTC 6151 with SKCL Greens, which is the only example of such I've ever seen. It shares a similar indicator sticker as this Chicony (with the mention of XT Power, which I have not seen much of) and the same cap profile (though this has been common in the past, the profile; this profile is most common on Monterey keyboards).

Daniel Beardsmore wrote: I didn't know IBM had a keyboard plant in Mexico — I thought that would be Maxi Switch.

It's like they grabbed the wrong label, as the Model F part is pre-printed.

So, just a mislabeled Model M? That sucks.

Riceball wrote: Does anybody know anything about this board? I picked it up the other week and can't find a thing about it. It has a 4P4C plug if that helps.

just a rebranded wyse, nothing particularly special.

mike52787 wrote:

Riceball wrote: Does anybody know anything about this board? I picked it up the other week and can't find a thing about it. It has a 4P4C plug if that helps.

just a rebranded wyse, nothing particularly special.

It has some interesting none standard caps tho, vey shiny however

OK, so the Nan Tan Chicony is an early model. (Not early as in cherry-jade's 1984 Dah Yang, but early for these Far East models in general.) The PCB holes are intriguing. The top two holes are for Alps, although they seem too vertically aligned. The other two holes — they're not for Cherry, so I wonder what those fit.

I'm not aware that much is known about these Far East keyboards going back to the early to mid 80s — they seem to be typically from around 1987 onwards. That 1984 Dah Yang was a real surprise. The question it raises is: when did these companies start making keyboards?

Definitely green SKCL, got this photo from the seller.

E3E wrote: I'm not sure about that. The one I have with Alps SKCL Green is in an ANSI layout and its a three digit serial number. This one isn't exactly close enough to be so certain, in my opinion.

Another thing to note is the "Scr Lock-AT/ Power-XT" on the label, which is something both this and an SKCL Green NTC 6151 I have share. It appears that the Chicony in that picture does as well.

I guess we shall see.

Well there we go, hehe. Weird that they went from ANSI to THAT though.

Be aware that the KRO is atrocious on these too, by the way.

E3E wrote: Well there we go, hehe. Weird that they went from ANSI to THAT though.

Be aware that the KRO is atrocious on these too, by the way.

The same thing happened with Monterey. The K9AX was ANSI and the following models used a big-ass enter (while keeping the full-size backspace).

andrewjoy wrote: It has some interesting none standard caps tho, vey shiny however

Indeed. I wonder about that "FLD REL" key next to "TAB": it ought to have two switches under it.
BTW, Wyse ASCII in the Wiki to compare with.

Findecanor wrote:

andrewjoy wrote: It has some interesting none standard caps tho, vey shiny however

Indeed. I wonder about that "FLD REL" key next to "TAB": it ought to have two switches under it.
BTW, Wyse ASCII in the Wiki to compare with.

Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction.

You were right about FLD REL having two switches, so I should be able to use Soarer's Wyse converter and set this up with a more standard layout, right?

As for they caps, it was't really visible in the first picture, but they do have side legends too.

Anyone know who made this vending machine keypad?

The switches are [wiki]Sasse series 25[/wiki].

Daniel Beardsmore wrote: The switches are [wiki]Sasse series 25[/wiki].

Very good, more rep for you Daniel!

Worthless_Owl wrote: Is this really a Model F keyboard? I took this from an IBM 6746 typewriter. The inspection label said Model F, but it has rivets on its back, also a thin rubbery mat between the metal plate and the plastic top. Some pics of the board:

Spoiler:

https://ibb.co/gPNKyR
https://ibb.co/jKfBCm
https://ibb.co/fXzJQ6
https://ibb.co/dRuUXm
https://ibb.co/b1hzXm
https://ibb.co/bENuyR

Also this might not belong to this thread, but i have some spring that moves around freely inside the chamber. Is there a way to set them back without having to take apart anything? A link to a thread discussing this is ok.

Pretty sure it's an M. It wouldn't make any sense to have a capsense PCB connect to the controller using ribbon FPC. Also, the visible 'foot' in your photo looks like it's coloured white/clear - an F foot is always black.

If you have a loose spring in there you're looking at having to split the plates - sorry

On the bright side:
a) You'll end up with a bolt-modded keyboard which some claim is a better sound.
b) You'll know for absolute certain since you'll see the complete innards.

Soz

There is no way this is not dome/membrane/foil, right (BTC?)? It looks very sexy but I assume isn't worth getting except for archeo-historical reasons?

"worth getting" is relatively only to your finances and available space. Everything is worth getting in itself, but paying for and storing more clutter may not be practical :)

The number of available wives is much more pertinent than the amount of available space...