deskthority

Here's a close up look at the great early production IBM Model F 122 single-piece key texture.

Full-res photos here from my 36 MP camera, available to download full-size too: http://imgur.com/a/jdRSN

ANSI modified thanks to the great guide posted by fohat.digs.

The F122 is part number 6110344. This keyboard is from June 1984, and these single piece keys have some of the best texture and dye sub quality I've seen. Probably long before the stencils started to wear out and before "multicolor" was used instead of the legends being a deep black color.

On some photos I placed two later-year Model M key caps directly on top of some of the home row keys for a more direct comparison of the key texture and quality.

The non-original keys (including the F and J keys with "nubs") are from a regular Model M. The num pad number keys are two piece and from a non-6110344 F122. One barrel was removed from the cursor area to better emulate the inverted T cursor keys as they are on the Model M.

The photos also show the paint texture of the top plastic piece. They are hard to tell from F122s with non-painted tops unless you see them close up, but look nice in person.

Wow, I never knew the 122 key model F's had a painted body. Mine has the plastic body and it seems fine to me but I recently ordered a model m 122 key and its case will work with my model F so I can paint one case and have another case stock/untouched. Mind uploading an audio clip on this one? I want to compare it to sound samples that Joc made.

they do have nice caps the 122s. Not quite up there with XT caps but they are very nice .

How come it has model M mods and model M F keys ?

andrewjoy wrote: they do have nice caps the 122s. Not quite up there with XT caps but they are very nice .

How come it has model M mods and model M F keys ?

It appears this person has ANSI modded their model F which means you have to open it up and change the hammers in order to change the layout.

In doing that, you need some model M keys as there are no model F's with ANSI style enter/shift keys.
He probably wanted a model M Esc key too.

Redmaus wrote:
Wow, I never knew the 122 key model F's had a painted body. Mine has the plastic body

"Painted body" may not be entirely correct. The Model M case seems to be made of a tougher, more flexible plastic material that is all the same, with texture molded into the outside surface.

The Model F case (and here I am talking about the XT, AT, and 122-key terminal boards) has a "core" of a harder and more brittle plastic, with a "skin"-like layer on the outside. If any of that "skin" layer peels off, you find a smooth core with a slightly lighter color.

I consider the M material to be more desirable and superior to the F plastic.

fohat wrote:

Redmaus wrote:
Wow, I never knew the 122 key model F's had a painted body. Mine has the plastic body

"Painted body" may not be entirely correct. The Model M case seems to be made of a tougher, more flexible plastic material that is all the same, with texture molded into the outside surface.

The Model F case (and here I am talking about the XT, AT, and 122-key terminal boards) has a "core" of a harder and more brittle plastic, with a "skin"-like layer on the outside. If any of that "skin" layer peels off, you find a smooth core with a slightly lighter color.

I consider the M material to be more desirable and superior to the F plastic.

Yup, I recently bought a lot of two model M 122 keyboards and one of them had a body that was compatible with the model F.

What's the difference between those two M122 bodies? Is it anything more subtle than the length of the top "deck"?



Surely too short!

I have never tried it with anything but a first-generation M-122 case, but wcass has:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=45 ... #msg940419

It will probably work with enough Dremeling.

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=62 ... msg1469919