deskthority

Can I continue using the keyboard as is?

The fluid is odorless. It is detected after the Soarer converter has been connected for a while. I wiped it off, but it's still unclear if there's any residue. Otherwise, the keyboard works perfectly.

Looks like some kind of dielectric grease to me. Somebody probably just trying to protect it from corrosion.

I acquired, later sold, a 1981 model F (XT) keyboard with green greasy stuff on the DIN5 connector. I just assumed it was put there by IBM.

A normal PC-XT Model F has 1u striking surfaces on all keys, even when they're 1.75 or 3u.

Only the keypad '+' key is like that on this board. The rest of the keys have tops the same as their bottoms. And I've never seen a beveled Enter key like that.

Is this an example of one of those "stick on cover" kits, or custom keycaps, or some kind of terminal keys on a "Personal Computer" badged board?

My F-XT has the black version of those. Stick on covers, with the original caps underneath. Mine has a plain IBM badge, no "Personal Computer". No model number unfortunately, but it speaks normal PC/XT. .

viewtopic.php?p=485652#p485652

A couple replies down I posted links to a few more examples and some history and details.

Thank you so much for sharing the link.