XT keyboards (and missing decal)

[Jules Richardson]

On 11/15/2014 01:05 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
> On 11/15/2014 07:53 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:
>
>> Also, I'm missing the silver keyboard decal - I believe these just said
>> "IBM personal computer" like they did for the 5150, even though the 5160
>> case decal mentions XT. Does anyone have one they could pull from an
>> otherwise-junk keyboard that they might be willing to part with?
>
> It's quite possible that the keyboard wasn't IBM-produced either.  There
> were plenty of Taiwanese clones with recesses of precisely the dimensions
> to fit the IBM logo.  Is there no label on the back of the keyboard that
> gives the IBM part number and manufacture date?

Interesting - I know there were crappy clones around which weren't as 
heavy-duty, but I don't recall seeing any with the buckling-spring 
mechanism (which doesn't mean to say that they didn't exist, of course!)

Anyway no, there are no external markings. However, I just opened the case 
and the guts are labeled as IBM. It's got a "shop date" of 5025, whatever 
that translates to.

The main keyboard IC is marked:

   8493518
   LC 862092
   A 8421 C K
   CP5092

The "8421" is quite possibly a date code; the 14-pin IC next to the 
controller IC has a date code of 8427. That's a couple of years older than 
the rest of the machine - but having said that, there are ICs that old in 
the main system too, mixed in with ones from '85 and '86, so it's perhaps 
not a definitive answer.

Interestingly (well, perhaps to us geeks, anyway) the internal label claims 
that it's a Model F - which goes against what Wikipedia claims (i.e. that 
the Model F was the 84-key AT keyboard, replacing the 83-key XT unit)

cheers

Jules