XT keyboards (and missing decal)
Jules Richardson
jules.richardson99 at gmail.com
Sat Nov 15 13:31:31 CST 2014
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
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