Author Topic: Real Speaker In IBM Model M (Read 10038 times)

Dr.Pepper · « **on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 19:13:26 »

Okay, so I just opened up my old '91 model M and I found out that it really did have a real speaker in it ( Wikipedia told me It had one about a month ago but didn't quite believe it, and didn't care to look )

Any thoughts on making this thing work with my computer? A couple of beeps and tones would be cool, but if I could get this thing to play some music that would be sweet. :music:

I'll post some pictures Monday, but the cable inside of the keyboard is detachable, and I really want to get this thing make some sound again!

Part Number: 1394540
I.D. Number: 5011381
Production Date: 01-10-91

False_Dmitry_II · « **Reply #1 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 19:39:38 »

Yeah, I was wondering what they were even for. Or if they could be used now. I'll be watching this one with great interest.

ch_123 · « **Reply #2 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 20:26:00 »

The '4540 is an RS/6000 Unix workstation keyboard. The beep speakers were a common feature on terminals, and I guess they figured that when people were running Unix on their local machine, they should have keyboards with terminal features (such as the beep speaker). I don't think there's any way to make use of it - it's probably hooked up to one of the spare pins on the PS/2 connector, and thus not connected on a standard PC motherboard.

IIRC, the right Control is marked "Ctrl/Act" on those things.

Dr.Pepper · « **Reply #3 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 20:40:15 »

Quote from: ch_123;311320

IIRC, the left Control is marked "Ctrl/Act" on those things.

Yep, and it's got a couple of scratches in that key, and I was wondering why the caps lock was so shiny, compared to the control key.

All of the keys are shiny, but here's a list from the shiniest to the least shiny:

Caps Lock
~ Key
Tab
Backspace
Enter
|\
[ ]
Scroll lock

Whoever had this thing last didn't use the escape key much as that looks like the least used key on the keyboard, It's even less shiny than the right alt key, which is less shiny than some keys my 1 1/4 month old Das Keyboard

Sorry about not having any pictures right now, but I left my camera at my grandma's, and my cell phone sucks for taking pictures.

theferenc · « **Reply #4 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 21:24:13 »

Looks like its previous owner was an emacs and UNIX person, for sure.

Those are also the shiniest keys on my keyboards (the ones that have shiny keys, anyway).

Caps lock = control
~ is a shortcut for home dir
tab is used for command line completion
backspace and enter are obvious
\| is used for piping commands and escaping special sequences
[] are also used for shell commands in the bourne shell (sh/bash)

I have no idea why scroll lock would be shiny.

False_Dmitry_II · « **Reply #5 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 21:30:57 »

So the speaker was/is the same as a mobo speaker then?

Dr.Pepper · « **Reply #6 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 21:47:02 »

Scroll lock is used to pause the screen output on the Linux console, but even I rarely use it myself. It looks like I will need to open up the case and drill a hole, hook up the speaker to a cable like this: http://www.amazon.com/Female-Stereo-Audio-Extension-Cable/dp/B0029KFNSS
And buy a cable like this: http://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Stereo-Male-Cable-ft/dp/B0002ZPJZO
As I can't live without removable cables

False_Dmitry_II · « **Reply #7 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 21:54:40 »

Definitely let us know how it goes.

theferenc · « **Reply #8 on:** Sun, 13 March 2011, 23:21:31 »

No, I get what it was used for. It just seems like an odd key to get that shiny, you know?

ch_123 · « **Reply #9 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 05:11:44 »

Quote from: theferenc;311338

I have no idea why scroll lock would be shiny.

Many Unix implementations (including Linux) use scroll lock to halt the flow of text on the console.

theferenc · « **Reply #10 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 09:45:39 »

Yes, as I said, I know that. But that doesn't seem like a key that would be used so extensively as to become shiny. It takes a LOT of use to shine an IBM, I've noticed.

sadbox · « **Reply #11 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 12:30:38 »

Quote from: theferenc;311374

No, I get what it was used for. It just seems like an odd key to get that shiny, you know?

I use it quite a bit when I'm some of the old HPUX boxes at work. I use it alot as kindof a pause key when I've gotta use the restroom or something.

Or maybe the person didn't know that less is more?

EDIT: It also may be the key to switch to other boxes attached to a KVM.

Dr.Pepper · « **Reply #12 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 12:55:23 »

I'm at school right now, and I'm not able to to work with it, I should be able to get it to work in the next few days though, I still want to play around with removing the speaker from the whole case first, as it's really glued in. Not to mention that I really don't want to wreck a vintage keyboard. :\

False_Dmitry_II · « **Reply #13 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 15:18:47 »

Wow, that straight up just looks like a mobo speaker. Though the actual pin plug thing may be spaced far enough to just plug into that spot on current motherboards.

Dr.Pepper · « **Reply #14 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 15:26:39 »

Well I got the speaker out, and now it's just sitting on my desk waiting for me to buy a couple of cables. As after much research I have found out that it is practically impossible to get the speaker to work through the PS/2 port, but whatever I'll get it to work somehow. More than likely I'll be hooking it up to the computers real audio port, but first, I need to find out if it even works still. :\

Here it is on my desk:

The speaker just simply unplugged:

The speaker itself, it wasn't glued in there, but it was suck and took a little coaxing with a screwdriver to get it out :\

Sorry for the crappy image quality, my camera is fine, but my internet is real slow right now, and uploading the pictures took about 3-4 minutes each, even after crappy jpeg compression

BucklingSpring · « **Reply #15 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 16:19:19 »

Here's a good soundtrack to play on that speaker.

theferenc · « **Reply #16 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 16:27:59 »

That was oddly awesome.

BucklingSpring · « **Reply #17 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 16:47:33 »

Quote from: theferenc;311698

That was oddly awesome.

I know... It's weird. I guess it depends how old/young we are.
Not sure the kiddos who learned how to spell/read MP3 at school will enjoy as much as we do.

False_Dmitry_II · « **Reply #18 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 17:17:21 »

I always end up feeling slightly between those two sets of people.

Though as far as computers go, I've been using them since I was 3 so 1990~ish.

BucklingSpring · « **Reply #19 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 17:58:24 »

Quote from: False_Dmitry_II;311734

I always end up feeling slightly between those two sets of people.

Though as far as computers go, I've been using them since I was 3 so 1990~ish.

LoL, Can you remember the lyrics of the PacMan song?

Ekaros · « **Reply #20 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 18:01:35 »

Got one of those in my Model M(102-terminal model) don't know, haven't yet gotten the 5.5mm tool I need

Dr.Pepper · « **Reply #21 on:** Mon, 14 March 2011, 18:04:25 »

Yep, I just need to get to radio shack. And then I'll have some sound coming out of my keyboard! ( Wont happen very soon though, Wednesday, or Thursday :\

False_Dmitry_II · « **Reply #22 on:** Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:02:36 »

Any updates?

Dr.Pepper · « **Reply #23 on:** Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:04:48 »

No, sorry I haven't gotten to radio shack yet.

False_Dmitry_II · « **Reply #24 on:** Mon, 25 April 2011, 12:10:09 »

Now I have one that has a speaker, instead of just suspecting the one in shipping might have one. So did you do it?

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Author Topic: Real Speaker In IBM Model M (Read 10038 times)