Black 2016 Affirmative (Unicomp) M-122, $49.99 OBO shipped

[ander]

This was just cheap enough, and looked in nice enough shape, that I thought it might interest someone:

Affirmative Unicomp 1225T 5250 Model M 122-Key PS2 Buckling Spring Keyboard











Famous buckling springs, ready to use with a modern PC with a PS/2 connector.

From the photos, it looks very clean, maybe unused.

[laxfan91]

Man it is hard to not pull the trigger on this just for the ability to use the F13-24 options on my IBM mainframe access at work (there are 2 methods to access those functions so no harm no foul). That said I have 3 model Ms and a Model F in a production environment already. I can't justify any more and my desk is big enough for a M, but not a M 122 grrr. Someone buy this and take care of it so I don't.

Curse you mechanical keyboard hobby! My money has disappeared out of my pocketbook like falling water and my fingers have never been happier.

[ander]

Man it is hard to not pull the trigger on this just for the ability to use the F13-24 options on my IBM mainframe access at work (there are 2 methods to access those functions so no harm no foul). That said I have 3 model Ms and a Model F in a production environment already. I can't justify any more and my desk is big enough for a M, but not a M 122 grrr...

But dude, anyone's desk is big enough for an M-122. If you don't think yours is, it just means there's some less-important stuff cluttering it up that you can get rid of to make more space.

I don't know you personally, but just this brief description of your computing world has convinced me that you deserve the full mad-scientist keeb format—if for no other reason than the impressed and quite possibly jealous looks you'll elicit from your co-geeks.

Someone buy this and take care of it so I don't... Curse you mechanical keyboard hobby! My money has disappeared out of my pocketbook like falling water and my fingers have never been happier.

LOL—familiar sentiments to us all.

[laxfan91]

Peer pressure won. I guess my fellow co-workers are counting the days until my mainframe access gets questioned (I use it everyday) because no one has used the F13-24 options in decades. This should be fun.

[ander]

 

Be sure to post a photo of your newly organized, real-keyboard-accommodating desk when you can.

[laxfan91]

So this thing arrived but the mappings are off in Windows. The standard keys come through okay over PS/2 but the special keys like F13-24 don't. In fact F23 is missing!...and F17 inputs F13??? Very Strange... I can't put this on my work desk until the keys get picked up where they are supposed to be (I wouldn't care if any other special keys didn't work as long as all PF1-24 keys worked this is what my mainframe supports at work).

The keys feel nice as it's basically a model m, so there's that. It's also a monolith of tech and automatically wins versus any other board at work (the only other people using something other than a sad chiclet keeb are a few others who use Gateway AnyKey keebs).

[ErgoMacros]

This looks like the best GeekHack discussion on the -122 keyboards, to me:
   Topic: 122-key Unicomp, all scancodes?
   https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=10985.msg208641

And this, all about Affirmative keyboards and scan codes:
   http://www.seasip.info/Misc/1227T.html

Maybe also useful:
  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47999.0

I used the Google machine with: getting f13 to f24 to work site:geekhack.org
A few more there too.

[ander]

The keys feel nice as it's basically a model m, so there's that. It's also a monolith of tech and automatically wins versus any other board at work...

LOL—exactly!! And I have to say, in a work environment, I'd rather have a more modern-looking black version than one of the original beige ones... Maybe you feel the same way.

This looks like the best GeekHack discussion on the -122 keyboards, to me:
   Topic: 122-key Unicomp, all scancodes?
   https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=10985.msg208641

And this, all about Affirmative keyboards and scan codes:
   http://www.seasip.info/Misc/1227T.html

Maybe also useful:
  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=47999.0 ...

Very helpful—thanks for including all that.

[ander]

BTW, as I write this, 4 of the original lot of 6 are still available.

[laxfan91]

Those links above unfortunately do not entirely pertain to my specific model from Affirmative (I have the 1225T, whereas the model with the detailed scan code sets was a 1227T I believe).

I contacted Affirmative the OEM directly who had their own drivers for these specific Unicomp boards and they gave me the drivers for free. I installed and lo and behold all the keys do something now. The windows 7 64 bit files work in Windows 10 64 too so that's a plus. For those who want a native f13-24 it merely emulates it like f13 is Shift+f1 when pressing the real f13 on the board.

The OEM had a tough time sending me these drivers (Gmail doesn't like zip files so I was given temp access to a dropbox to receive the files).

Is there anywhere I can put these either on Geekhack or Deskthority for this board for anyone who gets this version of Unicomp's PC122 Keyboard? I'd like to make sure anyone in the community gets the pleasure of using these delicious extra keys for various things (I'm gonna try to assign some macros and give this a whirl with my access to an actual mainframe soon). I'm also never sure how long some of these terminal emulator companies will be around themselves.

BTW, the Affirmative OEM guys were very friendly and it turns out I was only the 2nd person to ask about Windows 10 compatibility. I'm not so sure what that says about our IT departments sometimes...then again mainframes up time is measured in decades.

I think they seemed intrigued that there are people like us that like these boards and want to keep them going on modern PCs.

[ErgoMacros]

Glad you found a workable solution... thanks for sharing it!

[ander]

Those links above unfortunately do not entirely pertain to my specific model from Affirmative (I have the 1225T, whereas the model with the detailed scan code sets was a 1227T I believe)... I contacted Affirmative the OEM directly who had their own drivers for these specific Unicomp boards and they gave me the drivers for free. I installed and lo and behold all the keys do something now.

Awesome! I'm glad your story has a happy ending.

I do have some these mega-keebs myself. (One example each of IBM, Lexmark, Unicomp, Affirmative... Resistance is futile.) However, I've never tried to exploit their extra features, as you are. Does the same driver work with them all, or is Affirmative's different for some reason? I suspect it'd work "across the board" (pun intended; sorry about that).

It's also fun to realize that these very boards, ordered through Affirmative's site, are $199 (plus shipping, I imagine). You didn't say how much you needed to tidy yours up, if at all—but 75% off, that's not bad.  ;?)

[laxfan91]

I got it to my desk at work and found out that my mainframe is programmed to not allow any of the special keys anymore

Hopefully the pictures will load and you can see that it's a bit too large for my desk. It is so massive compared to my Ultra Classic. Still I always wanted a 122 key for my collection.

[ander]

Sorry to hear the extra keys won't work as-is. They didn't have to disable those codes, did they, just because it was unlikely someone would go to the trouble to get an actual terminal board? Sheesh.

Will your admin let you install a macro app like WinKey? Then you could program your extra keys to do whatever you wanted, including simulating the combinations of standard keys I assume you're expected to use instead—and you could have the last laugh. 

As far as it being "too big"—does it actually hang over the front of your desk? Even if it does, you could cut a piece of 1/2" plywood to the right size, paint it black, and attach it to your desk as a base. The 122 looks so tough (old slang for "cool"), I'd go to extra lengths to try to keep it there... But that's me.

[rowdy]

Translates to AU$69.09 for me, with shipping at a mere AU$136.62 )

[ander]

Translates to AU$69.09 for me, with shipping at a mere AU$136.62 :))

There are, however, distinct advantages to living down there. For example, you hardly order any keebs because it's so wacky expensive—so your wife has to find other reasons to divorce you, which is harder.