[SOLD] Odd IBM PC / XT with Model M keyboard (?) $91 / Free Shipping

[ekeppel]

I noticed this yesterday, and since it's still up for sale I figured I'd post...

Does anyone have any idea about this one?  https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-PC-XT-computer-dual-5-25-floppies-hard-drives-and-keyboard-for-parts/222709416872

Neither the PC itself nor the keyboard have the standard IBM badges, and there are engraved numbers on the rear rather than the IBM plates and badges.  Is this just a re-badge of a clone by the owner or something else? 

Instead of a Model F that came with the original XT, this one has a Model M with a rectangular badge that matches the one on the PC's case.  It's hard to tell if the badges are silver metal from the photos or not, but that's what it looks like at first glance anyway.  It's possible that they're just printed stickers, right?  Also, notice the little tabs holding the lock light overlay in place on the keyboard.

I post it here because it's interesting and the price isn't bad considering the hard drives, ISA cards, and other parts that could be harvested.  Free shipping is nice too, since these are usually pretty costly to ship.  I'd be interested in knowing more about this machine if anyone has some knowledge to share. 

Please note though that the seller says it doesn't seem to power up, so that's unfortunate.

Edit: The more that I look at the keyboard, the more I see yellowing on many keys meaning possibly ABS instead of PBT, and the font looks off to me, so maybe not a Model M keyboard at all, but an aftermarket one?

[JP]

I seen this as well. It's a shameless clone for sure. The badge on the keyboard looks like a cheap piece of paper. Still kinda neat though.

[ekeppel]

Yeah, I think you're right.  I see now that the label looks a bit narrower on the right side than the left.  If it's a paper label, then it's aged really well, though.  No stains or yellowing, really.

It's been a long time, but I remember the many clones that sprang up in the early 80's.  I suppose lots of folks wanted to have an IBM badge on their clone, even if it wasn't the real thing.  I never owned an XT or AT myself.  Instead, my father bought me the PCjr, which was ahead of the XT and AT in some ways.  It had 16-color graphics and polyphonic sound among other things, but even now I remember how awful that keyboard was, lol.   )

[fohat.digs]

I remember once in the mid-1980s when a co-worker asked me to come with her to a bulk sale of "Famous Maker" computers that was advertised in the newspaper.

We got there, and, sure enough, there was a room full of computers and accessories branded "Famous Maker" ....

[SamirD]

That's no original IBM for sure.  But it does have a bus mouse card as well as a parallel, serial, and cga/ega card, and I think a joystick port.  According to the front face it has 2 hard drives and 2 floppy drives, so this could have been someone's souped up clone with a lot of things you normally wouldn't have on a real xt/at.  I'm guessing this might have a 286 cpu in it.

As far as the keyboard--that's no IBM.  My best guess is that it is a keytronic rubberdome because keytronic always had those small tabs on the led panel on their older boards.  Plus, that particular board looks almost identical to my keytronic from back in the day that we bought new except it has the normal sized enter.

There's a lot of uncertainty as to how good of a deal this load is because we need more information.  A shot of the inside of the computer as well as the back of the keyboard would help out a lot.

[JP]

That's an interesting theory. I imagine this unit would have needed a beefy power supply to run two hard drives. The cheesy 63.5 watt wouldn't be a good fit.

[SamirD]

That's an interesting theory. I imagine this unit would have needed a beefy power supply to run two hard drives. The cheesy 63.5 watt wouldn't be a good fit.

You'd be surprised how beefy old power supplies were.  I just realized this now, but we never even thought about power supply upgrades back in the day.  We even changed the processor on our PS/2 30-286 from a 286 all the way to a 486slc and added a hard drive and scsi card to this system (which it wasn't designed for) and never had an issue.  Only when PC Power and Cooling introduced better power supplies did we put one in our Cyrix P166 build.

[ekeppel]

Interesting.  I just revisited this link and the seller has raised the price significantly (now $129.99 BIN), and added an auction format with a starting bid of $99.99.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[SamirD]

I guess they started seeing what the true interest in the machine may be.

Still no inside pictures so it's still a potentially risky purchase.  A couple of more pictures of the inside of the system and back of the keyboard would have automatically made the bidding better vs artificially raising it.

[ander]

LOL, nothing IBM there... I imagine the keeb's an early Keytronic RD. It's fun when people post unusual stuff like this, though.

[SamirD]

Went for $101.  Anyone here got it?