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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: sharktastica on Mon, 24 April 2023, 15:52:16
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Decided to make my next Admiral Shark's Keyboards wiki page on the P/N 1393387 IBM Screen Reader Keypad (or SRK, as I call it!), a unique 18-key Model M keypad with an interesting layout, detachable SDL to PS/2 cable and a "hybrid" assembly design with both Model F and Model M design traits - despite the clear Model M appearance, it's got DNA of an IBM Model F keyboard on the inside due to recycled tooling/assembly process from IBM 3290-1 keypads (https://sharktastica.co.uk/wiki?id=modelf#3290-1).
The SRK was peripheral component of the IBM Screen Reader series, first announced in January 1988 as a pioneering screen reader designed to help people with hard or lack of sight access a PC and seems to be the brainchild of Jim Thatcher (a then mathematician working at IBM). The keypad is sometimes erroneously solely attributed and named to the IBM Screen Reader/2, which was a single release of the series introduced in 1992 (several years after the keypad entered production). The SRK was typically connected through a PC's PS/2 mouse port or a special 8-bit ISA card for PC/XT and PC/AT compatibles. The SRK was withdrawn from marketing on 11th April 1995, but not before IBM introduced a new Screen Reader Keypad - P/N 06H5990 with an integrated cable - that has yet to be "rediscovered" to my knowledge (I have no idea if its a variant of the Model M SRK, or something entirely different).
The page: https://sharktastica.co.uk/wiki?id=modelmsrk
Enjoy!
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That's fascinating.
Would you say that it has a key feel and sound closer to a Model F or to a Model M?
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That's fascinating.
Would you say that it has a key feel and sound closer to a Model F or to a Model M?
Sorry for the belated reply. IMO, feel is distinctly M but the sound is definitely somewhere in between.
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That's quite interesting. You said that it is a recycled model f, yet you say that it feels more like a model m, why would that be because i'm a bit confused on what you meant there?
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I had never heard of this. Thank you for sharing.
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That's quite interesting. You said that it is a recycled model f, yet you say that it feels more like a model m, why would that be because i'm a bit confused on what you meant there?
Most of the assembly design (the metal plates and use of foam) look to be holdovers from previous Model F production (the IBM 3290-1/5085 Keypad), but for the Screen Reader Keypad ("SRK"?), the assembly was 'trimmed' and then filled with a membrane assembly and spring-hammer assemblies of Model M design. Whilst the Model F derived plates and foam affect sound, the main thing responsible for keyfeel is distinctly Model M. IBM has done this before, with how the IBM 4704 Model 100 keyboard (Model "F50") was modified into the IBM PS/2 50-key Function Keyboard (Model "M50").
Also for yourself or anyone curious about the evolution (and evidence for) to SRK from its Model F progenitor:
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That's quite interesting. You said that it is a recycled model f, yet you say that it feels more like a model m, why would that be because i'm a bit confused on what you meant there?
Most of the assembly design (the metal plates and use of foam) look to be holdovers from previous Model F production (the IBM 3290-1/5085 Keypad), but for the Screen Reader Keypad ("SRK"?), the assembly was 'trimmed' and then filled with a membrane assembly and spring-hammer assemblies of Model M design. Whilst the Model F derived plates and foam affect sound, the main thing responsible for keyfeel is distinctly Model M. IBM has done this before, with how the IBM 4704 Model 100 keyboard (Model "F50") was modified into the IBM PS/2 50-key Function Keyboard (Model "M50").
Also for yourself or anyone curious about the evolution (and evidence for) to SRK from its Model F progenitor:
(Attachment Link)
(Attachment Link)
Wow that's super interesting, thanks for clarifying that for me :)