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geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: ch_123 on Wed, 11 November 2009, 14:49:45

Title: Model M Minis - 1392980 Terminal
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 11 November 2009, 14:49:45

Link (http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=320153154008&Category=33963&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D1#ht_1774wt_939)

Very little information, I have sent a mail to the guy to try and get some pics and info.

From searching around, the part number in question appears, unfortunately, to be a Terminal model. Does anyone know how easy it would be to convert them?

Here's some pics from another site. (http://vintagecomputerbits.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=289)

Title: Model M Minis - 1392980 Terminal
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 11 November 2009, 15:06:04

So replace the cable and happy days?

EDIT: Here's some pics, appears the guy on the site converted his to USB

Link (http://www.otd.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=f8&wr_id=498)

Title: Model M Minis - 1392980 Terminal
Post by: ch_123 on Wed, 11 November 2009, 17:06:30

Mhmm. After hearing some of this stuff I have kinda lost interest. They'd be great for a mod project though.

Title: Model M Minis - 1392980 Terminal
Post by: overdriver on Sun, 15 November 2009, 02:03:32

Quote from: kishy;131764

Cable swap and maybe some driver hacks (probably just mooching off JohnElliott and feeling guilty after like I did).

USBMod...that interests me. That's what I was looking at for the 1386887s but it looked impractical (using driver-based mods unlike what looks like a fully hardware mod in that post, will have to review it in further detail later)

That Korean modder used the Universal keyboard controller made by a AQUA(I only know him by his nick name). That board is the popular choice of all keyboard modder in Korean hackers since there are many modders who actually make full custom keyboard from ground up. It supports USB natively.
I didn't read whole thread on this terminal conversion but it looks very interesting. I never thought of this conversion but it looks very cool way to get my own IBM M mini. hmm.. let me dig more info about this controller and get back to you guys in the different forum... if anyone interested in.

Title: Model M Minis - 1392980 Terminal
Post by: ch_123 on Thu, 19 November 2009, 16:23:16

Update: The seller has cut the price in half. Here (http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290371323563&_trksid=p2759.l1259#ht_1575wt_939)

Title: Model M Minis - 1392980 Terminal
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Thu, 19 November 2009, 19:00:14

I threw out a lowball offer and it was ignored. I'm going to try $15 and we'll see what happens.

Here's an interesting thought: the ribbon cables used by IBM form matrices. Now, when I pulled apart my 122-key, I noticed that one of the cables - the narrow one - was the same size as that in my 101-key, while the other was significantly wider. Without researching, I suspect that means that the narrow cable is for the 'depth' of the keypad while the wide cable is for the 'span'.

So, what would happen if you plugged a narrower span cable into a wider span PCB? Would the PCB do the best it could to return the keystrokes along the traces it can read? Or would it give up the ghost for some reason?

The thought being if these 84-key terminal boards are available at a bargain price, it might be workable (although weird) to swap in a 101-key PCB and then - if necessary - use AHK (or whatever) to remap what does come out.

Thoughts?