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geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: sethstorm on Mon, 04 January 2010, 12:56:58

Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: sethstorm on Mon, 04 January 2010, 12:56:58: UNICOMP MODEL M SMAR TREX - NEW IN BOX (http://cgi.ebay.com/KEYBOARD-UNICOMP-MODEL-M-SMAR-TREX-NEW-IN-BOX_W0QQitemZ120513225226QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item1c0f25e20a)

It's $9.99 + 8.60 shipping (and they're willing to go worldwide as the listing says). It has the black keys that haven't been on Unicomp boards, with a late-90's build date.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: sethstorm on Mon, 04 January 2010, 13:54:20: Quote from: ripster;147874
It even got sold BEFORE this posting.

Ammaaaaaazzzzzziiiiiing.

I hinted to it in a another post, the thing was unbelievably cheap for a black-key Unicomp board. I can only hope another Geekhacker got it.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: msiegel on Mon, 04 January 2010, 14:13:06: Quote from: ripster;147887
Yep. I bought it.

well done :D :D

hope it's an M!
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 04 January 2010, 14:32:01: Woah, it's one of those phone-keyboards I saw on their old website. Nice find!
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 04 January 2010, 14:39:11: No idea. Note however that there's a PS/2-RJ11 Y-cable coming out of the phone. I wouldnt be surprised if they managed to fit phone electronics somewhere inside the case.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: ricercar on Mon, 04 January 2010, 14:43:36: Ripster, I'm interested in the phone capability even if you take all the keys away.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: ch_123 on Mon, 04 January 2010, 14:57:01: Probably connects into a port on that proprietary system.

On the flipside, you maybe be able to adapt it for use with a regular telephone.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: Shyfe on Mon, 04 January 2010, 16:53:58: I don't think I'm referring to you. I'm referring to the guy with 0 feedback who bid 40 times in 1 dollar increments to barely have the leading bid DAYS before it ended. man that made me rage.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: sethstorm on Wed, 06 January 2010, 14:57:28: Yow. Looking at the completed items tab, it seems another person has grabbed the second one.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: sethstorm on Wed, 06 January 2010, 21:21:36: Quote from: kishy;148566
That'd be me. She let me know when she was going to be posting it so I was watching carefully. There will be more to come.

I was sure of that, just didn't know that soon.

Quote from: kishy;148566
It's, essentially, a NIB Unicomp Customizer for $10. Come on, that's a no brainer.

Even if we DON'T know if it's computer compatible. The lack of LEDs concerns me, but hey, doesn't mean all hope is lost yet. I'm betting (virtually of course) on it being a normal Customizer that just has some stuff added and the system it was designed for interprets the otherwise normal scancodes for some keys as something different.

...or so I hope.

I'm in it for the keycaps. If it works as a PC keyboard, bonus. If it can be rehabilitated to a more standard Customizer, even better.

As a thought to where I want to use those keycaps:
Is there anything wrong with assembling a Model M, full-black aircraft carrier with as many matching keys as possible? Unicomp body(the terminal emulator one) and keys, IBM internals / electronics / unmatched keys.

Or would it be better to find a more recent donor board in that respect? No, I am not going to raid my M13 for spare keys; it's good enough as it is.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: pfink on Thu, 07 January 2010, 17:11:45: Quote from: kishy;148566
It's, essentially, a NIB Unicomp Customizer for $10. Come on, that's a no brainer.

Given that it's for a telephone application there's also the possibility that it's a rubber dome Unicomp M rather than a BS one because of the noise factor. Even so, it's probably still worth ten bucks but the keys likely won't work on a BS M.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: pfink on Sat, 09 January 2010, 20:00:21: Quote from: kishy;148942
The seller (this one seeming much more reliable than others so far for me) confirmed that it sounds the same as a video of a buckling spring keyboard. That would be a very serious thing to say falsely.

"Clicky" can be subjective, but "sounds like" is definitely not.

Sellers say the darnedest things.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: sethstorm on Sat, 09 January 2010, 20:23:07: Quote from: ripster;149541
One piece.

Will they fit on regular Model F/Model M keyboards?
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: J888www on Sat, 09 January 2010, 20:38:12: Quote:
The keyboard sounds like the keyboard in this video!

Well, there is a possibility that the seller has impaired hearing, so one cannot make accusations that the seller is lying.
I'm more interested in that PS/2-RJ11 cable, wondering if it's compatible with the Wang 724 (Black ALPS) ?
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: ch_123 on Sat, 09 January 2010, 20:46:46: I'm pretty sure that RJ11 is for the telephone.

Companies using RJ11 for phones? Mad, I know...
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: sethstorm on Sun, 10 January 2010, 00:22:59: Quote from: ripster;149711
The keyboard has a Y cable with a one end going off to a RJ11 and the other to a standard PS/2 port. I'll post pics tomorrow. Don't get your hopes up - no AT&T patents were violated building this keyboard.

I don't even think AT&T even used that patent by the looks of it. The most I see of that era are Model-M look-alikes that are just rubber dome keyboards.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Wed, 20 January 2010, 07:39:38: Someone asked if the keys were compatible with a standard M. What was the answer? If the keys are compatible, I'll pick one up just to scavenge the keys for my black 122-key Boscom...
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: Shawn Stanford on Wed, 20 January 2010, 08:04:00: *sigh*
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: Chuque on Sat, 23 January 2010, 22:27:39: so how is the number pad inverted? or is it just a keycap swap?
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: Chuque on Sat, 23 January 2010, 22:44:30: so I am guessing that what ever original system these hooked into had some custom driver to swap them all around
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: microsoft windows on Sun, 24 January 2010, 10:09:46: You could convert the keycaps to buckling-spring and sell them to someone who made a black Model M with M13 keys.
Title: A black-key Unicomp with interesting modifications.
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 24 January 2010, 10:18:57: Not going to happen. Even if you could remove the central prong, the keycap isn't going to have the notch necessary for the buckling spring.