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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Dirty Bint on Tue, 20 April 2010, 09:34:16

Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: Dirty Bint on Tue, 20 April 2010, 09:34:16
Hi,

Would anybody know if there was a UK layout equivalent of the IBM "Space Saver" and if so, what was the part number?




Thx
Dirty Bint
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 April 2010, 10:32:48
I'm sure they existed, but I've never seen one around here.

There were some people who claimed to have them, but they were in fact a strange US ISO layout -

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/laurie47/DSC00414-1.jpg)

Although you could very easily just swap the keycaps from a UK Model M onto one if you wanted to. Part number UNI04C6 - on the scale of hard-to-find, about 4/5.
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: Dirty Bint on Tue, 20 April 2010, 11:54:45
ch_123,

Your keycap swapping idea is a possibility.

If I got a USA layout "Space Saver" and swapped the keycaps from an old UK layout Model M would it work if windows was set to UK keyboard ?

Or, would there be something in the PCB "ghosting" it to a USA layout that would cause issues with my proposal ?


Thx
Dirty Bint
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 April 2010, 12:04:02
Bare in mind that a US keyboard has a different physical layout, so you can't just take a US keyboard and swap keycaps and have a UK keyboard. Here's a US one for reference -

(http://www.clickykeyboard.com/2006/jan132006/jan132006-001.jpg)

Due to the way that a Model M is designed, it is possible to take a US one and convert it to be a UK one, but this involves quite a bit of work - see this (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:6615) for an idea of what you're up against.

Dunno about you, but learning the US layout would be easier to me =P
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 April 2010, 13:19:36
To me, "bare" always made more sense, as it seems to be some form of "[lay] bare in your mind". One should not attempt to have a bear in their mind.

(http://www.nativehealer.net/images/animals/grizzly.jpeg)
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: Rajagra on Tue, 20 April 2010, 13:23:57
Quote from: ch_123;173748
There were some people who claimed to have them, but they were in fact a strange US ISO layout -

Show Image
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/laurie47/DSC00414-1.jpg)


I can't imagine that being anything other than an ISO layout (with US legends on it.) If you put UK keycaps on it, it would effectively be a UK Space Saving board.
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 April 2010, 13:43:24
That's what I was saying - it's what you get if you set your computer to use a US layout on an ISO keyboard.

Too bad they're rather rare. And for some reason, a load of them ended up in Japan... I've lost count of the amount of Japanese sites I've seen with people showing pics of their one.
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: skcheng on Tue, 20 April 2010, 13:56:23
Quote from: ripster;173816
SKCheng's German one is quite nifty.
Show Image
(http://fototime.com/2873A1D6202FBE8/standard.jpg)


If I get a chance tnite, I'll post a pic of my French unit  ;-))
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 April 2010, 13:59:30
Germany seems to have been a good place to get IBM stuff. The only ISO M4-1 I've ever seen was a German unit.
Title: IBM Space Saver - UK Layout Version ?
Post by: ch_123 on Tue, 20 April 2010, 14:43:54
Oh, and there's no reason to imagine that if a customer wanted them that IBM wouldnt have made some. The thing is that they seem to be almost non-existent in the wild these days. Perhaps European customers didn't want them as much as the US ones?