My IBM N2 and M

[Mikelittoris]

I recently discovered the whole mechanical keyboard thing, so I decided to get one. Here's some pics on my Model M and my N2. I hope someone finds joy in watching them .


This is my IBM Model M it's a 1391411 manufactured 1995 in UK, it got the Swedish layout, a flat coiled non-detachable cable, all keys got black lettering and all the regular keys are 2-piece (if I got to chose i'd get one with detachable cable and "Alt" dyed green, feels a bit cheap not to have it, but it's not like there's a ton of M's to chose from where I live).


And here's the N2, this was my first mechanical keyboard and I love it, just not as much as my Model M . Made by Lexmark (UK) in 1994. It got a flat straight non-detachable cable (is there thos who's got a detachable?), Black lettering on all keys, except for "SysRq" and "Alt" which are dyed green, the numpad got arrows, home etc. dyed in a greyish colour.


Here they are, cuddling on my bed. The perspective seem to be a bit wierd (Im no master at taking photos ), now the M looks small, had another pic with the keyboards arranged the other way around in which the N2 looked very tiny.


I tried to bend my keys of with a screwdriver, but I aborted that mission when it felt like the whole stem was about to get crocked for life. While looking at some other threads on this forum I noticed how all the cool guys got a keycap puller, so I made a ghetto-keycap puller ^^. It's not a cute thing, but it gets the job done .


A upskirt pic of the keys :]. Model M cap, stem and a N2 key.


A pic of the keys from the side. Same order.


And yet another pic comparing the keys.


Here's the spring on my Model M.


And here's the N2 spring, notice how it appears to be much longer than the Model M's (atleast more of it stick out).


I fitted a Model M stem + cap on the N2 board, it did actually work, the fel of it however wasn't that great since it tended to wobble around and felt very loose.

[video=youtube;b7VhWD4yCzA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7VhWD4yCzA[/video]
Here's a short clip I made, comparing the sounds of the two keyboards. I chose to click the arrow key since I felt that that key was a good representative of how the two keyboards sound.

Here's two more pictures of the keyboards mating, parental discretion is advised.



And that's it, Thanks for reading

[Mikelittoris]

Welcome to Geekhack.

My son dragged me once to see that pic.

Show Image

Nice pics!!  If you get a chance put some 20 cent Euros on your M2 per these RipOmeter instructions.

Thanks! Im on to it, unfortunatly we've got no Euros in Sweden, still using our own currency :P. And even worse our smallest coin is to big to fit (Althought the 10kr might fit but it's to heavy to give a accurate measure). I might have some old coins laying around somewhere. They are worthless today, but they'll be perfect for measuring the actuation force with :).

i'll be back with pics if I find them :)

[Mikelittoris]

Found some 0.5kr coins from the 80's, the weight is 4.5 g/coin. Doing a test with these later. I might even be able to get some older easier coins, I know my father got a collection stached somewhere

[ch_123]

Another N2... I thought this was a typo on the other board I saw stamped as such, but now seems to be a fixture of IBM UK-made M2s made around that time (The Lexmark thing is a trademark, it was really made by IBM)

[Mikelittoris]

Just finished the measuring and i've got to say the actuation force required is very random.
I used the Swedish 50öre (4.5g, "silver") and 1öre (2g, bronze) to measure.


First of I taped some coins together, a few 2g coins at the bottom since the 4.5g coins tended to stuck on to other keys.


Weight of the base stack: 55g


I came to find that most of the keys needed slightly less than 75g, but more than 73g to actuate.
75g: Ö, O and P
73g: A
71g: M (what a whimp lol)

And then there were thos who needed more than that.
79g: Ä
78g: J
Sledgehammer?: Numpad "+"


Here's some pics of the other keys swimming in cash.

J key with 55g stack + 2x4.5g coins + 7x2g coins = 78g


Ä key with 55g stack + 12x2g coins = 79g


Q key with 55g stack + 10x2g coins = 75g.


Y key with 55g stack + 3x2g coins + 2x4.5g coins = 72

I feel like trying this on my Model M aswell but that will have to wait until another time

Oh! and btw, nice tips in that RipOmeter guide Ripster, that slight tap on the keyboard made wonders while measuring