Anybody familiar with this chinese IBM keyboard?

[discord]

Anybody know the switch type? Can these keyboards even be used anymore? How does serial compare to PS/2 or AT ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150955754989?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

[rootwyrm]

That particular keyboard is not usable on a PC, it is for a Point Of Sale system. Which exactly, I'm not sure, given I don't speak Chinese. However, anyone claiming no collector value will be smacked with that label.

RPQ is IBM for "customer specific modification or variance." It could be anything from permitting someone to attach unsupported arrays to an SVC cluster to, as exhibited here, a custom engineered part. The RPQ label is the specific RPQ# associated with this customer's engineering request. It could be anything from a connector change to a printing change on the keycaps to simply replacing standard keycaps with the clear ones. However, any given RPQ means that there was generally a fairly low number of units produced. (Past a certain number of units, IBM will create a new PN rather than use an RPQ.)

[Hak Foo]

It could still be easily adapted.  It really depends what lies behind that odd connector.  It could be anything from "AT connector signaling, but a DB-9 connector so that it can be screwed down" to "some sort of serial protocol".

In the worst case, it might even be able to function with an AIKON or similar bypassing all the internal encoding logic.

Considering the shipped price, I'd think someone might buy one just to fiddle with the keycaps and see if they can be repurposed.

[rootwyrm]

It could still be easily adapted.  It really depends what lies behind that odd connector.  It could be anything from "AT connector signaling, but a DB-9 connector so that it can be screwed down" to "some sort of serial protocol".

In the worst case, it might even be able to function with an AIKON or similar bypassing all the internal encoding logic.

Considering the shipped price, I'd think someone might buy one just to fiddle with the keycaps and see if they can be repurposed.

Well herein lies the double-edged sword of an RPQ: no idea what the modification is exactly or how extensive it is. It could be AT proto over DB9 yes. Or it could be a proprietary protocol to interface with another proprietary system. Or it could be parallel port doing bit-banging. It could be AT proto over DB9 with custom scan codes. In order to adapt it, you'd have to completely reverse engineer it, which may include the controller. You could ask IBM, but they will not tell you - RPQs are always handled as strictly proprietary and confidential, since they could reveal all sorts of interesting data about a customer. So it's a project, to say the least.

Given the way RPQs work, there are a couple things we can determine though:
- If it was strictly a keycap change, there's at least several hundred identical units. Can't rule this out because I don't know whether or not IBM offered a Chinese language PoS terminal keyboard as standard.
- The clear caps are NOT the reason for the RPQ; those were a standard part and customers could order the stickers or make their own.
- It is highly unlikely it is a standard controller. IBM would tend to use a CPN (Customer Part Number) for simple changes like keycaps.

To me, these units look like they're probably spares from a fixed run on a customer RPQ for an airline system - note the double zero as well as English lettering. The clear keycaps would be a standard feature in and of themselves, to support varied overlays without having to order a new batch of custom made keycaps. Just print stickers. The other indicator that these are likely from an airline system is the currency - notice how MANY there are. Specifically, I saw JPY, UKP and USD specifically indicated. In fact, I'm not convinced it's Chinese - it looks like it's Japanese based on the presence of JPY, UKP, USD and the apparent airline layout - China was not exactly big for IBM back then, nor were they big airline customers I don't believe. (I am not a linguist though, so I could be wrong. But it really does look Japanese to me.)

[Hak Foo]

I was a little skeptical too about it being Chinese.

Stylistically it doesn't look like it could be much more recent than ~1990, although it's possible that it was a "we keep making them the exact same look as they've always been" sort of thing... and did US trade relations with China permit exports of high-tech goods at that time?

[rootwyrm]

I was a little skeptical too about it being Chinese.

Stylistically it doesn't look like it could be much more recent than ~1990, although it's possible that it was a "we keep making them the exact same look as they've always been" sort of thing... and did US trade relations with China permit exports of high-tech goods at that time?

Keyboards would not be covered by any sort of export restrictions since they don't contain cryptographic hardware or anything which would be protected under any sort of embargo. It's just an input device. So they could have been sold to China legally, no problem.
But you are right about the styling - but here's the thing. Airline equipment all looks like it dates to the 1970's. There's a reason for that - probably a good chunk of it DOES date to the 1970's. Same goes for the computing equipment. Not much has changed, really. This is what a modern airline checkin counter looks like from behind the desk:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8177/7958123018_3293d08289_z.jpg
http://www.hitechreview.com/uploads/2009/12/cherry_pcKeyboard.jpg
Same basic concept. A standard keyboard, they've tacked on a card reader, and there's a bunch of function specific buttons on the keyboard with the clear keycaps. (That second one is a current Cherry model, yes.) You'll also note the double zero for quicker entry of dollar values. e.g. $700.00 is a total of five keystrokes. Dollar, Seven, Double-Zero, Period, Double-Zero. It's a fractional efficiency gain yes, but it adds up VERY quickly when you've got someone processing 150+ checkins per plane, several dozen planes a day, 8 hours a day. There's various and sundry types which are airline specific, because they all designed their own systems in the 1970's, and most of them haven't done any sort of real change beyond "replace the workstation side and put a shiny picture in front of the same 1970's software interface."

So it wouldn't surprise me at all if it was manufactured for a specific airline for a specific system with a proprietary interface and a proprietary scancode set.

[discord]

I was looking for mechanical keyboards, and I stumbled across those. I looked at a Japenese keyboard and noticed the characters are not the same. Since I first posted, 4 of the 6 have sold. I still haven't bought one. I hope I don't kick myself for not , however my funds are short, and I don't know what a `useless keyboard` will do for me. It has been tempting to purchase it though.

[rootwyrm]

I was looking for mechanical keyboards, and I stumbled across those. I looked at a Japenese keyboard and noticed the characters are not the same. Since I first posted, 4 of the 6 have sold. I still haven't bought one. I hope I don't kick myself for not , however my funds are short, and I don't know what a `useless keyboard` will do for me. It has been tempting to purchase it though.

If you're looking to learn how exactly a keyboard works from end to end, including the keys, microcontroller and protocols, that's not a bad one to start with at that price. It'll be very complicated to say the least, but it's most likely a buckling spring, so the mechanical aspects are well documented and known. The controller may be a derivative of a well known controller as well - or it may not be, impossible to say without taking it apart. But it's a bad choice for one you'd want to use as a first time daily driver though, yes.

[discord]

I was looking for mechanical keyboards, and I stumbled across those. I looked at a Japenese keyboard and noticed the characters are not the same. Since I first posted, 4 of the 6 have sold. I still haven't bought one. I hope I don't kick myself for not , however my funds are short, and I don't know what a `useless keyboard` will do for me. It has been tempting to purchase it though.

If you're looking to learn how exactly a keyboard works from end to end, including the keys, microcontroller and protocols, that's not a bad one to start with at that price. It'll be very complicated to say the least, but it's most likely a buckling spring, so the mechanical aspects are well documented and known. The controller may be a derivative of a well known controller as well - or it may not be, impossible to say without taking it apart. But it's a bad choice for one you'd want to use as a first time daily driver though, yes.

I did want something nice to type with, and I like the novelty of having a unique keyboard. But I don't feel like I have the time to rip keyboards apart.

[kaiserreich]

Is it just me or the keycaps looks like smiley faces?

[fuzzythegreat]

Chinese has a hell of a lot more characters than that and not all those characters are (besides the obvious Latin characters) are Chinese which all of them would have to be to even start having the language then you'd have to have something like the thumb shift key board which Japan uses plus another couple modifier keys to be even remotely able to type in Chinese then that still wouldn't be enough and it would be a pain in the ass to type with that's why China doesn't have a keyboard standard nor does Korea, Vietnam, or any other eastern country besides Japan and thumb shift is also a pain to get used to as well so no that's probably just something a company made to get a general idea across to it's workers it's also why those countries stick with just learning the pinyin standard, how to speak English, or how to use the Japanese Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji (for the most part I have actually seen some places that use a lot of real Chinese characters but that must of been a pain because they would have had to either make their own keyboard which was never introduced into the market or learned all the number keys for it)

[kishy]

I have a feeling I know what this is for, and if that interface is what I think it is, no, you can't use it for anything except what it was designed for.

That being said, there is conversion research being done for what I "think" this is.

If it is what I suspect, it is not for point of sale, but it's a similar application.