Author Topic: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?  (Read 2315 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Regal

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 26
PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:21:41 »
Hey all, thanks for dropping by! I just purchased my first clicky keyboard but now I realize I don't even know what kind it is (specifically) and who manufactured it. On the advert it said IBM, but there are no stickers. On top of that, I also saw on this forum here: http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=48784.0 that someone suspects it might be an NMB, based on the space invader style switches. Yet there is no sticker or sign that it is NMB and I haven't seen any NMBs around with nothing on the top right side or that are XT. I've attached some pictures to show what it looks like and the model numbers. In particular, I'm hoping to learn when it was manufactured, who manufactured it, and, most importantly, why it's so much more fun to type on than any other keyboard I've used ;)

http://imgur.com/a/jDePS#0

Thanks for your help,
Regal
« Last Edit: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:23:16 by Regal »

Offline ClarusWorks

  • Posts: 27
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:27:46 »
It's definitely NMB.  The rear label and the "Made in Thailand" is a dead giveaway.  If it's clicky it's probably the NMB "Space Invader" switches.

Offline CPTBadAss

  • Woke up like this
  • Posts: 14385
    • Tactile Zine
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:28:39 »
Pull a keycap off then show us a picture of the switch. That would tell us for sure.

It's definitely NMB.  The rear label and the "Made in Thailand" is a dead giveaway.  If it's clicky it's probably the NMB "Space Invader" switches.

I think it's NMB as well. Some more information on NMB switches/keyboards.

Online fohat.digs

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 6533
  • Location: 35°55'N, 83°53'W
  • weird funny old guy
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:31:26 »
Your keyboard does not look like the keyboard in the geekhack thread.

It would probably say NMB if it was one. You say it has Space Invader switches? What color are they?
From the US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 :

The   Congress   shall have Power
To declare War,  grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To provide for calling forth the Militia  to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

Offline Regal

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 26
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:51:20 »
Thanks everyone for your swift replies!

fohat -- you have to scroll down to see it. It's like a blip in the middle of another thread.

I pulled the keycap off. here's what it looks like underneath:  http://imgur.com/a/JAIg9

It's black and it says W3 on it.

-Regal

Online fohat.digs

  • * Elevated Elder
  • Posts: 6533
  • Location: 35°55'N, 83°53'W
  • weird funny old guy
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:52:47 »
Nice. I love black Space Invaders.
From the US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 :

The   Congress   shall have Power
To declare War,  grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
To provide for calling forth the Militia  to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

Offline CPTBadAss

  • Woke up like this
  • Posts: 14385
    • Tactile Zine
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 13:53:13 »
I pulled the keycap off. here's what it looks like underneath:  http://imgur.com/a/JAIg9

It's black and it says W3 on it.

Looks like these. I'd say it's NMB for sure.

Offline Regal

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 26
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 14:18:26 »
Thanks for the verification all :)

There're still some things I want to figure out though: like why is there no info online of NMB making an XT, what year was it made, how rare is it... that kind of thing. Do you think the sticker might be fake then, since I can't find any info on PC122-XTs? Anywhere you'd recommend I go to find these answers?

Thanks again,
Regal

Offline ClarusWorks

  • Posts: 27
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 14:41:04 »
NMB made a ton of keyboards.  Their model numbers/names seem quite arbitrary and disorganized. They made a lot of OEM boards that didn't say NMB on them anywhere (except usually on the internal PCB, and the key switches would say either NMB or Hi-Tek if they were mechanical switches).  You have to remember at this time, the IBM Model M was still the "standard" keyboard that came with an IBM PS/2, the standard Mac board was an Alps switch board, etc. so in those days it actually made sense for OEMs churning out cheap white-label PCs to spring for a mechanical board as a selling point.

I *sincerely* doubt the sticker is fake, fake keyboards are not terribly common, and you'd have to be crazy to fake keyboards manufactured by an obscure vendor that mostly sold to OEMs.   If you want to be even more sure that what you have is an NMB keyboard, take off the plastic cover, the big circuit board that all the keyswitches are soldered to will probably have a big NMB logo on it somewhere, and there may be an NMB copyright notice on the controller IC.

NMB (Minebea Co., Ltd. of Japan) is still around and still making keyboards, but I think they mostly make scissor-switch boards for laptops - a lot of Lenovo ThinkPads and Dell Latitudes use them.

Offline Regal

  • Thread Starter
  • Posts: 26
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 14:56:32 »
Informative reply ClarusWorks, thanks :)

I don't really think the sticker's fake either. The OEM explanation nearly satisfies my curiosity. The only thing I'm still wondering is whether the fact that I need to use one of these: KE-XTUSB Converter to use it factors into helping distinguish it? Does the fact that it's not PS/2 somehow date it?

-Regal

Offline ClarusWorks

  • Posts: 27
Re: PC122-XT -- Mystery Keyboard -- What can you say about it?
« Reply #10 on: Thu, 13 February 2014, 15:16:11 »
Not necessarily, AT keyboards continued to be made into the 90s for repairing legacy machines.  I don't know anything about the serial number format or anything, probably the best way to get an idea of when it was made would be to open it up and look for date codes on ICs  (These are typically in the form YYWW or WWYY where YY is a 2 digit year and WW is a 2 digit week - you have to use some common sense here, a 5104 date code is almost certainly week 51 of 2004, not week 4 of 1951 unless we're talking vacuum tubes or something), maybe a date code stamped on the PCB, etc.  I haven't had an NMB board open in a while, my clicky NMB got stolen off my desk when I was a grad student (this is the precise reason I had it there and not a Unicomp :-P) so I can't remember if they put datecodes on the boards or not.