So I stumbled upon this IBM part number 1385119 on some websites. It's listed as:
124-KEY KEYBOARD 3179/3192 TERMINAL
I know that 1385150 is a 122-key Model F, and 1385167 is an APL 122-key F. There are some references in these specs of the 3192 terminals to 124-key variants of the 122-keys as being "AP only" (
http://argecy.com/3192). Could 1385119s be Japanese Model F predecessors of the 5576-001?
In my dream scenario I would imagine they make use of the spaces between the Ctrls and Alts which currently have unused/unconnected contact plates in our F-122 PCBs.
I tried to purchase one that was listed as being in-stock on pacificgeek.com, but they came back and told me that they didn't actually have one. Called TechPartsWarehouse which according to this (
http://www.partstat.com/1385119) at one point had 8 for sale at $20 each, and they didn't have any.
There's one listed for $75 at UpgradeBay.com, but there are too many negative comments about them for me to give them a shot, especially if there might be a good chance that they're referencing the same non-existent one I had tried to order from PacificGeek (it seems a lot of these websites don't actually hold much/any stock and just re-sell you stuff they can get from somewhere else.)
Does anybody have any knowledge of this part number, or Japanese/AP Model Fs? I'm very very curious as to what this early 124-key is actually like!