IBM Model M

Recently I aquired two used IBM Model M keyboards. Both were dirty but looked OK otherwise. Since I got a week off, I decided to take the time to clean them up. In order to do that I needed to buy a special 5.5mm screwdriver which cost me about 8 Euro. To be honest, that's more than what I paid for both keyboards combined :)

It took me about four hours to clean the keyboards and then it was time to test them. As it turns out, I should have tested them before cleaning because on of the keyboards is only partially functional. Luckily the other one appears to be fine. I'm left with a spare parts keyboard and a bunch of keycaps which are basically useless because all three keyboards are using different font on the keycaps. Interesting but still kind of annoying.

Flea Market Finds #4

After not seeing any old computer in months at our local flea market, I finally saw one breadbin being sold two weeks ago. Having enough Commodores as it is, I didn't buy it (but somebody else did). I did however buy another IBM Model M keyboard (this one also needs thorough cleaning) with two missing keycaps. It seems that it's nearly impossible to find a Model M with all the keycaps still in place. Anyhow, last Sunday I got lucky as I stumbled upon a boxed Atari 130XE complete with boxed cassette tape drive and a joystick. As I already have one such system, I picked this one up for a friend of mine that also collects old computers.