1996 IBM Model M keyboard, made in Scotland

February 5th, 2012 by admin


This is the newest Model M keyboard I’ve seen, at least among those branded as an IBM, not Lexmark or Unicomp. It was made in 1996 in Scotland, and has the classic tactile buckling spring typing feel and sound, but they did cheapen out on some of the features by then: it has a non-coiled, permanently attached cable; the vestigal speaker grille on the bottom was removed; and the bezel around the indicator lights is more plain looking.

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25 Responses to “1996 IBM Model M keyboard, made in Scotland”

  1. Comment byvwestlife

    @Nikonman2000 PS/2, but with an adapter you can also use it with an AT keyboard port.

  2. Comment byNikonman2000

    Is it an AT Keyboard or a PS/2 Keyboard.

  3. Comment byNikonman2000

    Speaking of Compaq Deskpros,I miss my Deskpro 4000 with XP Home Edition SP1 :( .
    Rip Compaq Deskpro 4000,1996-2002

  4. Comment byvwestlife

    @yeoldeengineer My dad has the space saver version with his old Compaq, as seen in my video “1999 Compaq Presario 5304″.

  5. Comment byyeoldeengineer

    It appears 42H1292s were made by both Lexmark and IBM UK for some reason, up to ’99 or so.

    Good deal there. Beating that would involve a Space Saver, I guess…

  6. Comment bysimon1234simon

    I also have a 96 model M, Slovenian layout. 97 was the last year that IBM was still producing them. But i have actually rescued a keyboard from being thrown out and it is an IBM branded model M from 2003! It was made by Unicomp and also has a Slovenian layout, but its branded IBM now that’s something i haven’t seen anywhere else, it even seems to be rare on the internet

  7. Comment byFred924

    the oldest keyboard I ever found was from the early 1980s, it had the same kind of plug phone wires have, it came with a monitor too. It must have been to a check out counter or something.

  8. Comment byTheGeek1028

    …I had a Model K, I think, keyboard that came with an old IBM Aptiva E16, IDK how rare it is.

  9. Comment byClactonRadio

    nice chunky keyboard.

  10. Comment byacecono

    I have one of those! Its nothing strange if its made in Scotland… Beacause I have IBM Daqa 2,1GB (I don’t remember the number) made in Hungary… I like those clicking sound and big keys.

  11. Comment byNJRoadfan

    @vwestlife Heh, I actually have a full frame TBC that takes care of the Macrovision and jittery tapes (also fixes the playback problems JVC VCRs have with some tapes that you demoed in the past). The reason for S-Video is I want to avoid un-necessary use of a comb filter, and I have SVHS and Hi-8 sources that need the added quality of S-video.

  12. Comment byoOcrazy95Oo

    wow it’s almost as old as me :P

  13. Comment byKnaeckebrotsaege

    3$ ? holy crap wtfbbq :O
    i tried buying one of those on ebay a while back.. and gave up as ALL of the auctions ended with at least 50euro (about 70us$)… :(

  14. Comment byclassicmacintosh

    *protip*
    If you are not using the ‘classic’ windows logon (ie you get the ‘welcome screen’ you can also hit the U key to tUrn (sic) off the PC.
    Easy :-)

  15. Comment byvwestlife

    @NJRoadfan I have a JVC S-VHS VCR which can play standard VHS tapes through its S-video output, but the quality doesn’t look any better than composite. The VidiMate’s “Play Right” feature strips away the H/V synch signals and rebuilds them, which is supposed to help improve playback of old worn-out tapes, but also has the side benefit of defeating MacroVision encoding.

  16. Comment byNJRoadfan

    @vwestlife Yeah, I’m looking for a proc-amp for VHS capture work. So many lack S-Video though.

  17. Comment bythemaritimeman

    Awesome deal! The fact that it was made in scotland certainly is intriguing.

    I am fortunate enough to get to type on a Model M occasionally. One of the computer labs in my school has 2 or 3 computers with them, branded as Dell, and they are truly like no other keyboard. Reading one of the comments below, it appears they were made in the early 1990′s!

    Great video!

  18. Comment byvwestlife

    @NJRoadfan It’s actually a VidiMate VDM200, and I use it mostly for audio mixing because it has an adjustable level, mic input, and mono/stereo switch. But it does a good job of improving the quality of composite video, too. I have used it in some of my videos, such as “Can 2.46 volts kill an iPod?”, but mostly out of the camera’s view.

  19. Comment byNJRoadfan

    I used to have a Model M with a custom keycap set with all the Wordperfect commands on it color coded for atl/ctrl combinations. Sadly its long gone. PS/2 to USB adapters have trouble with these guys because they suck up more electric then most keyboards. Unrelated: Whats that Vidicraft Detailer being used for?

  20. Comment byhddr3

    ooh i love the feel of the click, i have an old keyboard (compUSA windows 95 designed keyboard i got brand new a few months ago for 3 $)

  21. Comment byvwestlife

    @compactc9 I have a Power Computing Mac clone from the mid ’90s with PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, in addition to the Mac ADB ports. I believe Unicomp makes a native USB version of the Model M, but reportedly their quality control isn’t that great.

  22. Comment byvwestlife

    @talldude123 In the early ’90s, Dell sold a rebranded Model M with their computers. It was identical in every way to a real IBM keyboard, except for the logo.

  23. Comment byvwestlife

    @uxwbill I have a mushy-key Model M2 (slimline version), which is really quite terrible to type on, no better than your average generic PC keyboard. Tandy made some really nice keyboards with greased buckling springs, equivalent to the “library quiet” (but still clicky) Model M.

  24. Comment bytghbenz99

    I got a 1992 Model M for $2 or $3 last month, have you had any problems getting it to work with some PC’s, on some newer PC’s and laptops the 3 leds flash when powerd on and then it stops working, but on older pcs it works fine. Its almost like it draws too much power from the PS/2 port and the controller shuts it off

  25. Comment byMixerVM

    I have a clicky keyboard from 1998 made by IBM and it has a lot of non-standard keys and an Ethernet-style connector that is not industry standard