Some weeks ago I had the chance to lay my hands on (thanks to a friend who found it in a junkyard and cleaned it) an original IBM Model M keyboard produced on 1991-01-22. Nearly 24 years old equipment.
Unfortunately it did not have any cable to connect to a computer. After careful consideration, we decided to order the PS/2 cables produced by Unicomp instead of some USB cable. Along with that I ordered a complete set of keycaps without any markings on them just to make it ‘Das Keyboard’ style.
Finally the package arrived. First I needed to have the keyboard work with a PS2-to-USB converter. If you do the same, make sure you have a adapter that can deliver at least 400mA.
Time to replace the keycaps…
I shall state that the keycap replacements are very much more easier than Das Keyboard. First of all I can do replacements by my hands (instead of using a keycap remover) and every row of keys are of the same size on Model M.
Replacing the larger keys (like shift, enter, backspace, caps lock) requires removal of the whole key. One needs to be careful when mounting the new keys.
And finally. it is ready to go…