[typing]
[electronic music]
Welcome to LGR Oddware, where we're taking a look at
hardware and software that is odd, forgotten and obsolete.
And the IBM Model M keyboard is not really Oddware in my opinion.
Sure, it's old, but it's certainly not obsolete. You can still use it on a modern system just fine.
But then we have...
this beautiful piece of hardware.
Probably one of the most attractive keyboards I have ever seen personally.
I just– I love this thing. [clicks keys]
And it's just as clicky as the Model M.
This is the IBM Model M13
manufactured by Lexmark for IBM in 1994
and for a few years thereafter.
Now what makes this thing odd? Well...
It is a black IBM Model M, which is unusual.
In fact, I think it's the only official model like that.
Not even Unicomp makes them in all black with, you know, white letters
on there like that, but...
this also has a TrackPoint mouse.
Mouse buttons right down here.
A PS/2 port on the back to plug in other accessories.
This thing is really neat, so let's take a look
a little bit closer...
Mmmhhh...
Aaahhh...
the Model M13.
I have been after one of these particular keyboards for quite a while now.
Several years, in fact.
And I finally found one eBay for around $75.
They normally go for about twice that, so I was really happy to get it for this price.
And it was just, you know, a little beat up and dirty, but I cleaned it up and I think it looks nice now.
Why was I after one of these
when I have a lot of IBM Model Ms previously, just your normal beige ones.
I've got Lexmark ones, IBM ones, all sorts of things.
And why this one? Well...
It's because of the TrackPoint, of course.
This is just really cool.
You've got the nub right here that you would typically see
on the IBM ThinkPad series of notebook laptop computers.
Your mouse buttons right here. These are kind of gummy.
They're not– [clicks keys] clicky at all compared to, uh...
Well... the clickiness.
But they are there and it works as a mouse and everything.
Of course, the other reason was just because it comes in black
and it's the only one like this
as far as I know that IBM officially made.
A lot these later ones
were actually made by Maxi Switch. But this particular model
was actually manufactured in 1994
by Lexmark.
The 21st of December, to be exact.
A lot of the later ones were manufactured by Maxi Switch.
I've heard those are cheaper.
I've never owned a Maxi Switch manufactured IBM Model M keyboard.
so I can't compare directly.
But I have compared this to my Lexmark boards and,
I gotta say, the build quality is at least on par, if not better than those.
Certainly better than the Lexmark boards
that have membranes underneath.
This one doesn't. I mean, these are proper switches.
You can take them off and, uh...
[pops off key] There you go.
You got the buckling springs under there and there's actual switches underneath.
It's really nice.
[pops on key]
They don't have removable key caps, necessarily. The full key comes out of that.
So, that is one small difference to maybe the earlier IBM-branded Model Ms that I have anyway.
The rest of it, at least on top here, is pretty well standard for a Model M.
Num Lock, Caps Lock, Scroll Lock
all light up and look and work just how you would expect them to.
Really the only other thing up top here that's different is the
"G" and "H" keys are shaped just a little bit differently
to allow for the TrackPoint nub to fit in there.
And if you're wondering– [chuckles] if it sort of gets in the way of typing...
Yes, it does. It does get in the way
if I'm hitting "G," "H" or "B"
Sometimes when I'm typing things, it just–
I'm hitting the nub with this part of my finger– this part, or this part, you know.
It's not ideal,
but it doesn't get hugely in the way.
And neither does this.
Thankfully, my hands don't rest anywhere near here.
When I'm doing things, I usually have a thumb on the spacebar anyway, so that's fine.
The only other things that are really different is that the cable back here does not detach.
It is actually attached inside and it doesn't come out,
which is very similar to a lot of the later Lexmark and Maxi Switch models.
So that's kind of expected.
But this is interesting. So you have another PS/2 port here
for plugging in another mouse.
Because chances are you're only gonna have one PS/2 port
for a mouse on your computer anyway, so you can just plug another one here in the back.
That way, you're only taking up one port, but you could have a "standard" mouse plugged in as well
when the need arises and the TrackPoint sucks, which is, you know, rather often.
Now being that this is a keyboard and a mouse in the same unit,
you're going to have, of course, two plugs here.
So you've got the mouse right here, PS/2 port, and a keyboard.
So you plug in your compatible PS/2 ports on your computer and that's it. You're ready to go.
No drivers or anything.
It's really just standard hardware in there.
And you know, Windows knows what to do with the TrackPoint and all that, so...
let's go ahead and do that.
Plug this thing into a computer and test it out
and give you a nice little demonstration.
All right, so I've got it plugged into the HP Vectrum monstrosity
that I have assembled just for such occassions.
And, you know, it's already ready to go.
I had to do nothing but plug it in and, you know, it works.
[satisfying keyboard clicking]
Typing on this thing is a lot of fun.
There is a mouse in this. It's not the, you know, most accurate program to show off the mouse.
But, you know, it does work, so...
Let's go to something, though, that has a little more going on,
for– as terms of, like, typing. And mouse. Mostly typing.
[Super Mario World theme] Mario Teaches Typing.
Heyyy!
[bad Italian accent] Hurry up-ah!
[Mario] "Welcome to Mario Teaches a-Typing!"
[mocking Mario] Shut-ah you face-ah!
He's a really bad Mario voice in this first edition.
But, yeah, okay. Let's just do this one so we can–
[Mario] "On-a your mark! Get set! Go!"
So we can smash up things.
"J"
Oh, what?
[Laughs] H, H, H. J, J, J.
H, J, J, H...
Okay, that's a little stupid.
Let's do the other one because I think there's actual typing in this one here.
Mario: "On-a your mark! Get set! Go!" LGR: Oh, here we go.
[Super Mario World underwater theme] [typing]
Argh!
[music, typing]
Yeah. So, I don't know if you can see it, but I am
occassionally hitting this instead of, like, the G or the H's.
It's rare. I mean, you get used to it.
It does take some getting used to, just like about anything hardware-wise, but...
And maybe that's just because I don't use home keys like, you know, you're taught to. [Laughs]
So, I don't know. Maybe that's just me.
However...
It works pretty well for typing, I gotta say.
It's not like a really big annoying thing to have that right there.
Like I said, you can just take it off like that
and it's still there. It's not as much of a nuisance that way.
But, you know, I don't– I don't mind it.
But let's get out of here.
[chuckles] I keep going to the mouse!
I don't NEED the mouse anymore.
Screw this thing. I might as well throw it out a window.
Because I've got the TrackPoint in the middle of the keyboard!
So, let's try something else here that involves
pretty much all mouse, and that is...
Area 51.
And in case you're not familiar with this version of it–
It is actually made for a mouse instead of a light gun, so
you just, uh...
use the mouse, typically, and you move the cursor around and shoot all the dudes.
And that's fine.
However, with the trackpad,
you know, it's got this sort of acceleration thing going on. You just sort of nudge it
in the way that you want it to go.
There is a little bit of control over that. I mean,
probably more than you might expect.
I have used these quite a bit over the years with my IBM ThinkPads and whatnot, but
[shooting] It's, uh... oooh.
It's still not gonna be ideal for this at all.
Yeah, and definitely not one-handed. Forget that.
'Cause the thumb is just not gonna– [laughs] It's not gonna work at all!
Aaahhh! It's all over the place.
So if I– if I *really* get careful...
[shooting, gun reloading]
Yeah...
[shooting]
I don't seem to be able to click as fast, either.
Oh, a little bit. It kinda worked.
[shooting, screaming] [VO, repeating]: "Reload!"
Eh...
Doing better than I thought I would, but yeah, this is not obviously made for a trackpad.
That's why I wanted to do it. Because it's absurd!
Well that's it for the IBM Model M13 episode of Oddware.
This thing is just awesome to me.
I still use the Model M more often than not just because
while the TrackPoint thing is fascinating,
it does kind of get in the way just a little bit. But...
It just looks so good!
I mean, this thing...
This thing makes me want to do things I can't appropriately do on camera for YouTube.
You know what? I'm gonna leave it there.
I will, uh... I will be back.
Ahh! All right. I just had a glorious typing session with that thing. I tell ya,
that's better than all sorts of other therapy.
I like these things.
And if you like these things,
perhaps you'd like to see some more of my videos on similar topics or just
things that aren't even similar at all and are just very, very odd.
That's what Oddware is for
and you're right on the right channel on LGR here.
So click and watch and whatever, if you want to... whatever. You know what I mean?
And as always, thank you very much for watching LGR.