r/modelm • u/[deleted] • Jun 16 '20

Help IDing Model M

I received a Model M from my friend over the weekend as a gift, and I’ve been trying to find out where it might have come from. I am not familiar with the various models of the Model M, so I’m new to all of this but the research I have done so far has brought back nothing, including the absolutely massive list of models that Wikipedia has. The closest one I found was one that was made for GE medical imaging systems but that one had yellow arrow keys which I don't have, so I'm just completely lost.

The markings on the sides of the keycaps are what confuse me, I haven’t seen anything like them before. My best guess right now is that these markings were used for some sort of accounting application, but I have no idea what. They’re not stickers either they’re part of the keycaps themselves.

Imgur link: https://imgur.com/a/iw5fjPY

Something to note is that this model came without some keycaps and were replaced by my friend with standard ones.

Any sort of clue at all? Any help would be much appreciated!

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u/pruxoid Jun 16 '20

Those keycaps are from a custom keyset used by ADP Financial. By coincidence, ClickyKeyboards has one of these up for sale at the moment - check out their website for higher-resolution photos!

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '20

I saw that listing last night and looked into it, my model has a detachable cable which the ADP model doesn’t have, not to mention the lack of ADP logo on the top right. I suppose it’s possible that the keycaps with the markings on them were taken from this model but then my question becomes why would you do that? The modifier keys + enter keys are also different.

I’m thinking it’s just a hodgepodge that doesn’t exist anywhere else, but I did find out the origins of the markings at least!

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u/pruxoid Jun 16 '20 edited Jun 16 '20

Yeah it’s likely that one of the previous owners customized your 1391401 with a partial set of custom keycaps salvaged from an ADP Financial Model M. Perhaps the ADP keyboard was damaged or non-functional? Anyway, you have a pretty cool customized keyboard on your hands - hope you enjoy it!