Ever since I hooked up my Color Classic back in August, I’ve been having to swap keyboards back and forth between the Color Classic and my Classic. The problem is that there are 2 keys on the Classic’s keyboard that are missing the little rubber “thingy” that holds the keys up. So the keyboard acts like the “/” and “*” keys are pressed.

Needless to say, I’m tired of swapping keyboards back and forth. I would have purchased another keyboard sooner, but people on eBay seem to think that just because something has an Apple logo, they can charge an arm and a leg for it. Seriously? $30 for a 20 year old keyboard! I couldn’t bring myself to spend that kind of money. Especially when I read stories on the Mac forums of guys finding keyboards at garage sales for a dollar.

Most of the time I can get away with not having a keyboard attached on the Classic. I just need a mouse to move a file, or copy the occasional disk. But the Color Classic needs the keyboard attached to power on. I had enough.

I hopped on eBay and found another Keyboard II for $18.99. Still kind of pricey, but it came with a keyboard cable and a mouse. So I can’t complain. That’s actually a pretty good deal for all three.

The keyboard of course it yellowed. It look like it’s going to be a busy spring/summer. I have to wait until the weather gets nice again before I can start dipping parts in peroxide/oxy, and the parts needing dipping are starting to add up.





As expected. it’s pretty grungy between the keys. For now I’ll just clean it up with some alcohol.



Again, just like the Airport Base Station I scored with my Blueberry iBook, the two Keyboard II models I have display subtle design changes between years despite both being models M0487.



The one I just purchased is dated 1990 and has a sticker on the back.



The old one I have is dated 1991 and does not have a label. The product info is molded into the case.



Again, just enough of a design change to warrant keeping both. However, in this case I don’t have a choice. Both machines need a keyboard.