Glad I found something that helped out!
I want to be clear, though. The Jameco ad doesn't specifically state that the keyboard is from a Vydec. That's only my conclusion based on how electronics re-sellers worked back then. I remember, for example, finding a homebrewing article that listed a Radioshack part number for surplus TI-99/4A keyboards. Radioshack had apparently bought up TI's stock after they dropped the TI-99 line.
My conclusion is backed up somewhat by this article in the Dec. 2, 1981 issue of the NY times:
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/02/...lant-and-lays-off-1100-in-office-company.html
Since Exxon was "restructuring" 10 months BEFORE the Jameco ad, and had found/acquired 2 newer word processor systems from Compucorp, it seems likely that they dropped the Vydec line and sold their surplus stock of parts. In my opinion, that is probably how Jameco came to be selling them.
It would also explain why the keyboard was so much cheaper: surplus overstock can be bought for a song.
I want to be clear, though. The Jameco ad doesn't specifically state that the keyboard is from a Vydec. That's only my conclusion based on how electronics re-sellers worked back then. I remember, for example, finding a homebrewing article that listed a Radioshack part number for surplus TI-99/4A keyboards. Radioshack had apparently bought up TI's stock after they dropped the TI-99 line.
My conclusion is backed up somewhat by this article in the Dec. 2, 1981 issue of the NY times:
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/02/...lant-and-lays-off-1100-in-office-company.html
Since Exxon was "restructuring" 10 months BEFORE the Jameco ad, and had found/acquired 2 newer word processor systems from Compucorp, it seems likely that they dropped the Vydec line and sold their surplus stock of parts. In my opinion, that is probably how Jameco came to be selling them.
It would also explain why the keyboard was so much cheaper: surplus overstock can be bought for a song.