deskthority

I was going to post pics of something else, but this arrived on my desk today...and is rather interesting

It's a NIB Honeywell Hall Effect keyboard (either as an engineering sample or DIY computer) from 1970! Some of the IC's are from 1969 and have gold pins.
This particular switch has been seen a couple times on Deskthority already, so I'm not in a complete rush to get switch dismantle pics.

WIthout further ado:
















Biggest ribbon cable EVAR


I counted 153 pins...



Keycaps, the same as other Honeywell Hall Effect keyboards from the late 80's early 90's. Minus texturing.




Yup, 1970...








And this is not a "protoboard" it's a sort of manual matrix configurator. 21 x 151 pins...




Yup, date codes same 1969.









Having tried my Honeywell Hall Effect switches in my time (and having a box of NIB keypads), these are definitely the smoothest, and have a nice bottom-out "clack". Still not my favourite linear switch, but this is definitely near the top.


And an open question to all, whatever happened to my wiki contest prizes? Did they ever get shipped, or do I have to come to Europe to get them

Interesting that the upper key assembly is younger than a few of the ICs on the lower assembly.

I'd guess that they had PCBs stuffed in batches, from whatever components were available, then made boards using the batches?

I love the way you take photos every picture looks like it can be viewed in a Gallery.

Amazing how OLD tech can be so intricate compared to stuff that is manufactured now. Thanks for sharing your prize with all of us here at DT.

SO PRETTY!
I want it!
Where do you keep digging these up, man?

Elrick wrote:I love the way you take photos every picture looks like it can be viewed in a Gallery.

Amazing how OLD tech can be so intricate compared to stuff that is manufactured now. Thanks for sharing your prize with all of us here at DT.

Thanks! I take pics for myself to archive (on my really shitty phone camera...maybe I should invest in an actual camera ).

Icarium wrote:
SO PRETTY!
I want it!
Where do you keep digging these up, man?

Hints/tips (there are benefits, join my army today ). It's being able to pic out the rare from the usual crap/sorta ok stuff that's difficult. Minus a couple recent screw-ups (cost me a very pretty penny ), my success rate is pretty high for rare stuff.
Eventually you can determine the switch type by things like keycap shape and font with only a handful of exceptions. And having a treasure trove of photos helps when comparing crappy auction pics.

Unfortunately, I have very few keyboards left that I am actively looking for. As the wisdom of teh internets is drying up...

Regardless, I pass up many rare finds, as I usually only want one of the type of switch (save for some exceptions). So, I usually know where to find like keyboards in my collection (or tell you that it's the only one I've ever seen...).

Services/Hints/Exotic keyboard switch offers are always welcome, hint, hint.


Anyways, I still have other recent finds to post. Perhaps tomorrow (less vintage than these recent two, but neat nonetheless).

HaaTa wrote:Anyways, I still have other recent finds to post. Perhaps tomorrow (less vintage than these recent two, but neat nonetheless).

Please post them here, always good to see the rare and unusual. Less and less pics are shown of such merchandise as time goes by.

It would be brilliant to have a vast sum of images that help catalog whats been done in the past. It may be the last time ever.

As always, my images are here: http://kiibohd.com/crawler_query.cgi
Though I really need to integrate more caching (currently the webserver queries Picasa for the image lists, everything else is already cached from my google docs spreadsheet).

The javascript query interface works (http://kiibohd.com), but I have the images turned off as they screw up the formatting...
What I really need is some spare time...so I can fix all this stuff

Damn, can't use the site anymore, doesn't work with Pentadactyl.

Unfortunately, I have very few keyboards left that I am actively looking for. As the wisdom of teh internets is drying up...

Would one of them be a space cadet, or do you already have one?
I am just like Haata, buying all these old boards but I never find any exotic (i did find the Aruz switch though) in Australia. I havn't seen any boards earlier than the 80's in Australia. I've always wanted to try a hall effect switch but none come here!

I don't have the space cadet, but I've mostly put that in my "it's nice to have, but I already have a lot of those switches category". I'm more looking for rare Japanese switches (e.g. Fujitsu Leaf Spring Gen 1), though other exotics like the clicky Marquardt, Scantlin, or anything Burroughs I generally take instant notice of.

As for trying Hall Effect, I come across quite a few here, but they'd cost quite a bit to send to Australia.

You need to start a collection business.

Icarium wrote:You need to start a collection business.

Better yet open a "Typewriter/Keyboard Museum" showing all of the switch types made in the last 100 years.

I would pay to see that, most definitely.

Icarium wrote:Damn, can't use the site anymore, doesn't work with Pentadactyl. :)

It eats up so much RAM I'm not sure what it's meant to work on. I closed the tab and Firefox's RAM usage kept growing and growing for ages before it finally let go.

Oooh, classic keycaps. Despite being shiny I always found them to feel very 'grippy'. What are they made of?

I believe ABS (due to being doubleshots), nothing fancy there, but the shape is what makes them so grippy. (And, I find that shiny ABS actually does have quite a bit of friction, too - I find that I slide around on a laptop keyboard too much until it starts to go shiny.)

bhtooefr wrote:I believe ABS (due to being doubleshots), nothing fancy there, but the shape is what makes them so grippy. (And, I find that shiny ABS actually does have quite a bit of friction, too - I find that I slide around on a laptop keyboard too much until it starts to go shiny.)

Kinda like racing slicks.

I don't mind shininess on lighter keyboards. On black keyboards, it looks terrible.

bhtooefr wrote:I believe ABS (due to being doubleshots), nothing fancy there, but the shape is what makes them so grippy. (And, I find that shiny ABS actually does have quite a bit of friction, too - I find that I slide around on a laptop keyboard too much until it starts to go shiny.)

This is exactly why I don't like ABS keycaps, and prefer PBT or POM. I don't want my fingers to stick on the keys, I want to be able to glide my fingers around on the keyboards. But I'll admit, POM feels a little bit too frictionless to me as well.

Anyway, I'm always amazed by your keyboard finding skills HaaTa!

I'm not sure that I've ever actually used POM, although I've certainly used tons of PBT (given that IBM used it on the F/M keys).