deskthority

This keyboard is from a Tektronix 4120 series graphic workstation from 1985. tek-case.jpg To quote the catalog : The 4120's user-friendly keyboard features numeric keypads, thumbwheels for graphic input, eight dedicated programmable function keys, ports for joystick and mouse, and a complete easy-to...

you will always have a VCC pin, a GND pin and at least one data pin Even that isn't universally true. It's possible to share Vcc and data. I recently converted external numpads that work by: Having the terminal disconnect power periodically and running off capacitors to actually do the data xfer. P...

Following on the recent conversion of some external numpads built by Mitsumi for Toshiba and Compaq that minimized space by only having a mono sub-mini audio jack, I dug around in the work pile for other interesting approaches from around the same time, the early '90s. One such is to use connectors ...

Some of what Chyrosran in a recent review calls Micro Switch microswitch switches:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224171925218

He believes them to be the tallest keyboard switches around.

As planned, I got one of those Compaq external keypads, the 2697. I believe this is from the mid-'90s. Compaq-back.jpg It adds a scaled-down navpad. Compaq-case.jpg The switches are Mitsumi rubber dome over membrane and the PCB is indeed made by them as well. Compaq-top.jpg The design is rather more...

Rayndalf wrote: ↑

24 Sep 2020, 02:37

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cardkey-Numeri ... 3750592889

It's cute. Any idea what kind of switches these are?

Stackpole. See here.

Baking soda is not just providing structure. Cyanoacrylates are self-polymerizing. Crazy glue adds sulfonic acid, which inhibits that. The acid reacts with moisture in the air to (relatively) slowly break down and so cure the adhesive. Baking soda neutralizes the acid almost immediately, so the same...

This is an external keypad for a Toshiba T1000/T1200 8086 laptop. toshiba-case.jpg It is model PA7354E and from around 1987. toshiba-back.jpg It has Mitsumi switches, so it's okay for the time, but nothing special. What is unusual is how it connected to the motherboard. It has a 2.5mm mono sub-mini ...

"I just didn't want to run the risk of undervaluing it."

https://www.ebay.com/itm/293739673034

Siemens Tastatur 4000
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203107098283
From Siemens Textstation T 4200.

This keyboard is from some CTM system in 1988. Its part number seems to be 680-1114HAC/03. CTM-case.jpg I am not familiar enough with CTM product lines to say what it was part of and didn't find a comprehensive source online. It says Series #32, A26. CTM-back.jpg The design is rather striking with l...

Really the only reason I bothered with this keyboard is the APL keycaps. HDS-case.jpg It's from a Human Design Systems Concept AVT-APL+ terminal. The badge has gone missing and the caps have yellowed, but it's a recognizable match with the brochure. A terminal with full APL overstrike at the beginni...

I now believe that the Ampex 2xx terminals all used a similar non-standard bit-serial protocol.

See here for conversion of a 219.

This is a keyboard from an Ampex 219 terminal from the mid '80s. Ampex-219-case.jpg Ampex-219-back.jpg The key layout is almost identical to the Ampex 230, discussed here before and photographed in the wiki and on Bitsavers . So much so that you could almost believe that one of them has had the keys...

This Cortron keyboard was part of a CPT 8000 series word processor from the end of 1979. CPT-case-black.jpg It is more than 2 ft. long. The case is steel, so the whole weighs 9.5 lbs. It has full-height magnetic valve switches. The key caps were pretty dirty, but the switches themselves are still qu...

I have a Tandy 1000 keyboard and I'd like to make it work with a Teensy. Note that the converter mentioned upthread does now mostly work externally without any change to the keyboard at all. And, except for the lock keys which need to be handled specially, it is fairly generally remappable. So, if ...

An Amkey SNK-58 keyboard. Amkey-top.jpg There were a number of sales like this on eBay earlier this year. I am not clear whether the seller had several of them or the one sale kept falling through after closing. Anyway, we got this one. It appears to have been part of some kind of T-Bar brand serial...

This is the Track House Standard IIe Tender Keypad for the Apple IIe. Standard-IIe-Tender.jpg The ink has worn off, but the company name is embossed on the rubber insert in the upper-left and almost visible in the photo, as well as printed on the back label. Standard-IIe-Tender-label.jpg I has some ...

I am not one for games, so I do not pay much attention to vintage controllers or gaming features on modern keyboards. But when I came upon this Atari CX85, it looked a bit more like an actual external keypad and I remembered something about them entering into a joint venture to make the key switches...

DIY cable for DIY wiring:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313154976511

This is a keyboard from an NEC APC. NEC-APC-top.jpg The keyboard has yellowed in an inconsistent way, I suppose because of how it was stored before I came upon it. It differs from the one in the wiki in not having stepped key caps for the extra-wide keys. It is dated 56年7月, that is, July 1982, so I ...

This is the keyboard from inside a Beehive B100 terminal. Beehive-top.jpg The wiki has photos by snuci, who has a complete terminal. The chips in this one all have 76 date codes and that has a couple 77 and so is perhaps a little younger. The custom controller IC and socketed ROM aren't quite the sa...

Boxes reminds me of this, which has been up for some time now:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163503556563

It looks to me like someone took the APL keycaps, put them on their keyboard and put the non-APL ones back into the box.

What's inside the right-hand box? It's awfully big to just be a null modem, which is all it seems like would be there conceptually. Among other things, which of the DTE signals from the computer are actually wired up in there? That might tell whether DTR matters. I think a reasonable working assumpt...

Writing of design choices for integrated keyboards reminded me that I have this board that I got as part of a package deal from tentator. So I dug it out from the bottom of the pile and hooked it up. Omron-top.jpg The compact layout -- aside from the giant ISO Enter -- suggests a laptop and the Turb...

I got this 1976 board even though it has an obvious problem. VT50-top.jpg Now I'm on the lookout for a Hi-Tek E key or else having to use un corps noir tranchant un flamant as a typing test phrase. Other than that, it cleaned up nicely: only a few scratches and a couple switches with broken corners,...

Do you have an opinion on the switches themselves? I think I like something with a little more travel. I've got an older ITW in the quarantine queue (that's 75% heavier) that I may end up liking more. The ones on this board also feel a little scratchy. I don't know whether that's because they need ...

Sanyo MBC-885 with FLS 3rd gen switches:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/303613783321

This is around when everyone was standardizing on IBM compatibility, so maybe it's XT protocol, unlike the earlier 550, which was just serial ASCII.

hellothere wrote: ↑

03 Jul 2020, 01:45

That could be cool. I've not played with a Space Invaders keyboard before.

I got one a while ago (see here). It's a fun little board.

Some SD-series keyboards

Video Typewriter (with 4A3B)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/203035303082

Honeywell terminal stateside (with 4B3E)

https://www.ebay.com/itm//283932456518