deskthority

Found this a while ago. Needless to say it was insta-buy for the absurdity factor.

NKRO, and weighs about ~12 lbs. The case is chrome plated steel.

Haven't looked at the protocol, but I expect it to be custom (not that that stops me from using it ).
Spherical double shots with vintage Maxi-Switch linears (identical to NEC and SMK vintage linears).

And without further ado, presenting "Teh Blingings" aka the Billings 6000 Keyboard.
























A small bit of info on the Billings Computer Company.
http://classictech.wordpress.com/2012/0 ... -missouri/

Teh Blingings when rightfully seated on it's mythical (fingerprinty) chrome pedestal.


In truth, I could've gotten the seen monitor as well, but shipping a CRT is ridiculous...

Very nice. I could type and apply my mascara at the same time. How does this material go with fingerprints?

WTF!? This thing looks ridiculous. But it still looks better than some other keyboards nowadays. But I wonder what was supposed to be in the "Winchester" box.

RC-1140 wrote:WTF!? This thing looks ridiculous. But it still looks better than some other keyboards nowadays. But I wonder what was supposed in the "Winchester" box.

The hard disk drive!

A winchester hard drive.

Bah, beat me to it!

after reading the article I know that as well. But the name is inviting you to make a pun about it. But I'm not too good with puns.

webwit wrote:Very nice. I could type and apply my mascara at the same time. How does this material go with fingerprints?

Terrible for fingerprints...worse than even a Das keyboard.

That is one awesome keyboard the reeks of style that is hard to find these days.

Something I'm curious about.
Is this actually one of the earliest keyboards with an integrated wrist rest? (1983)

Awsome board!

That is frickin awesome! if you tire of it let me know, I'd love to own Darth Vader's keyboard.

Reminds me of this Megatek I was outbid on a few years ago, but yours is way cooler.



And it definitely wins the thick key cap award.

In truth, I could've gotten the seen monitor as well, but shipping a CRT is ridiculous...

The monitor is pretty cool looking, but, yeah.

The whole rack would be awesome converted into keyboard storage drawers though!

With teh blingings in a glass case on top, of course. Preferably maglev'd.

didja wrote:That is frickin awesome! if you tire of it let me know, I'd love to own Darth Vader's keyboard.

Maybe in few years
Still have to squeeze in some time to build a controller for it before I'd even consider parting with it.

Very nice, man.
I bet you had to do some interesting manouvres to avoid your picture being taken in the reflection

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY, HOW DO I ORDER 15?

On a side note, great find.

002 wrote:Very nice, man.
I bet you had to do some interesting manouvres to avoid your picture being taken in the reflection

Haha, yeah. You can even see Settlers of Catan in one of the reflection pics .

On a side note, this is probably beats out virtually all my keyboards for shear zombie beating durability.
Though you'll have to be careful of fingerprints...zombies tend not to wash their hands much .

I believe it's vampires that dislike shiny keyboards.

Now I see why thick keys are no barrier when you have such tall key stems.

And MaxiMan on the PCB is awesome!

HaaTa wrote: Haha, yeah. You can even see Settlers of Catan in one of the reflection pics .

love that game!

Damn cool. Wasn't expecting this with such a title, postponed checking it out since I expected something horrible; but this is one nice find! Shame about the monitor (and rest of the cabinet indeed).

The company saw some success abroad, claiming it made one of every four computers sold in Norway for 1981.

I think they sold some in Denmark as well ..

Seems rather practical.

OT: AWESOOOME

Sir, please step up to the podium to type.

Nice find!

Needs side-by-side comparison to a poker.

Any scoop on who this mysterious MaxiMan is?



Is he a SuperHero From the Dawn of Computing?

Ouch sad ending......
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-01/ ... protection

ripster wrote:Any scoop on who this mysterious MaxiMan is?



Is he a SuperHero From the Dawn of Computing?

I would be interested in this as well.
I do have another example of the logo.

(Both pics from the same keyboard)

.

I keep thinking this guy..Tron Nerd. And Tron DID come out in 1982.






Mmmmm...antipasto

It's so THICK

HaaTa wrote:Found this a while ago. Needless to say it was insta-buy for the absurdity factor.

NKRO, and weighs about ~12 lbs. The case is chrome plated steel.

Haven't looked at the protocol, but I expect it to be custom (not that that stops me from using it ).
Spherical double shots with vintage Maxi-Switch linears (identical to NEC and SMK vintage linears).

And without further ado, presenting "Teh Blingings" aka the Billings 6000 Keyboard.

That is friggin' awesome. It's like a Kaypro keyboard, but with extra keys to make it useful on modern computers. (assuming it could ever be connected)

Before I got my beam spring, I would have hunted you down and killed you for this keyboard. (...but now I'll just rough you up a little bit.. maybe break an arm )

I've tried to get this keyboard to work with modern computers...but it's TERRIBLY grounded by design. The entire thing works like a giant antenna, so it's hard to get it to get my scope to read anything useful.

Perhaps when I have a bit more time, I'll give it a bit more effort.

ripster wrote:Any scoop on who this mysterious MaxiMan is?



Is he a SuperHero From the Dawn of Computing?

Ouch sad ending......
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-01/ ... protection

From the linked article:

The company retains its keyboard and switch manufacturing business in Scotland, and a keypad manufacturing plant in Phoenix.

Wonder if that was in Greenock, by any chance? Strange to think that Scotland was once the keyboard capital of Europe. Bet it was all about subsidies and when those couldn't fill the gap with Chinese costs, that's when the music stopped.

Anyway, Lord Vader's keyboard could very well prove dangerous if it were to fall into rebel hands.