Author Topic: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key  (Read 6344 times)

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Offline SamirD

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Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« on: Sat, 02 December 2017, 12:35:01 »
Found this while looking for something else:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bizarre-Netpliance-I-Opener-keyboard-from-dot-com-bust-with-D-Pad-and-pizza-key/222734418559?hash=item33dc01827f:g:JuEAAOSw9hdZ8q4o

"Here is an unusual find and a tacky souvenir from the end of the dot com bubble: a compact PS/2 keyboard with built-in arrow keys, made in China for the first mass-market "Internet appliance": The Netpliance I-Opener.   It has a rubber circle (called a D-Pad) in the upper right for the 4 arrow keys.

In 1999, when cheap home PCs were $500 to $700 Netpliance built a somewhat retarded PC for $300, which they soon discounted to $99.  They required a $21.95/month subscription for dial-up internet access, and designed their internet terminal first time internet users who didn't want to know about IP addresses, Windows device drivers, cache memory in CPUs, or upgrade options.  They partnered with several companies, now mostly forgotten.    The one partner we remember is Papa John's Pizza, who was rewarded with a dedicated key on the keyboard.  All a subscriber had to do was press the Pizza key to connect to Papa John's website and place an order for delivery.

What we also remember about Netpliance is that in 2000 a hacker from Indiana noticed that the innards of the I-Opener were similar to a standard PC, and that it could easily be hardware hacked to run Linux or WIndows and avoid using Netpliance as your internet service provider.  Netpliance thought they could thwart hardware hacking by securing their BIOS chip into the socket with epoxy, and then by releasing a more restrictive BIOS.  However, the company went belly-up in 2002.

Netpliance 6511-N keyboards are usually available on eBay, but they rarely sell, since the sellers assume that the internet is full of wealthy tacky-tech collectors who value the novelty of the "Pizza key" at 3 or 4 times the monthly income of a farmer in Burkina Faso.   The I-Opener was born to be cheap, so I'm keeping its keyboard that way."

Offline JP

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #1 on: Sat, 02 December 2017, 12:44:31 »
Interesting. I've never even heard of Netpliance.

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Offline SamirD

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #2 on: Sat, 02 December 2017, 18:48:06 »
I vaguely remember them back in the day.  This was around the time AOL was passing out CDs to every person on the planet and Netzero was starting to introduce 'free' dialup internet.  There were some crazy ideas on how to get everyone online back then.  :-\

Offline ander

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #3 on: Sun, 03 December 2017, 01:35:15 »
I vaguely remember them back in the day.  This was around the time AOL was passing out CDs to every person on the planet and Netzero was starting to introduce 'free' dialup internet.  There were some crazy ideas on how to get everyone online back then.  :-\

Speaking of this epoch, I just finished watching a great series called "Halt and Catch Fire" that ran from 2014–2017. Maybe you all know about it, but I didn't... It follows a group of engineers and entrepreneurs, from the dawn of the personal computing era to the early Internet. The characters are compelling, and the producers bent over backwards to make as historically and esthetically authentic as possible. It's on Netflix now—I highly recommend it.

("Halt and catch fire" was a facetious term for a bug that locked up the system.)
We are not chasing wildly after beauty with fear at our backs. – Natalie Goldberg

Offline SamirD

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #4 on: Sun, 03 December 2017, 09:15:16 »
I vaguely remember them back in the day.  This was around the time AOL was passing out CDs to every person on the planet and Netzero was starting to introduce 'free' dialup internet.  There were some crazy ideas on how to get everyone online back then.  :-\

Speaking of this epoch, I just finished watching a great series called "Halt and Catch Fire" that ran from 2014–2017. Maybe you all know about it, but I didn't... It follows a group of engineers and entrepreneurs, from the dawn of the personal computing era to the early Internet. The characters are compelling, and the producers bent over backwards to make as historically and esthetically authentic as possible. It's on Netflix now—I highly recommend it.

("Halt and catch fire" was a facetious term for a bug that locked up the system.)
Oh, I remember when that series came out on TV.  I never got a chance to watch it, but will have to check it out!  :thumb:


Offline OldIsNew

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 03 December 2017, 20:00:53 »
 I'm tempted to buy it just because of the the effort the seller went to with the description. Rather interesting!

Offline SamirD

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #6 on: Sun, 03 December 2017, 21:31:44 »
Yes, he does such a great job on all his descriptions--just worth it to rummage through his listings and read.  :cool:

Offline ander

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #7 on: Mon, 04 December 2017, 01:30:27 »
Found this while looking for something else...

That's how I found my wife, too, but don't tell her that.
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Offline Duckyreddy

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #8 on: Mon, 04 December 2017, 02:27:29 »
Found this while looking for something else...

That's how I found my wife, too, but don't tell her that.

lmao

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Offline microsoft windows

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #9 on: Mon, 04 December 2017, 16:40:17 »
WOW! THAT IS AN AMAZING KEYBOARD. I AM GOING TO BUY ONE RIGHT NOW IF I CAN FIND ONE AT A LOWER PRICE.
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Offline ander

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #10 on: Tue, 05 December 2017, 03:55:09 »
[edited to remove annoying quoted text—you're welcome]
« Last Edit: Thu, 07 December 2017, 01:54:33 by ander »
We are not chasing wildly after beauty with fear at our backs. – Natalie Goldberg

Offline Duckyreddy

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #11 on: Tue, 05 December 2017, 12:32:13 »
maybe it once belonged to pizza hut :/

now its a retired pizza typer

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Offline microsoft windows

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #12 on: Tue, 05 December 2017, 14:15:04 »
WOW! THAT IS AN AMAZING KEYBOARD. I AM GOING TO BUY ONE RIGHT NOW IF I CAN FIND ONE AT A LOWER PRICE.

I take it you support The Donald? That would explain all the shouting.

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Offline SamirD

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #13 on: Wed, 06 December 2017, 11:51:32 »
Found this while looking for something else...

That's how I found my wife, too, but don't tell her that.
Me too! lol!  :))

Offline SamirD

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #14 on: Wed, 06 December 2017, 11:52:32 »
WOW! THAT IS AN AMAZING KEYBOARD. I AM GOING TO BUY ONE RIGHT NOW IF I CAN FIND ONE AT A LOWER PRICE.

I take it you support The Donald? That would explain all the shouting.
Nah, that's just Microsoft Windows, akin to tp4tissue in posting style. ;)


Offline ander

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #15 on: Wed, 06 December 2017, 19:04:07 »
[edited to remove annoying quoted text—you're welcome]
« Last Edit: Thu, 07 December 2017, 01:50:43 by ander »
We are not chasing wildly after beauty with fear at our backs. – Natalie Goldberg

Offline matt-taco

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #16 on: Wed, 06 December 2017, 21:02:28 »
My man, I think your political views are little skewed and though I don't neccessarily agree with you, I think this is the wrong venue for political arguement. I really want to say something about your last comment but a thread about a keyboard with a pizza key is not the right setting.

Offline ander

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #17 on: Wed, 06 December 2017, 23:03:43 »
...I really want to say something about your last comment but a thread about a keyboard with a pizza key is not the right setting.

Sorry, but I can't show that comment anymore because it was in response to something people didn't want me to quote. My hands are tied, which makes it very difficult to type.
« Last Edit: Thu, 07 December 2017, 01:51:42 by ander »
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Offline microsoft windows

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #18 on: Thu, 07 December 2017, 18:49:57 »
DO YOU EVER ORDER PIZZA IN THE MAIL?
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Offline SamirD

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #19 on: Thu, 07 December 2017, 21:54:11 »
No, but I have gotten some via email.

Anyone remember these guys (Samurai Pizza Cats)?

Offline microsoft windows

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #20 on: Sat, 09 December 2017, 13:40:42 »
I HAVE NO MEMORY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THAT IMAGE.
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Offline SamirD

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #21 on: Sun, 10 December 2017, 01:40:43 »
I HAVE NO MEMORY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THAT IMAGE.
So you do remember!


Offline microsoft windows

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #22 on: Sun, 10 December 2017, 12:24:54 »
I HAVE NO MEMORY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THAT IMAGE.
So you do remember!



N
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Offline JP

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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #23 on: Sun, 10 December 2017, 14:39:19 »
Alzheimer's must be a pain in the ***
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Re: Keyboard with a 'Pizza' Key
« Reply #24 on: Sun, 10 December 2017, 15:32:51 »
I
 T

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                 E
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                       D
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