geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: dorkvader on Tue, 19 March 2013, 00:54:49
-
I got this on eBay for $20 not too long ago. It has hall effect keyswitches, and is from 1977. Unlike later hall effect keyswitches I have seen (like on that BUD keypad) these have circular stems and bind a little if you hit them far enough off axis. I will probably lube them later.
There is no visible wear on the keycaps. Coffee/beige & red: it looks pretty good.
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0024.jpg)
Yes, those are tripleshots.
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0021.jpg)
The spacebar has a stabilizer similar to costar, but the inserts appear to be attached pretty permanently to the spacebar. You can put the actual spacebar switch pretty much anywhere under the keycap.
The 2x "0" key an the tenkey has a dummy switch under it, The active and dummy switches have springs half the weight of a normal one so the net force is the same; nice!
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0023.jpg)
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0025.jpg)
Here are all the keys with secondary labels laid out in a row. What sort of program has arrowkeys on ABCD ?
When I make the layout, I'll see about using these as shifted or function keys.
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0036.jpg)
I didn't take any pictures of it as QWERTY before I tried laying it out in some sort of Dvorak, so here's a picture of the whole thing
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0079.jpg)
Here's a picture from the eBay seller showing the original layout:
(http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/1977front.jpg)
Bytheway, that isn't a broken switch next to "line feed" or "return". It's actually a spare. I suppose it's for easy replacement if one fails. It is labelled differently on the PCB.
Date code is 77/16. This is actually my oldest keyboard, beating my IBM typewriter (Selectric II) by a few weeks.
There are spaces on the plate for different/alternate layouts. I will very likely replace the PCB or drill it or something. I think I will use this either for gaming or at work (with a QWERTY-like layout). I have tested all the switches (64 I believe) with an oscilloscope and they do work.
The housings do not have any markings on them that i can see. There are strips of material between the PCB and the mounting plate to help make bottoming out less hard. This is the only major point of failure or wear that I see. The keyboard has some dirt, but appears to only have seen light use.
Overall, it's pretty great. Anyone else have good hall effect keyboards? I'm interested to see!
-
Might the arrows map to A, B, C, D because you had some encoding where the bit-patterns are similar?
-
How do the switches feel? Always heard they were super linear.
-
Nice.
-
this keyboard is gorgeous and deserves a bump!
-
I have always loved the look of old boards, not to sound old but they just don't make them like that anymore.
-
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0021.jpg
Now that is what I call a doubleshot.
-
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/dork_vader/Keyboards/DSCF0021.jpg
Now that is what I call a *tripleshot.
-
WOW. I have never seen triple shots before!
-
superb keycaps.
-
What sort of interface does it use?
-
What sort of interface does it use?
not sure, It's probably some sort of internal interface for the computer it came out of. I suspect this was salvaged out of a honeywell terminal of some sort.
I also recently got another one, with a similar connector and all that. I took some more pictures and can post them if anyone's interested.
And then there's this:
It's has clicky and tactile hall effect keyswitches.
http://imgur.com/a/Ai5fo
-
Are those rails on the side for mounting to a rack? Or is that just with the case off? That might be the new Man-board, very cool!
-
clicky and tactile hall effect keyswitches.
That sounds amazing.
-
And then there's this:
It's has clicky and tactile hall effect keyswitches.
http://imgur.com/a/Ai5fo
Woah, that's amazing! It would make an IBM 122-key look tiny next to it. I wonder what kind of console that came out of?
It would be interesting to see what was added to those switches to make them click. Is there a tactile bump too?
-
Maybe it was for a Bell Labs/ATT UNIX terminal? Pretty cool!
-
Upload the sound of the switches!
-
I can probably dig up my F122 for size comparisons. Right now it's still in pieces. The switches are a little odd, as they are tactile on the way down like a clear, and clicky on the way up, sorta like alps. I can take a sound sample with my phone, or apple cinema display, but it won't be good. I'm pretty sure it came out of some piece of industrial equiptment. Look at the alarm keys on the right.
Sadly, it's not very consistant, likely due to heavy use.
I'm sure the rails are just to mount it in a terminal, and I've just rececived it with the case off.