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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: Red October on Tue, 13 October 2009, 02:56:07
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Got this just today; not sure what it's too or anything, just very interesting. I like Burroughs stuff and kinda wish you could still get stuff with the name... Anyway, it's got discrete keyswitches that are truly awful; they are not tactile and have no feedback, simply mushing against the bottom stop without fanfare. It's probably a console keyboard; there's a small key-switch on the side (as in a switch you have to put a brass key into and turn to unlock it or change modes or something, like a Point-of-Sale terminal). I typed a few lines on it and it was just horrible, especially compared to the Displaywriter keyboard I was fiddling around with earlier in the evening. It's got a DE9 plug with an earth strap (and an earth screw too...) and only about 5 pins present... I suppose if we had some idea what's going on on these pins, it could be interfaced to a "modern" PC by way of the serial connector, with the right software, although since it's truly horrible to type on I'm not sure why you'd want to, outside of it being nice and compact...
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That's a nice looking unit.
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Want.
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I typed a few lines on it and it was just horrible, especially compared to the Displaywriter keyboard I was fiddling around with earlier in the evening.
Well, you can't compare a Buckling Beam Spring keyboard with anything else, really. :-)
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Got this just today; not sure what it's too or anything, just very interesting. I like Burroughs stuff and kinda wish you could still get stuff with the name... Anyway, it's got discrete keyswitches that are truly awful; they are not tactile and have no feedback, simply mushing against the bottom stop without fanfare. It's probably a console keyboard; there's a small key-switch on the side (as in a switch you have to put a brass key into and turn to unlock it or change modes or something, like a Point-of-Sale terminal). I typed a few lines on it and it was just horrible, especially compared to the Displaywriter keyboard I was fiddling around with earlier in the evening. It's got a DE9 plug with an earth strap (and an earth screw too...) and only about 5 pins present... I suppose if we had some idea what's going on on these pins, it could be interfaced to a "modern" PC by way of the serial connector, with the right software, although since it's truly horrible to type on I'm not sure why you'd want to, outside of it being nice and compact...
That's a remote terminal keyboard (from an MT985, maybe?) for a Burroughs mainframe, aka a "Burroughs Large System" which later became the Unisys A-Series line.
I used a similar keyboard for four or five years back in the '80s when I was doing operating systems programming on Burroughs/Unisys mainframes for a living.
Burroughs probably used the same terminals on their other computer lines, which were imaginatively called Medium Systems and Small Systems, however I only worked on B5900s and A10s so I can't confirm.
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It's probably a console keyboard; there's a small key-switch on the side (as in a switch you have to put a brass key into and turn to unlock it or change modes or something, like a Point-of-Sale terminal).
BTW, IIRC the brass key just locked the keyboard so nobody could use it, for example if you stepped away from your terminal and didn't want to log your session out.
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Some sure looked nice though, esp the keys.
I'll have to say, though, that that keyboard, although really retro, doesn't strike me as all that attractive in appearance. Never mind feel, although you will know when you've struck one of those keys.
That's a Model 28 Teletype in that picture.
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Anyway, it's got discrete keyswitches that are truly awful; they are not tactile and have no feedback, simply mushing against the bottom stop without fanfare.
Linear switches were standard issue with keyboards of the 70s. IBM was pretty unique in their use of tactile switches.
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I tried a bunch of terminal boards in a "PC Museum" a few weeks ago and they didn't feel all that great. Some sure looked nice though, esp the keys.
that thing looks hydraulic :D
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Got this just today
too bad we don't see color schemes like that anymore :)
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I bid on, but did not win, this particularly interesting Univac keyboard a while ago. I was having a hard time telling if it was a stand-alone affair or if someone ripped it out of a console or terminal, but either way, I wanted it...
Talk about not seeing 'em like that any more! Not sure what it would've been like to type on it, though.
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either way, I wanted it...
:O
an arrow on the space bar... and an almost-modern looking cursor cluster -- on the left! :D
i love the really long descriptions on the keys
:D :D
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Anyway, it's got discrete keyswitches that are truly awful
About 20 years ago someone gave me a couple of 70's Burroughs terminals from a pile of US Navy scrap.
I seem to remember that the keyswitches were hall-effect. That was years ago so I can't be sure.
These keyboards had a similar layout to yours, with the blue function keys in on top (some had LEDs above them.) The keyboard housing was heavy steel (like 2mm thick,) and there was a heavy cable coming out of the bottom (clearance provided by giant rubber feet) terminating in a DA or DB size connector.
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I bid on, but did not win, this particularly interesting Univac keyboard a while ago. I was having a hard time telling if it was a stand-alone affair or if someone ripped it out of a console or terminal, but either way, I wanted it...
Talk about not seeing 'em like that any more! Not sure what it would've been like to type on it, though.
I don't know why but those keys remind me of a teletype machine. Fun, fun, fun!
And LOUD!
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I don't know why but those keys remind me of a teletype machine. Fun, fun, fun!
And LOUD!
That would be because teletypes had keys like that, individualy in the plate.
The Burroughs is definitely off of an operator's console from the "Large systems" and "Medium Systems" line, but it's later than the TC500 my mother used ages ago.