Burroughs TP110 terminal keyboard

[theodric]

I had occasion to visit my parents at their house for the first time in eight years, and took the opportunity to dig through the stuff I left in the attic when I moved out. One of the things I most wanted to find was a Burroughs terminal keyboard that I've had stashed since the late 90s. I've never been able to locate much information about the terminal this would have connected to. The Computer History Museum also has one of these in their archive, but are equally light on info. Based on similar-looking Burroughs equipment that I have been able to find info on, I'm guessing mid-to-late 1970s design. The asset tag on the cord records a date of "04-09-80."

Since I've been unable to locate anything that would help me understand how to interface to the board, at present, my best idea for actually getting to use this thing is to desolder and archive the controller board, wire a new matrix to the switches, and drive it with a Pro Micro. I've been wanting to make this more than just a static display/shelf-filler for two decades. I think that's finally a reasonable proposition, and I can accomplish it without doing irreversible damage to the unit, so I'm inclined to make it happen.

Possibly because it belonged to the state government of Illinois, it doesn't appear to have seen much use. Heh. The case is a bit scuffed and very yellow, but the keycaps are in remarkable condition. They look to be proprietary to Micro Switch, the company that built the keyboard.

Anywho, pix0rz live here: https://imgur.com/a/VAoZD

Have a teaser:

[CPTBadAss]

Damn this is really cool. I was going to guess that it was a Burroughs Optical switch board but maybe it's hall effect? Are the switches linear?

And your keyboard looks similar to some of the pictures in this link. But I'm not 100% certain.

[theodric]

Wow, you accomplished more effective research in two minutes than I did in two decades off and on. Respect!

Apparently this is what the complete package looks like:


Somebody selling one says it would have connected to a Burroughs B90/B900-series office computer.
http://obtainsurplus.com/computing/peripherals/burroughs-mts-a-b9361-21-terminal-vintage-500091915016ll15ls
http://www.picklesnet.com/burroughs/gallery/bpgb90-900.htm

They sure feel like linear switches, anyway. I have a bunch more Burroughs stuff from when the bank in my hometown switched from mainframe terminals to PCs in the mid-90s, and IIRC the keyboards on those (newer) terminals look a lot like the opto-electric one you linked to. This one looks much different inside.

So here's a n00b question for you: how do I tell for sure what sort of keyswitch technology is in use? Do I need to take a switch apart?

[CPTBadAss]

Google is a hell of a drug )

The easiest way to ID a switch is to take a clear picture of the switches and let someone ID it. But if that doesn't work out, you'd want to disassemble it and then let the vintage heads ID it. Also I'd bug Haata or dorkvader about it.

[jerue]

preeetttyyy sure these are Hall Effect. But never take my sole word for it  )

[theodric]

Google is a hell of a drug.

They are confirmed as hall effect switches; the keyboard model is even in this list: https://deskthority.net/wiki/Honeywell_Hall_Effect

[CPTBadAss]

The underside of the keycaps was a pretty big giveaway but I'm definitely not an expert so I wasn't certain. Very cool. I love hall effect switches and that layout is awesome. What a great re-discovery!

[Red October]

Lovely to see another one of these here, I have one myself.  They make great display pieces but I don't know of any way to make them work with modern equipment, it would be interesting to see what those switches are like in practice although with the layout I can't imagine using it for long, which has probably got something to do with why nobody's done anything with it yet.

[muon]

Beautiful!

I'll definitely have to keep my eye out for one of these.