My terminal keyboard lacks a meta key, are terminal keyboards standardized?

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I recently picked up an old WYSE green monochrome terminal to hook to my home server (I was feeling retro don't judge me).
It has a keyboard that has a very limited number of keys. The keyboard is unpleasant to type on and lacks a meta key and an "end" key.
The shift buttons are horribly small and the del key is right beside the backspace key.

Perhaps the most important feature is the "setup" key. It allows me to configure the terminal when pressed with shift.
A replacement would need a similar key, or I suppose I could always setup the terminal with the original then power off and swap out for the "better" one should they be compatible.
This keyboard uses one of those RJ connectors.

How standardized are terminal keyboards?

My model terminsl is the WY55, according to the feature list it supports several different keyboards. I'm not sure it those are WYSE analogs or any ANSI/ASCII keyboard.
http://www.wyse.de/products/gpt/gpt_handbook.pdf

Could I replace it with a clicky IBM or other keyboard?
Are there adapters to use a proper keyboard with the RJ connector?

I know that few people here probably have knowledge on the subject of terminals but hopefully somebody can help me.
I like my glowing green terminal, just need a better keyboard!

[mich]

No, they aren't. However, your board might be electronically compatible with PS/2 as a side effect of using off-the-shelf parts to cut costs. But the only way to know is to disassemble this stuff and see what's inside.

[Findecanor]

The Wyse ASCII keyboard is not PC-compatible, from what I have heard.

You could get a Wyse PCE keyboard with model number 840358. It has the same type of switches and key caps, but has PC layout + a Setup key.
The 900840 and 900866 are PC-compatible, and I don't know if the WY55 terminal handles them.
There is also a version of the Wyse ASCII keyboard that has the Delete key one row down, I.e. in about the same position as on a PC keyboard.

It is possible to change the switches to another variant of the Cherry MX, such as the clicky Cherry MX Blue, but the switches on these keyboards are plate-mounted, so that would require desoldering the old switches from the PCB and then soldering the new switches on.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

This is really rough news. WYSE has devolved into a partnership with DELL now and I doubt I can get any further information as they have written off this sort of thing.
Terminals were a high price item so I doubt I can get a new keyboard for a few bucks as companies love price gouging when it comes to their business partner sales.
I'd be willing to open her up if anyone cares to see the inside.

[Wildcard]

On the positive side those are double shot keycaps on that board, a little retr0bright and you've got a very nice set of caps for any other MX board.

[touchtype]

I'd like to see the inside.

[kps]

The keyboard is unpleasant to type on and lacks a meta key

What would a Meta key do on an ASCII terminal?

[Pixel_Outlaw]

The keyboard is unpleasant to type on and lacks a meta key

What would a Meta key do on an ASCII terminal?

The meta key is used heavily in many terminal programs.
Emacs uses it (thought you can use Esc as a substitute)
GNU Nano uses it.

The meta key has an important role in Linux. When your terminal program doesn't have menus, you often end up having a lot of meta and ctrl based commands.

[kps]

What would a Meta key do on an ASCII terminal?

The meta key is used heavily in many terminal programs.

That wasn't the question. The Wyse 55 isn't a terminal program, it's a terminal. It communicates with the host by sending ASCII characters over RS232.

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DEL

The Control key maps row 4-5 characters to row 0-1 characters. There isn't anything for a Meta key to do.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

I see what you are saying now.
I misunderstood your response.