Old HP Keyboard Question

[Dimswitch]

At the local Salvation Army I found an old HP keyboard made in 1991. It has a PS/2 connection and lock LEDs under their respective keycaps. Taking off a cap, it *seems* to be some type of rubber dome board, but it feels miles and miles (and miles) better than any other dome keyboard I've ever typed on. The keys are tall and extremely tactile - typing on it actually creates quite a bit of noise from the force of the keys springing back into place. Honestly, it feels just as good if not better than my Model M. The part number is C3757-60401 - I haven't be able to determine much about this board other than it may have been used on old HP workstations.

Does anybody out there know anything about this board?

Edit: Interesting, shining a very bright flashlight at the translucent dome surface revealed that there's a spring in there. Also, the keycap slideguides and "baseplate" seem to be made entirely out of Delrin, if I'm not mistaken.

[rootwyrm]

You are not entirely mistaken, but it's been too long.

The keyboard you speak of goes to the Vectra line of professional workstations, which is why it's not a mushboard. Not my favorite, but it's not terrible either.  There is indeed a spring in there, but that's about the extent of what I remember myself.. the Vectra I used, well, I had an M13 on it.

[Dimswitch]

Cool, thanks for the info. Those Vectras were Unix stations, right? What did you use them for?

[rootwyrm]

Cool, thanks for the info. Those Vectras were Unix stations, right? What did you use them for?

Negative; Vectra family was the mid-high end x86 stuff. The keyboard you've got is the one that goes to the higher end of the Vectra line, just below Kayak. Without photos can't be sure, but I'd guess it's the upper end Vectra / Kayak keyboard.

Believe or not, the HP 9000/700 and C family - in my case I've worked on 9000/730 + Personal VRX, C160 and C240 - come with the red and gray rubber dome or the "enhanced" version. See here for a meh picture of the "enhanced" one. It's essentially the red and gray with beige/dark gray or beige/black keycaps (I've seen both.) Not a terrible but not my favorite.

[Dimswitch]

Here's some pics in case anybody was interested:



Closeup of slider/switch/dome thingy:


At some point I'll have to take the board apart and get a better look at what's going on down there...

[SamirD]

I hate to bump an older thread, but looking for information on this same board and reading the thread here and in other places makes me strongly think this board is made by Keytronic. 

Lots of their signature design elements like the shape of the keys and the boardr, lack of an led panel (which they did on some designs), and integrated lock leds.

[chyros]

The board above is a Key Tronic, yeah. The clear slider wells are a dead giveaway.

[SamirD]

The board above is a Key Tronic, yeah. The clear slider wells are a dead giveaway.

Thank you for the confirmation!  Now anyone searching for this model will know.