Burroughs TD016 "Data Preparation"

pr0ximity · 17 Apr 2016, 20:56

Finally got a chance to take some pictures of the Burroughs Hall Effect keyboard I picked up on eBay a little while back. It appears to be the little brother of nourathar's TD019 and his linked reference manual for the TD 730/TD 780 calls this the "Data Preparation" model. From the labels it looks like it was manufactured in November 1978, making it my oldest keyboard!

It had a few small rust spots around the hardware and inner plates which I treated with rust converter and sealed with some Rustoleum that you might spy. Aside from that it seems to be in decent shape. The switches were quite scratchy when I first got it so I lubed them with a little CorrosionX and they seem to move a bit nicer now, but they still stick a bit on off-center presses.

The spacebar has a serious sticking problem which I think is attributed to the stabilizer it uses, it's a small metal plate that slides in a plastic groove and had some legacy residue on it which I sanded off to little avail. I thought I had some pictures around of it with the caps off and up close shots of the spacebar details but I'll need to find them.

All in all it looks like a great little board in a nice form factor!

It's got some of the thickest caps I've ever experienced too, and a beautiful blue color:

seebart · 17 Apr 2016, 21:38

Very nice, been looking foreward to seeing this, thanks for sharing!

HaaTa · 17 Apr 2016, 22:46

Nice, I wondered who nabbed this.

Redmaus · 18 Apr 2016, 01:49

Oh wow nice in stupendous condition as well!

Be lucky to have a Hall effect board with a workable layout

snuci · 18 Apr 2016, 03:36

Very nice. I looked around and completely forgot to post mine. I think it's the same model. If I can help with the space bar, I can take some pics of mine if it helps.

ramnes · 18 Apr 2016, 18:49

Are the key caps blueish, or is the white balance off?

pr0ximity · 19 Apr 2016, 03:11

ramnes wrote: Are the key caps blueish, or is the white balance off?

They are very blue. They might be a bit saturated in the photos but they're fairly accurate in terms of white balance I think, the first two shots are probably the most accurate.

EDIT: Of course, you meant the grey caps

They're a fairly cool grey, yes.

nourathar · 21 Apr 2016, 01:18

aha, was wondering who got this...

livingspeedbump · 21 Apr 2016, 21:09

nourathar wrote: aha, was wondering who got this...

Ha, I was too. I remember this being on my watchlist.

snuci · 21 Apr 2016, 21:26

livingspeedbump wrote:
nourathar wrote: aha, was wondering who got this...
Ha, I was too. I remember this being on my watchlist.

It was on my watch list and I already had one. These are VERY nice keyboards.

The only image I posted was of a possible banner here:

Very nice internals.

livingspeedbump · 24 Apr 2016, 00:45

My wallet was slim when this one was for sale, and it still is. But for someone with some extra spending money there is one listed on ebay right now as well, appears to be in acceptable/good condition as well.

Slom · 24 Apr 2016, 10:16

snuci wrote:
livingspeedbump wrote:
nourathar wrote: aha, was wondering who got this...
Ha, I was too. I remember this being on my watchlist.
It was on my watch list and I already had one. These are VERY nice keyboards.

The only image I posted was of a possible banner here:

Very nice internals.

Can you tell me what written on the white chip?

snuci · 24 Apr 2016, 14:37

Here's a close-up:

Note: My keyboard is slightly different than pr0ximity's as you can tell by the top row of keys so the writing on pro0ximity's white keyboard IC is sligghtly different.

: White Ceramic IC.jpg (165.33 KiB) Viewed 6728 times

Slom · 24 Apr 2016, 14:45

snuci wrote: Here's a close-up:

Note: My keyboard is slightly different than pr0ximity's as you can tell by the top row of keys so the writing on pro0ximity's white keyboard IC is sligghtly different.

White Ceramic IC.jpg

thank you

pr0ximity · 27 Apr 2016, 01:58

Slom wrote:
snuci wrote: Here's a close-up:

Note: My keyboard is slightly different than pr0ximity's as you can tell by the top row of keys so the writing on pro0ximity's white keyboard IC is sligghtly different.

White Ceramic IC.jpg
thank you

Do you have any information on that chip or the one on my board? I don't think I was able to find documentation on it anywhere.

I'd love to look into reverse engineering these if I get some spare time and an oscilloscope. I think there are a fair number of this generation of Burroughs boards around. Far easier said than done, as with all things.

snuci · 27 Apr 2016, 02:43

pr0ximity wrote: Do you have any information on that chip or the one on my board? I don't think I was able to find documentation on it anywhere.

I'd love to look into reverse engineering these if I get some spare time and an oscilloscope. I think there are a fair number of this generation of Burroughs boards around. Far easier said than done, as with all things.

I don't have chip level information. My keyboard also came with a TD700 terminal (the removable display portion only) that was one of the first gas plasma display screens from 1973 known as the Panaplex. The entire terminal looks like this:

Spoiler:

Mine looked like this (until I cleaned it up):

: Burroughs TD700 terminal parts; TD700 Terminal.JPG (128.57 KiB) Viewed 6682 times

You might want to look at some technical documentation for the TD700 here to start with:
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ ... _Apr76.pdf

More manuals here:
http://manx.classiccmp.org/details.php/21,17117

Excelso · 01 May 2016, 16:25

snuci wrote:
pr0ximity wrote: Do you have any information on that chip or the one on my board? I don't think I was able to find documentation on it anywhere.

I'd love to look into reverse engineering these if I get some spare time and an oscilloscope. I think there are a fair number of this generation of Burroughs boards around. Far easier said than done, as with all things.
I don't have chip level information. My keyboard also came with a TD700 terminal (the removable display portion only) that was one of the first gas plasma display screens from 1973 known as the Panaplex. The entire terminal looks like this:

Spoiler:
Mine looked like this (until I cleaned it up):

TD700 Terminal.JPG
You might want to look at some technical documentation for the TD700 here to start with:
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ ... _Apr76.pdf

More manuals here:
http://manx.classiccmp.org/details.php/21,17117

I would mod the hell out of something like this just to use it daily xD. It's so beautiful.

arathorn867 · 13 Aug 2016, 22:45

Hey, so I just found a Burroughs TD016 keyboard and terminal at an estate auction this morning. I haven't been able to find much info, but it seems like you guys might be able to help out. I'm curious as to how I might be able to get it working, what it is worth, where I would be able to find spare parts, etc.

emilyology · 04 Dec 2017, 18:29

arathorn867 wrote: Hey, so I just found a Burroughs TD016 keyboard and terminal at an estate auction this morning. I haven't been able to find much info, but it seems like you guys might be able to help out. I'm curious as to how I might be able to get it working, what it is worth, where I would be able to find spare parts, etc.

Hi there, I have just come across one of these sets of monitor and keyboard together in my loft... It's identical to yours. I know nothing about it and the history of it. Did you have any luck with the terminal and keyboard? Did it work? Did you sell it? I don't know what to do with mine...

Thanks
Emily