DEC vt100 'cyber' keyboard

[nourathar]

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My most recent find is a DEC vt100 terminal keyboard, from I believe 1980. I keep trying to find keyboards that are a bit older than that, but that is not that easy (without spending loads of money on shipping, since such boards rarely show up on this side of the pond, for some reason). This keyboard is a classic, I really like the looks of it; great shape, nice colours, great caps. I also like the fact it has a jack-plug; there has been a project to build a converter for these boards, but I haven't gotten around to build one myself.

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This particular keyboard came from a government research lab that has close relations with the military, so this binary 'cyber' code might in fact be be top secret. When connected to the terminal (or to the converter), the speaker can beep or produce extra keyclick sounds, but I have not heard those yet.

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The switches are Hi-Tek Linear, in the familiar 'waffle frame' construction that seems to have been very popular indeed around 1980. So no individual switch housings, but one big plastic entity that fits all the switches. I know these switches can be very scratchy and rather unpleasant, but this keyboard seemed to have aged well: it is not my favourite switch, but it feels rather comfortable, pretty smooth, very light. Smoother and lighter than black Alps, much lighter than Cherry MX blacks, so I guess more close to Cherry MX Reds, but I don't really know those.

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There are three types of switch on this board:
- the standard ones,
- some special switches (for ctrl, no scroll, setup etc.), with very long springs and very long stems on the keycaps, and that need a lot of force to actuate,
- a latching switch for the 'caps lock' key. See the pict below for the mechanism

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The caps are beautifully tall, spherical, dark and shiny doubleshots..

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On the bottom left of the pcb it says '80' in nice futuristic lettering, so that is why I think this one is from 1980. I have the terminal too, but for now I put it in storage, since it is huge (and I am waiting for another one to arrive....).

[Muirium]

Nice!

I do indeed recognise the combo of waffle frame and the "praying hands" of Hi-Tek Linear. Seeing those two spells vintage layout and spectacular caps. Your DEC did not disappoint.

[7bit]

To me, these key caps look like from Signature Plastics.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I was hoping that a fully disassembled VT100 keyboard might yield some clues to confirm Hi-Tek and/or help recognition of Hi-Tek vs Stackpole, but not a lot there. The year done as 7-segment digits is certainly something you see on NMB Hi-Tek boards; I don't recall whether I've seen that on other brands. It's also got the little islands on the separator bars again, which are quite rare.

Interesting photo — [wiki]Perkin-Elmer 3700 keycap[/wiki] on the left, and Signature Plastics SA keycap on the right:

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The VT100 keycaps above far more closely resemble the SP keycap in the photo (right). Obviously the mount stripes vary a lot, but the wall shapes are a match.

[7bit]

The black key caps look much more like SP. Dio you see those things (how are they called?) in the corners in the white section.

I also have a key cap with a similar, if not the same mount which had been erroneously produced (was in the grab bags).

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The little ridges? Yes I see them.

I sent an e-mail to Melissa earlier, but I imagine I won't hear back until Monday now.

[rzwv]

Structure of two-color molding resembles the key-top of Commodore.
Since the picture is quoted from my place, there is an excessive part. Please ignore.

[nourathar]

Interesting to see the similarities with the Commodore and SP doubleshots, and also I wasn't aware of the Hi-Tek versus Stackpole question. If I have time tomorrow I will open it again and see if there are any clues I overlooked on the plastic part that holds the switches; but I think I would have included anything that looks interesting..

And I might have another keyboard with similar switches coming up soon..

[Daniel Beardsmore]

There's very little to go on. There are only a small number of keyboards that are Hi-Tek–branded.

See the picture directly above this post:

http://deskthority.net/photos-videos-f8 ... ml#p138418

(Once the page is loaded, click the address bar and hit enter to force the browser to scroll to the right place — phpBB's image loading is beyond idiotic.)

That white infilled numbering is something I'm using as a clue to suggest Hi-Tek in the absence of branding.

On this page I've posted a diagram (a page or two down) with my recognition theories:

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/hi- ... t7092.html

Here's proof that the Atari 800 Stackpole keyboard had the same low-profile structure ("waffle frame") as that of the Oric Atmos:

http://www.ebay.com/itm//121286390590?orig_cvip=true

Those are the only two keyboards I know of where Stackpole is confirmed. HaaTa's CASI keyboard has Stackpole-like sliders, but a high-profile structure.

What I do find is that my theories do match the corresponding patents from Hi-Tek and Stackpole.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Hm … looking at the Stackpole patents again, it looks like the identical reversed contacts were introduced with the 1982 patent, not the original 1981 patent. The 1981 patent drawings aren't clear on the leaf shapes, and the 1982 patent goes to the trouble of stating why using opposing, identical leaves is preferable. As such, there could be a year or more of Stackpole switches with contacts more like those in Hi-Tek switches. The patent drawings both depict the stepped separator bar, though.

At some point I'm going to move most of [wiki]Stackpole switch grid[/wiki] to [wiki]Hi-Tek linear[/wiki] and assume Hi-Tek instead of assuming Stackpole, as the Hi-Tek design is much older, according to the patents I found.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

I got a reply from Melissa: yes, they are Comptec Incorporated keycaps; Signature Plastics was formed from a management buyout of part of Comptec.

http://www.keycapsdirect.com/aboutus.php

Comptec made keycaps for both Hi-Tek and Stackpole switches, specifically, mount type 0B.

[collector of junk]

got one of those dec keyboards last week off ebay .now pride of my collection (starting to go proper retro/vintage)
the dec I got has coloured keycaps on the numpad side
you guys want a photo ??

[nourathar]

On this page I've posted a diagram (a page or two down) with my recognition theories:

http://deskthority.net/keyboards-f2/hi- ... t7092.html

I did not find any more branding when I reopened the case of this keyboard, so I am not sure this will be of any help, but anyway some more picture with codes and serial numbers and such, covering all the alphanumeric info on that black plastic entity that holds the switches:

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got one of those dec keyboards last week off ebay .now pride of my collection (starting to go proper retro/vintage)
the dec I got has coloured keycaps on the numpad side
you guys want a photo ??

That sounds similar to one that mr_a500 has, I would be curious to see it !
Pity that such boards show up on the US Ebay, but much more rarely in Europe.
Don't know why that is, but great you found one !

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Indeed, those white numbers again. Different process this time, it appears — looks like they're printed on instead of engraved and infilled.

[collector of junk]

I decided to remove the photo's as they where of little use anyway !!!

[JBert]

Those photos are all blurry...

It seems your camera preferred to focus on the background, did you put it in the right mode (e.g. "Macro" function) for close-up pictures? Having clearer lighting might also help.

[collector of junk]

yep sorry not the best of photos (anyone done a "how to take good keyboard photos "post)

[Muirium]

What camera have you got? Does it light up a little dot in the middle of the screen / viewfinder when you press the shutter button half way? If so: that's the tool to master. Your autofocus kept locking on the background in your pictures. You need to smack some sense into it!

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Well, it depends if it's got macro capability at all. If not, you might have to stand further back, and crop the resulting image.

[nourathar]

it did look interesting with all those crazy legends !