More microswitch hall effect.

[dorkvader]

I keep some cool eBay searches up. Rececntly, I came across this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/390706320593
"Vintage Micro Switch SD 16240 Systems Rare Computer Keyboard Computer Untested"
The seller was nice enough to remove the case and take some interior shots, confirming microswitch hall effects.

Now, I noticed a few cool things about this.
1. Sculpted profile. I don't ahve any sculpted profile keycaps for microswitch
2. there are differently coloured legends on the homerow for some fractions or something

So I bid. No-one else bid. Sometimes I think I'm the only person watching eBay.


It arrived today via UPS (at like 7:30 PM)


Shaky picture of whole KB
This thing is huge! Probably one of my largest KBs (until I get a delivery scheduled for tomorrow). It's about as wide as two sheets of US paper (so about 21 inches). I guess it's about the size as an F122.




Keycap is beige. Legends are black and lightgrey. No idea why they went so low contrast on this one



More tripleshots! Sweet!


The lock switch is latching Pressing either shift releases it. Here's some pictures of the mechanism.

View from the top (locked down)



up



down


Blank key at the top has a blocker. You can press it about 0.5mm or less


Some noticeable differences in special stem types.

The shift key is "profiled". Notice the stem is angled. Pretty cool!. The extra dummy switch that stabilizes it is also angled and has a different part number. The "command" switch is flat profile (as is the 2x "data" key at the top) and has different "flat" stems that go on it.

I have lots of pictures of the case, PCB, chips, and other stems if anyone is interested, my imgur is getting full (I think there is a max limit to the pictures you can have) so I'm looking for a new image host for KB related pictures.

Yes, I will be cleaning the dirt off later.

Imgur album:
http://imgur.com/a/XPX4t

Cross posted at geekhack:
http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=51931.0

Edit: Switch part numbers include

4A6B (only used for "reset" key)
4A3B (mostof the yellows)
4A3K (some of the yellows) (same as above..?)
T4A3B (Insert Space) (same as above two..?)
T4B3B (most of the alphas)
4B3K (some of the alphas ) (same as above..?)
4B3B (one of the alphas) (same as above two..?)

4A1B ("light" half for 2x yellow key and 2X command key flat profile)
6A1D (dummy half of above) grey body, blue stem
10B1A ("light" half of 2x right shift key, "latch" and "unlatch" support)
6B1D (dummy support switch for above) (grey body, black stem)

10B3a ("normal" weight for leftshift and capslock. "latch" and "unlatch" support)

Edit2: keyboard date code is 50'th week of 1979

[webwit]

Great find! Did you find any date marks? I wonder if they're older or newer than the other variants. The switch case markings seem to be more refined.

[dorkvader]

OP updated with date codes
50'th week of 1979.

I used to think this style was newer than my older hall effect KBs (round stem, not in the wiki) from 1976 and 1977 (also with tripleshots) but recent evidence has shown that microswitch produced these as far back as about 1977 (giving about 5 years overlap). Now I think that "vintage" and "modern" hall effect is not the right words, but rather PCB mount and plate mount. The "vintage" ones have a plate, but are more PCB mount with a retaining clip. These "modern" ones are plate mounted in the traditional way.

I haven't found and "vintage" PCB mount ones newer than about 1981, so I guess they phased them out around then..?

PCB mount from 1970 - ~1981
plate mount from ~1977 - 1993

The 1970 and 1993 (or whenever that SUN keypad was made) are probably correct as the beginning and end of microswitch hall effect production. I won't know the intermediate periods until more examples are found.

edit: as far as the switch case markings, most are engraved, some are printed. one of the printed ones is really hard to read. I think the printed ones might be newer, and about 4-5 switches show signs of desodering / replacement.

[czarek]

That Command key! Steve Jobs would be jelous

[Daniel Beardsmore]

You should update the wiki page for [wiki]Honeywell Hall Effect[/wiki] accordingly.

[Findecanor]

I like the size and layout of this keyboard: typing area centred, right and left the same width and then lots of keys above.
I like the latching Lock key that is released by pressing Shift - like on a typewriter. This is a keyboard that means business!

The yellow keys and cursor keys are just smaller in height than the typing keys, right? Not smaller in area?

[Muirium]

The latching Caps Lock with release on Shift is present on the one and only beam spring keyboard I've ever used (an all white yeti DisplayWriter keyboard) although I didn't think to test both shifts!

This find is definitely the business. Those colours are truly 1970s and I'm pleased to see a keyboard here the same age as me! Proper cursor diamond: check. Centred alpha block: check. Hi hat mods: check. Nice!

The Space Cadet Keyboard still has the best layout of any Micro Switch that I've seen, with its mods down by the space bar and an unbeaten complement of them too, but this one's pretty smart in its own right. I wonder how it feels in use…

[mr_a500]

This is a great find... but I've never really liked orange keys for some reason. I've got nothing against 70's colours (love those browns and blues - and olive green!), but just not orange. Maybe it's the black text. If it was a deeper orange with white text...

[Daniel Beardsmore]

The latching Caps Lock with release on Shift is present on the one and only beam spring keyboard I've ever used (an all white yeti DisplayWriter keyboard) although I didn't think to test both shifts

Cherry have a mechanism for M6/M7 that does the same — HaaTa has a keyboard with one (I always wondered what the catalogue diagrams depicted). I wasn't aware that it would release from either shift — the catalogue only depicts the metal bar that connects the shift and shift lock switches, with no indication of any way to connect a shift key on the opposite side; HaaTa might know more about how these actually work.

This is from the '73 and '74 catalogues; by 1982, that product appears to no longer be listed.

Looks like that we might need another switch type category in addition to latching and double-action.

[dorkvader]

I like the size and layout of this keyboard: typing area centred, right and left the same width and then lots of keys above.
I like the latching Lock key that is released by pressing Shift - like on a typewriter. This is a keyboard that means business!

The yellow keys and cursor keys are just smaller in height than the typing keys, right? Not smaller in area?

Yes, the symmetry appealed to me. I got it as another cheap hall effect on eBay but the symmetry / tripleshots, latching, etc are the icing on the cake.

The yellow keys are exactly the same profile as the asdf-row keycaps, only not on angled stems.

The latching Caps Lock with release on Shift is present on the one and only beam spring keyboard I've ever used (an all white yeti DisplayWriter keyboard) although I didn't think to test both shifts!

This find is definitely the business. Those colours are truly 1970s and I'm pleased to see a keyboard here the same age as me! Proper cursor diamond: check. Centred alpha block: check. Hi hat mods: check. Nice!

The Space Cadet Keyboard still has the best layout of any Micro Switch that I've seen, with its mods down by the space bar and an unbeaten complement of them too, but this one's pretty smart in its own right. I wonder how it feels in use…

I actually just received my displaywriter in the mail today, Both shifts release capslock (which has no spring and a different stem colour) pictures to come later tonight. I notice most beamsprings have 4 strobes and a bunch of sense. The DW has eight strobes and 12 sense. It's pretty clever how they made it.

About the colours: odd you may say that: the KB has two date code stickers, and one is very early 1980. It probably wasn't sold until the '80s anyway.

As far as feel: this is quite dirty, and not as linear as I would like. I plan to clean and lubricate it thoroughly.

This is a great find... but I've never really liked orange keys for some reason. I've got nothing against 70's colours (love those browns and blues - and olive green!), but just not orange. Maybe it's the black text. If it was a deeper orange with white text...

The olive green is especially nice. To be honest, I think the bright yellow orange is a bit overmuch, but it does stand out nicely.

The latching Caps Lock with release on Shift is present on the one and only beam spring keyboard I've ever used (an all white yeti DisplayWriter keyboard) although I didn't think to test both shifts

Cherry have a mechanism for M6/M7 that does the same — HaaTa has a keyboard with one (I always wondered what the catalogue diagrams depicted). I wasn't aware that it would release from either shift — the catalogue only depicts the metal bar that connects the shift and shift lock switches, with no indication of any way to connect a shift key on the opposite side; HaaTa might know more about how these actually work.

This is from the '73 and '74 catalogues; by 1982, that product appears to no longer be listed.

Looks like that we might need another switch type category in addition to latching and double-action.

Not sure about cherry, but this keyboard -like the displaywriter- lets you release capslock by pressing either shift. The mechanism is much nicer than the displaywriter's though. The selectric is very nice, too. The DW does have an interesting "tunable" feature on the left shift though. I'm surprised no-one seems to have posted about it yet.