Re: Serial keyboards
On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 3:48 PM, Guy Sotomayor Jr via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > Yes, I’ve been dealing with the morons who strip the keyboards off of (now > rare) IBM 327x terminals, > cut the connectors off and wire them up to PS/2 or USB. May they burn in > hell. > I have an IBM 1389194, which is a 122-key model M, apparently for a 3192 G series terminal, with APL keycaps. I do not have such a terminal; someone else separated the keyboard from it. I wouldn't mind getting a 3192 terminal, but I'm not willing to spend much money on one. https://www.flickr.com/photos/22368471@N04/25859890091/ I'm converting it into a USB keyboard, but I'm doing it in a fully reversible manner. If I burn in hell, I hope it's not because of modifying this keyboard. Eric "Why this is hell, nor am I out of it." - Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus
Re: Recovered a .bas file from my old Mac Plus
On 06/06/2017 08:32 PM, Michael Hunter via cctech wrote: > Hey folks, > > I hope all is well. Curiosity got the better of me and I sent in an EMAC > external HDD I had for my old Mac Plus in for recovery. I'm happy to report > that the recovery was a success. Now I'm struggling to figure out how to > get at the old content :) Was that Chipmunk BASIC? If so, versions for OS X and Linux still exist. --Chuck
Re: Recovered a .bas file from my old Mac Plus
If you still have a MAC plus handy you can experiment
by making short programs and viewing them in hex.
You can build up a translation dictionary that way.
I've done that for other Basics in the past.
You show 16 bit values, be careful they are sometimes
byte swapped. The original encoding is most likely bytes
and not words in size.
Dwight
From: cctalk on behalf of Michael Hunter via
cctalk
Sent: Tuesday, June 6, 2017 8:32:14 PM
To: cct...@classiccmp.org
Subject: Recovered a .bas file from my old Mac Plus
Hey folks,
I hope all is well. Curiosity got the better of me and I sent in an EMAC
external HDD I had for my old Mac Plus in for recovery. I'm happy to report
that the recovery was a success. Now I'm struggling to figure out how to
get at the old content :)
The biggest prize was finding piano.bas, which is a BASIC piano program I
wrote that (if I recall correctly) allows you to set how many notes to have
between octaves.
Anyway, the .bas file is not plaintext, but I can see strings in it. Here
are the first few bytes:
: f900 1b00 3aaf e84f 6e65 2046 7275 636b :..One Fruck
0010: 6564 2075 7020 7069 616e 6f00 000c 0061 ed up pianoa
0020: 3af8 823a 20f8 8300 001e 009a 2022 5374 :..: ... "St
I remember watching a documentary saying that source code used to be
encoded / compressed.
Anybody have any suggestions on how to decode it? Sorry if it's poor form
to put this in the body but here's the whole file:
begin 644 piano.bas
M^0`;`#JOZ$]N92!&`)H@
M(E-T87)T:6YG('!I=&-H("@T-#`I(CMA```;`)H@(DAA;&8@H1()<@&P``
M`'<``!(`8CIDZF'N$_`H8N\/#"D```L`^,`@9"P@$P``$P"4('/J$2#E(!P3
MB#JI(',```D`9>IE[!(``!$`F"!EZA0@ER`;9@``$0"8(&7J&""7(!L`
M``!F```1`)@@9>H9()<@&P```&<```D`8NIB[!,```L`ER`;8@``"P!F
M.F+J8NP2```+`)<@&P```&(``!<`9SH@F"!G).HB>2(@ER`;:```"P"7
M(!L```!A```*`&@Z(&+J$0``"P"7(!L```!B```+`'H<`;@```L`ER`;
(8@``
`
end
Also, again sorry if this is poor form, but I'm looking to find a good home
for the Mac Plus, if you know somebody in the Bay Area who's interested
please let me know.
Thanks!
Mike
PS I'm interested in other formats I'm seeing too (.ht, some extensionless
thing that might be MacPaint), any pointers are appreciated!
Re: Commodore Pet 8032 keyboard repair - conductive or capacitive?
On Mon, Jun 05, 2017 at 07:35:13PM -0400, Ray Arachelian wrote: > Very true, I was one of those kids back then. :-D Though to my eye, I > don't see the PCB pads worn at all, so more than likely it's the rubber. > If you haven't seen it there is stuff to repair that. I have used this on remotes successfully. Other similar products are availabe. Haven't had that type of keyboard with problems to try. http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.181/.f
Recovered a .bas file from my old Mac Plus
Hey folks,
I hope all is well. Curiosity got the better of me and I sent in an EMAC
external HDD I had for my old Mac Plus in for recovery. I'm happy to report
that the recovery was a success. Now I'm struggling to figure out how to
get at the old content :)
The biggest prize was finding piano.bas, which is a BASIC piano program I
wrote that (if I recall correctly) allows you to set how many notes to have
between octaves.
Anyway, the .bas file is not plaintext, but I can see strings in it. Here
are the first few bytes:
: f900 1b00 3aaf e84f 6e65 2046 7275 636b :..One Fruck
0010: 6564 2075 7020 7069 616e 6f00 000c 0061 ed up pianoa
0020: 3af8 823a 20f8 8300 001e 009a 2022 5374 :..: ... "St
I remember watching a documentary saying that source code used to be
encoded / compressed.
Anybody have any suggestions on how to decode it? Sorry if it's poor form
to put this in the body but here's the whole file:
begin 644 piano.bas
M^0`;`#JOZ$]N92!&`)H@
M(E-T87)T:6YG('!I=&-H("@T-#`I(CMA```;`)H@(DAA;&8@H1()<@&P``
M`'<``!(`8CIDZF'N$_`H8N\/#"D```L`^,`@9"P@$P``$P"4('/J$2#E(!P3
MB#JI(',```D`9>IE[!(``!$`F"!EZA0@ER`;9@``$0"8(&7J&""7(!L`
M``!F```1`)@@9>H9()<@&P```&<```D`8NIB[!,```L`ER`;8@``"P!F
M.F+J8NP2```+`)<@&P```&(``!<`9SH@F"!G).HB>2(@ER`;:```"P"7
M(!L```!A```*`&@Z(&+J$0``"P"7(!L```!B```+`'H<`;@```L`ER`;
(8@``
`
end
Also, again sorry if this is poor form, but I'm looking to find a good home
for the Mac Plus, if you know somebody in the Bay Area who's interested
please let me know.
Thanks!
Mike
PS I'm interested in other formats I'm seeing too (.ht, some extensionless
thing that might be MacPaint), any pointers are appreciated!
Re: sticky copies and laser prints
On 06/06/2017 05:58 PM, David Griffith via cctalk wrote: Often when I comb through old documentation, I find that the years, heat, and pressure appear to have remelted the toner such that pages get stuck together. Is there a danger of that happening with modern toners? Yes. If stored at high temperatures, like a garage in summer, the toner will slowly melt and fuse the pages. Also, the plasticizer in vinyl notebook binders diffuses through the pages causing the same effect, at least a dozen pages in. If the pages are printed only on one side, it isn't that bad, if printed both sides it makes a real mess of the printed image. Jon
Re: sticky copies and laser prints
I would bet that there is a "best way" to open a stuck page, but I usually open very slowly to reduce damage. It's bad enough we have to worry about the machines, the disks, the batteries, the caps, the On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 8:33 PM, Pete Turnbull via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On 06/06/2017 23:58, David Griffith via cctalk wrote: > >> >> Often when I comb through old documentation, I find that the years, heat, >> and pressure appear to have remelted the toner such that pages get stuck >> together. Is there a danger of that happening with modern toners? >> > > Yes. Toner composition hasn't changed much. BTW, the worst culprit is > the plasticiser in PVC ring binders. All mine have at least one sheet of > acetate (most OHP (viewgraph) transparency sheets work) in front of the > first page, and behind the last page, which helps prevent the problem. > > -- > Pete > Pete Turnbull >
Re: sticky copies and laser prints
On 06/06/2017 23:58, David Griffith via cctalk wrote: Often when I comb through old documentation, I find that the years, heat, and pressure appear to have remelted the toner such that pages get stuck together. Is there a danger of that happening with modern toners? Yes. Toner composition hasn't changed much. BTW, the worst culprit is the plasticiser in PVC ring binders. All mine have at least one sheet of acetate (most OHP (viewgraph) transparency sheets work) in front of the first page, and behind the last page, which helps prevent the problem. -- Pete Pete Turnbull
Re: sticky copies and laser prints
> On Jun 6, 2017, at 6:58 PM, David Griffith via cctalk > wrote: > > > Often when I comb through old documentation, I find that the years, heat, and > pressure appear to have remelted the toner such that pages get stuck > together. Is there a danger of that happening with modern toners? I would think so. The underlying technology is unchanged as far as I know. It's still plastic dust that's placed in patterns by electrostatic charges and melted onto the paper. paul
sticky copies and laser prints
Often when I comb through old documentation, I find that the years, heat, and pressure appear to have remelted the toner such that pages get stuck together. Is there a danger of that happening with modern toners? -- David Griffith d...@661.org A: Because it fouls the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
G-series Flip Chips for trade
So I have some G-series Flip Chips that I don't have a use for, and I hope someone out there does. If so, I'd like to trade them for something I _do_ have a use for - e.g. M-series FCs. Alas, according to the "Spare Module Handbook", these seem to be pretty exotic, but maybe I'll luck out. They are (with the uses listed in the SMH given in brackets): G291Disc writer with power fail 2 x G295Series switch (DF32, RS64) G296Center tap selector (DF32, RS64) G8002 AC/DC low sensor (RS64) Any interest, email me personally, please, don't spam the list. Thanks! Noel
Re: Serial keyboards
On 2017-06-06 5:40 PM, dwight via cctalk wrote: If you look on the ebay for a dolch ethernet sniffer, you'll see many with no keyboard. Why would someone separate the keyboard from a box when it is clipped onto it? These are not just any keyboard. They have custom shaped cases and connector specifically for that model dolch. What would anyone want with those keyboards? Dwight I managed to get one complete with keyboard, but it is an awful keyboard I don't know why anyone would want one. Paul.
RE: Serial keyboards
Do you want complete terminals and keyboards? The reason they like the keyboards is because of the feel of the typing. Sometimes they come with the monitors, and they have no use for them, so they get dumpstered. If you look on elecshopper.com I did have about 20 of these heavy old boards, but none at the present time. I do know where some of the monitors are, but not keyboards. Cindy -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Guy Sotomayor Jr via cctalk Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2017 4:49 PM To: Anthony DeStefano; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Serial keyboards > On Jun 6, 2017, at 2:46 PM, Anthony DeStefano via cctalk > wrote: > > > >> On Jun 6, 2017, at 4:40 PM, dwight via cctalk wrote: >> >> If you look on the ebay for a dolch ethernet sniffer, you'll see >> >> many with no keyboard. >> >> Why would someone separate the keyboard from a box when it >> >> is clipped onto it? >> >> These are not just any keyboard. They have custom shaped cases >> >> and connector specifically for that model dolch. >> >> What would anyone want with those keyboards? >> > > Unfortunately, it's because the mechanical keyboard crowd canabalizes old > keyboards for keycaps and very rarely switches. These days you can sell a > set of keycaps for more multiples of what a working, complete system will > fetch. > Yes, I’ve been dealing with the morons who strip the keyboards off of (now rare) IBM 327x terminals, cut the connectors off and wire them up to PS/2 or USB. May they burn in hell. TTFN - Guy
RE: Serial keyboards
It is not often you find a 9-pin serial board with Windows keys! I might have some AT&T serial boards in the back, but I don't think they work on DEC machines. Cindy -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Henry Bond via cctalk Sent: Monday, June 05, 2017 4:53 PM To: cctalk@classiccmp.org Subject: Serial keyboards I have been looking around the Internet for a good resource on serial keyboards and have found that I have come up against something of a brick wall, I have found this device Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112428059043. So list, which keyboards are your favourite, which feel the best and which are relatively easy to get hold of? -- H
Re: Serial keyboards
I think I'm gonna get in trouble for this answer but while I am not a keyboard collector, I do buy keyboards when the opportunity arises. In my particular case, I started out with occasionally buying computers with missing keyboards because they were inexpensive; far more then when they had the keyboard. I would wait for the keyboard to come up for sale (hopefully) and try to buy it. Sometimes, the keyboard cost more than the computer system. I tried to find out what the fascination was because there couldn't be that many people looking for the keyboard to complete a system and found the keyboard enthusiast forums. I posted some info about my IMSAI IKB-1 (the War Games keyboard that was matches with the early IMSAI 8080 in that movie) because it was being discussed as almost being mythical. I then started posting pictures of my other keyboards. These guys collected keyboards while I collected computers and most came with the keyboard for free. I had a built-in keyboard collection. Yes, there are many who collect mechanical keyboards because they are interested in the construction of the key switches and the key tops. As with anything, the old adage goes, "They don't make them like they used to". Keyboards made today are garbage. They are rubber domed keyboards with cheap key caps that yellow over time and the type face literally wears off. The early construction is top notch in many cases and far superior to what is available today. Many of the early keyboard manufacturers have gone to thin rubber keyboards. Consider IBM. The PC and terminal keyboards could be used as weapons. Today, they crumble. I am not making excuses for keyboard collectors because they are orphaning terminals and computer systems that they go with. I even posted an analogy that they could understand. There are people who collect key switches and key caps only. They don't even keep and cherish the keyboard these parts come from! I stated that a keyboard collector to a computer collector is like a switch collector to a keyboard collector. It goes down to that level. These switches and key tops are reused on new mechanical keyboard construction projects. This is where the Dolch PAC fits in. The Dolch PAC fits into the key switch/key cap collector's realm. These Dolch key caps are used for other projects because they fit new key switches. In fact, Massdrop has a replica set for sale here:https://www.massdrop.com/buy/dsa-dolch-key-set I bought a Dolch PAC to collect because I wanted to see the keyboard to see what the fuss was about but mainly because it had Network General's Network Sniffer software and a full set of manuals. Sadly, we have to compete with keyboard collectors. There are lots of systems without keyboards. Just last night I reached out to someone with an IBM 5251 terminal with, you guessed it, no keyboard. Ad here: https://westernmass.craigslist.org/sys/6162646378.html I do have a small collection of terminals and am trying to save that one from destruction but it will cost a fair bit to ship and the seller wants it picked up. If anyone can save it, please do. I have also helped out some people who needed a keyboard. I swapped a non-working Zenith Z-100 keyboard for my working keyboard with someone from the Yale library who was an archivist. It allowed them to get their Z-100 running and archive some diskettes. I've also bought some keyboards that I have been able to pair with their systems and have functional examples again. In the case of the IBM 5251, I bought the matching keyboard from someone in Greece, if I recall, a couple of years ago. This, however, is only a small part of my collecting. I also now occasionally buy keyboards that are interesting. They are mostly worthless to keyboard collector and they don't go with systems because they are newer but they are pretty cool. So that's basically the story. They collect keyboards like we collect computers. I don't agree with what they do and I make that clear whenever I get the chance but they collect something and I can't fault them for that. I hope this helps explain the keyboard phenomenon. Santo On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 4:40 PM, dwight via cctalk wrote: > If you look on the ebay for a dolch ethernet sniffer, you'll see > > many with no keyboard. > > Why would someone separate the keyboard from a box when it > > is clipped onto it? > > These are not just any keyboard. They have custom shaped cases > > and connector specifically for that model dolch. > > What would anyone want with those keyboards? > > Dwight > > > > From: cctalk on behalf of Dave Wade via > cctalk > Sent: Tuesday, June 6, 2017 2:02:34 AM > To: 'Henry Bond'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'; 'Al > Kossow' > Subject: RE: Serial keyboards > > > > > -Original Message- > > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Henry > > Bond via cctalk > > Sent: 06 June 2017 00:49 >
Re: Serial keyboards
> On Jun 6, 2017, at 2:46 PM, Anthony DeStefano via cctalk > wrote: > > > >> On Jun 6, 2017, at 4:40 PM, dwight via cctalk wrote: >> >> If you look on the ebay for a dolch ethernet sniffer, you'll see >> >> many with no keyboard. >> >> Why would someone separate the keyboard from a box when it >> >> is clipped onto it? >> >> These are not just any keyboard. They have custom shaped cases >> >> and connector specifically for that model dolch. >> >> What would anyone want with those keyboards? >> > > Unfortunately, it's because the mechanical keyboard crowd canabalizes old > keyboards for keycaps and very rarely switches. These days you can sell a > set of keycaps for more multiples of what a working, complete system will > fetch. > Yes, I’ve been dealing with the morons who strip the keyboards off of (now rare) IBM 327x terminals, cut the connectors off and wire them up to PS/2 or USB. May they burn in hell. TTFN - Guy
Re: Serial keyboards
> On Jun 6, 2017, at 4:40 PM, dwight via cctalk wrote: > > If you look on the ebay for a dolch ethernet sniffer, you'll see > > many with no keyboard. > > Why would someone separate the keyboard from a box when it > > is clipped onto it? > > These are not just any keyboard. They have custom shaped cases > > and connector specifically for that model dolch. > > What would anyone want with those keyboards? > Unfortunately, it's because the mechanical keyboard crowd canabalizes old keyboards for keycaps and very rarely switches. These days you can sell a set of keycaps for more multiples of what a working, complete system will fetch. -A
Re: Serial keyboards
On 06/06/2017 01:40 PM, dwight via cctalk wrote: > If you look on the ebay for a dolch ethernet sniffer, you'll see > > many with no keyboard. > > Why would someone separate the keyboard from a box when it > > is clipped onto it? > > These are not just any keyboard. They have custom shaped cases > > and connector specifically for that model dolch. > > What would anyone want with those keyboards? Dunno--I never figured out why there would be so many logic analyzers for sale completely lacking probe pods and advertised as "working". --Chuck
Re: Serial keyboards
If you look on the ebay for a dolch ethernet sniffer, you'll see many with no keyboard. Why would someone separate the keyboard from a box when it is clipped onto it? These are not just any keyboard. They have custom shaped cases and connector specifically for that model dolch. What would anyone want with those keyboards? Dwight From: cctalk on behalf of Dave Wade via cctalk Sent: Tuesday, June 6, 2017 2:02:34 AM To: 'Henry Bond'; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'; 'Al Kossow' Subject: RE: Serial keyboards > -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Henry > Bond via cctalk > Sent: 06 June 2017 00:49 > To: Al Kossow ; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off- > Topic Posts > Subject: Re: Serial keyboards > > Seems somewhat counterintuitive / or simply is it just business? Just business. Its made worse by the fact that DEC keyboards were considered reliable, and cheap compared to the terminals and so often discarded, but the terminals kept s spares. I believe that the later PS2 variety could also be used on a PC with emulation software. Good keyboards are rare... > Am I just going to have to pay over the odds for a good condition one > whether I like it or not? "Over the odds" implies that its over the market value. The odds are that a good DEC terminal keyboard will go for "top dollar".. ... especially in the UK and as that was a UK link I assume you are in the UK... > > On 6 June 2017 00:30:17 BST, Al Kossow via cctalk > wrote: > > > > > >On 6/5/17 3:12 PM, Henry Bond via cctalk wrote: > >> the same price for the keyboard as the terminal is greedy. > > > > > >Welcome to the world of the keyboard collector, who buys up keyboards > >and leaves terminals and classic computers behind, rendering them > >useless. > > -- H Dave G4UGM
Re: Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?
On 6/6/17 11:56 AM, Paul Koning wrote: > >> On Jun 6, 2017, at 2:26 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk >> wrote: >> >> >> >> On 6/6/17 6:10 AM, Philipp Hachtmann via cctalk wrote: >> >>> And I have cables and lots of spare heads: All submerged since Saturday. I >>> most probly won't try to recover the packs >> >> If they really are that rare you may want to reconsider. > > Agreed, and packs from the 2311, RP03, RK05 era are washable. The binder/oxide is quite thick on them. The only thing they can't survive is surface damage that roughens the surface to the point where the heads crash. I had a couple I was working on recently where the plastic catch broke that held the spring for the door flap and that gouged up the first 1/2" of the top surface. I wasn't very happy, since the rest of the surface was clean. I hadn't realized it before, but the 2nd generation (2200bpi vs 1100) doesn't have write precompensation, and there are some real kludges in the read recovery circuit to deal with pulse crowding. This appears to be particularly troublesome on the inner tracks. Tuning this is a real PITA, especially on drives used for Altos, which pack extra bits on the sectors for a tag field.
Re: Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?
I'm not positive what pack washing machines used. Distilled water seems plausible, perhaps with some sort of mild cleaner. Keep in mind I'm talking about packs, no electronics there. Then again, many electronics are designed to be washed in water (as part of the manufacturing process). paul > On Jun 6, 2017, at 3:18 PM, Anders Nelson via cctalk > wrote: > > Did people actually wash disk packs with water or some electronics-friendly > solution?
Re: Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?
Did people actually wash disk packs with water or some electronics-friendly solution? -- Anders Nelson +1 (517) 775-6129 www.erogear.com On Jun 6, 2017 11:56 AM, "Paul Koning via cctalk" wrote: > On Jun 6, 2017, at 2:26 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote: > > > > On 6/6/17 6:10 AM, Philipp Hachtmann via cctalk wrote: > >> And I have cables and lots of spare heads: All submerged since Saturday. I most probly won't try to recover the packs > > If they really are that rare you may want to reconsider. Agreed, and packs from the 2311, RP03, RK05 era are washable. In fact, I remember a pack washing machine. And I remember a 1311 pack (from a 1620) that had hydraulic oil all over it from an actuator leak; it was cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, as were the heads, and the result was good as new. All that was needed for repair was a new gasket and a fluid top-off. paul
Re: Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?
> On Jun 6, 2017, at 2:26 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk > wrote: > > > > On 6/6/17 6:10 AM, Philipp Hachtmann via cctalk wrote: > >> And I have cables and lots of spare heads: All submerged since Saturday. I >> most probly won't try to recover the packs > > If they really are that rare you may want to reconsider. Agreed, and packs from the 2311, RP03, RK05 era are washable. In fact, I remember a pack washing machine. And I remember a 1311 pack (from a 1620) that had hydraulic oil all over it from an actuator leak; it was cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, as were the heads, and the result was good as new. All that was needed for repair was a new gasket and a fluid top-off. paul
Re: Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?
On 6/6/17 6:10 AM, Philipp Hachtmann via cctalk wrote: > And I have cables and lots of spare heads: All submerged since Saturday. I > most probly won't try to recover the packs If they really are that rare you may want to reconsider.
Re: Anybody has Control Data (CDC) disk packs for 841 and 844 disk drives to spare with?
I have some submerged packs that look like the one in the auction. Wet since Saturday :-( Here's a link to the drive that I'd like to restore some day: http://www.digitalheritage.de/peripherals/cdc/854/854.htm I think I have the same :-) And I have cables and lots of spare heads: All submerged since Saturday. I most probly won't try to recover the packs but I will try to recover the heads. Yesterday they still looked good. But still all in water. We had a disaster... I was not carelessly storing the stuff...
RE: Serial keyboards
> -Original Message- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Henry > Bond via cctalk > Sent: 06 June 2017 00:49 > To: Al Kossow ; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off- > Topic Posts > Subject: Re: Serial keyboards > > Seems somewhat counterintuitive / or simply is it just business? Just business. Its made worse by the fact that DEC keyboards were considered reliable, and cheap compared to the terminals and so often discarded, but the terminals kept s spares. I believe that the later PS2 variety could also be used on a PC with emulation software. Good keyboards are rare... > Am I just going to have to pay over the odds for a good condition one > whether I like it or not? "Over the odds" implies that its over the market value. The odds are that a good DEC terminal keyboard will go for "top dollar".. ... especially in the UK and as that was a UK link I assume you are in the UK... > > On 6 June 2017 00:30:17 BST, Al Kossow via cctalk > wrote: > > > > > >On 6/5/17 3:12 PM, Henry Bond via cctalk wrote: > >> the same price for the keyboard as the terminal is greedy. > > > > > >Welcome to the world of the keyboard collector, who buys up keyboards > >and leaves terminals and classic computers behind, rendering them > >useless. > > -- H Dave G4UGM
