henry (02/17/83)
An interesting development: Key Tronic is now building and advertising (full-page ads in Byte) a new keyboard for the IBM PC. The size, shape, and style match the IBM one, but the RETURN and SHIFT keys are in the right places and some other minor improvements have been made. It's about time! Cost $200-$240 depending on who you buy from. Down with keys between Z and SHIFT! Henry Spencer U of Toronto
djb (02/17/83)
An outfit called Qubie also makes a PC-compatible keyboard with basically the same improvements (reasonable key lay-out, LED indicators on "caps lock" and "num lock", "return" in the usual spot, "enter" key over by the numeric key pad instead of the gargantuan "+" key, and familiar key labels instead of bizarre symbols). Qubie wants $199 for their keyboard. I don't know about the Qubie, but the Key Tronic unit (called the KB5150, since 5150 is the official IBM product number for the PC) also has some internal differences. The space bar lacks the stubborn resistance of the IBM's space bar. Also, the KB5150 has a different tactile feel, since it uses much lighter springs under the key cap, lowering the key resistance to 1.5 ounces (vs. 3 ounces for the IBM keyboard). The KB5150 doesn't click like the IBM PC keyboard. And the KB5150 uses a positive force tactile feel which maintains a constant resistance until the moment of contact (the IBM keyboard uses breakover tactile feel, in which the pressure builds up as the key is depressed, drops at the operation-threshold point, and then decreases at the end). The word is a skilled touch typist can pick up a few extra strokes by using the KB5150 instead of the IBM keyboard. Now if we can just get IBM to sell us a PC without their keyboard as part of the package... David Bryant Bell Labs Columbus, OH (614) 860-4516 (cbosg!djb)