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Apple made the chiclet keyboard cool again. It might be OK. Gen-x who remember the TRS80 MC10 and its keyboard remember chiclet keyboards as not much better t

by VLM 6y ago

Apple made the chiclet keyboard cool again. It might be OK. Gen-x who remember the TRS80 MC10 and its keyboard remember chiclet keyboards as not much better than membrane keyboards (Consider the ZX81 Spectrum) But decades later Apple started shipping chiclet-appearing keyboards that actually worked, so the style has been somewhat revitalized. That said, yeah they could be shipping a 1980s quality chiclet keyboard or a 2020s quality chiclet keyboard, so that's worrisome.

protomyth 6y ago
I have a hard time believing there is a chiclet keyboard worse than the Atari 400 membrane. "Gen-x first computers" sounds like an interesting site
- mbreese 6y ago
  > Atari 400 membrane But at least it was waterproof! Thank goodness they saw the light and used a proper keyboard on the 800.
- karmakaze 6y ago
  Actually there were differing qualities of these manufactured. I had one of the early ones and it was fantastic, I could run my fingers touching over the surface and lightly depress while dragging and the audible feedback had such low latency: joy. Sort-of regretted replacing it with mechanical keys. Later Atari 400s had barely registering keypresses that was a workout for your fingers.
  - protomyth 6y ago
    I must have had a later one then. Where did you find a replacement mechanical keyboard for the 400? I never found one. I was so envious of the Sinclair owners because they had tons of options.
    - karmakaze 6y ago
      I think it might have been a local creation. It was ugly as hell, half of it rose above/outside the case showing the switch bodies and entire keycaps. It did have a good feel though. I wasn't much of a touch/speed typist so didn't gain so much. I got it because my father was a bit of a typewriter geek and didn't like me using the membrane keys. Ended up getting an 800 with expansion memory but the keys weren't as good--too springy/spongey no clickiness in it's motion.
leoc 6y ago
The modern Apple "chiclets" seem to be really just low-travel scissor keys. "Real" chiclet keys as seen on the ZX Spectrum or the original PCjr keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5yIg5wmf6I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5yIg5wmf6I were something else again. (The ZX81 was a separate, earlier computer, with a very different and even worse keyboard.)
- onetom 6y ago
  When I was around 7 years old, our family was manufacturing ZX81, ZX Spectrum and Enterprise foil-keyboards, because the factory ones were just shit and died within a year or two. they were all the same design. 3 layers of plastic foil. 1 for horizontal wires, 1 for vertical wires to create a matrix and a 3rd sheet of foil between them with holes, so the horizontal and vertical wires can contact when pressed. before that, when I was around 6 years old, I remember my father was sticking round aluminum foil stickers on his finger and type directly on a keyboard made out of a PCB with a key matrix. The keys were the shape of 2 combs facing each other and you had to short them by touching them with the alu stickers on his finger. It was an AirComp II computer, iirc. I can't find any references to it online now...
ptx 6y ago
> Apple started shipping chiclet-appearing keyboards that actually worked Sony was already using that style of keyboard at the time, so although Apple contributed to the momentum, they didn't start the trend.

by VLM 6y ago

protomyth 6y ago

I have a hard time believing there is a chiclet keyboard worse than the Atari 400 membrane. "Gen-x first computers" sounds like an interesting site

mbreese 6y ago
> Atari 400 membrane But at least it was waterproof! Thank goodness they saw the light and used a proper keyboard on the 800.
karmakaze 6y ago
Actually there were differing qualities of these manufactured. I had one of the early ones and it was fantastic, I could run my fingers touching over the surface and lightly depress while dragging and the audible feedback had such low latency: joy. Sort-of regretted replacing it with mechanical keys. Later Atari 400s had barely registering keypresses that was a workout for your fingers.
- protomyth 6y ago
  I must have had a later one then. Where did you find a replacement mechanical keyboard for the 400? I never found one. I was so envious of the Sinclair owners because they had tons of options.
  - karmakaze 6y ago
    I think it might have been a local creation. It was ugly as hell, half of it rose above/outside the case showing the switch bodies and entire keycaps. It did have a good feel though. I wasn't much of a touch/speed typist so didn't gain so much. I got it because my father was a bit of a typewriter geek and didn't like me using the membrane keys. Ended up getting an 800 with expansion memory but the keys weren't as good--too springy/spongey no clickiness in it's motion.

leoc 6y ago

The modern Apple "chiclets" seem to be really just low-travel scissor keys. "Real" chiclet keys as seen on the ZX Spectrum or the original PCjr keyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5yIg5wmf6I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5yIg5wmf6I were something else again. (The ZX81 was a separate, earlier computer, with a very different and even worse keyboard.)

onetom 6y ago
When I was around 7 years old, our family was manufacturing ZX81, ZX Spectrum and Enterprise foil-keyboards, because the factory ones were just shit and died within a year or two. they were all the same design. 3 layers of plastic foil. 1 for horizontal wires, 1 for vertical wires to create a matrix and a 3rd sheet of foil between them with holes, so the horizontal and vertical wires can contact when pressed. before that, when I was around 6 years old, I remember my father was sticking round aluminum foil stickers on his finger and type directly on a keyboard made out of a PCB with a key matrix. The keys were the shape of 2 combs facing each other and you had to short them by touching them with the alu stickers on his finger. It was an AirComp II computer, iirc. I can't find any references to it online now...

ptx 6y ago

> Apple started shipping chiclet-appearing keyboards that actually worked Sony was already using that style of keyboard at the time, so although Apple contributed to the momentum, they didn't start the trend.