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Is this keyboard essentially a slave device? For some reason I just imagine a Lisp Machine keyboard as being programmable independent of the host machine. Maybe
by guessbest 4y ago
Is this keyboard essentially a slave device? For some reason I just imagine a Lisp Machine keyboard as being programmable independent of the host machine. Maybe I'm just different but I still prefer the ergonomics of the split keyboards that arrived later for PC's.
- mepian 4y agoThe keyboard itself is not an independent device, but it is part of the console which is basically a subordinate Motorola 68000 computer that is connected to the main unit of the Lisp machine by a long fiber optic cable. The console also includes an HD CRT monitor (which also houses the aforementioned computer), a three-button mouse, and a 16-bit stereo audio DAC. The cathode ray tubes for the early model were custom-blown by Symbolics. The console was one of the reasons why Lisp machines were so expensive.
- lispm 4y agoThere was also a small adapter box for the Apple Mac II and Mac Quadras with Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) connection. One could use then the Symbolics keyboard and the three button mouse (made by Logitech) with the MacIvory, a Lisp Machine on a Nubus board, and use it with the Genera OS running inside a Mac.
- guessbest 4y agoSounds like a midrange system.
- SomeHacker44 4y agoSymbolics did not use fiber optics; you are probably thinking the TI Explorer.
- lispm 4y agoRight, Symbolics also support long cables, but they were not optical cables, like those of TI.