3 ms·

>I think, the original one is quite beautiful (while, admittedly, not that usable) https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/images/large/53/66/product-1053

by opan 3y ago

>I think, the original one is quite beautiful (while, admittedly, not that usable) https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/images/large/53/66/product-105366.jpg https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/userdata/images/large/53... Is this the keyboard we're discussing? What I see is ortholinear, and with a spacebar that's a more reasonable size. If anything, we've largely regressed. Only keyboard enthusiasts have keyboards like this nowadays. Anything off the shelf has the same crap layout more or less now. Laptop and UMPC manufacturers don't care to innovate with the keyboard. (Except for the MNT Pocket Reform)

masswerk 3y ago
Here are some more detailed images (mind the clear key caps with inlays): https://www.retromobe.com/2019/10/sharp-mz-80k-1979.html https://www.retromobe.com/2019/10/sharp-mz-80k-1979.html The keys can be a bit "squeaky", though, and, at times, I find the cursor keys annoying (which is due to training and muscle memory from other keyboards). I once wanted to quickly edit a Christmas themed image, using all those fancy graphics characters, and kept failing over the cursor keys all the time… :-) But, yes, it could have been a fresh start all over. There were even a few alphabetically ordered ortholinear keyboards (especially on the pocket computer variety, since you wouldn't touch type on those anyway), as manufacturers thought this may be more accessible and mechanical constraints didn't apply anymore. Also, worth a visit, the entire article at oldcomputr.com, showing the assembly with all the various components: https://www.oldcomputr.com/sharp-mz-80k-1978/ https://www.oldcomputr.com/sharp-mz-80k-1978/ ! (This also mentions, "It’s a bit hard to get used to the keyboard." :-) )