On 4 Dec 2008 at 20:08, Brent Hilpert wrote:
With all this talk of old keyboards, I figured it
was time to pull out one that
I've had kicking around for awhile but hadn't assessed as yet. It's a
very-ASCII keyboard (control codes are labeled on the keys) using Hall-effect
keyswitches:
MICRO SWITCH
Freeport, Illinois
61SW12-2
SW-10405
date-stamp: 75/49 (1975)
(Would the MICRO SWITCH indicate this was from Honeywell?)
I don't know that Honeywell tinkered much with the Freeport operation
in 1975. I've got a couple of keyboards similar to yours from 1977,
but with different encoder IC's (outputs something like "scan
codes"). A lot of the encoders of the time were custom mask-
programmed items.
Micro Switch made keyboards for a *lot* of firms.
Put another way, was Micro Switch (the company) a spin-off or subsidiary of
Honeywell? Some web references seem to imply an association in the development
of integrated Hall-effect sensors in the late-60s with Honeywell, but there is
some confusion in there regarding Honeywell and their earlier (1940s)
development of simple mechanical microswitches.
(I'm just not familiar with Micro Switch as a company.)