4 May
2004
4 May
'04
5:20 a.m.
I have a DEC VT102 terminal that I got some time ago from a listmember. On
the right of the keyboard where the numeric keypad is, the keys don't match
the color of the other keys on the keyboard. The upper left key in the
keypad is gold, and the other keys on the keypad are different colors - red,
blue, white - and have editing words on them, I think words like "left,
copy, print", something like that.
My question is - is it likely that someone scavenged keys from another
non-vt100 keyboard to replace missing keys, or was this some option used
with some word processing software? If the later, I'm happy I have something
unusual. If the former, I am going to yank those keycaps off and scavenge
the "correct" keys from one of the other VT100's I'm going to junk.
Anyone know the answer?
Thanks!
Jay West
---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
4 May
4 May
5:52 a.m.
Decmate keyboards are like that. The keyboards are Wordprocessing oriented -
and the "gold" key was very important ;-)
They work the same as standard DEC LKxxx keyboards.
Lyle
On Tuesday 04 May 2004 07:20, Jay West wrote:
I have a DEC VT102 terminal that I got some time ago
from a listmember. On
the right of the keyboard where the numeric keypad is, the keys don't match
the color of the other keys on the keyboard. The upper left key in the
keypad is gold, and the other keys on the keypad are different colors -
red, blue, white - and have editing words on them, I think words like
"left, copy, print", something like that.
My question is - is it likely that someone scavenged keys from another
non-vt100 keyboard to replace missing keys, or was this some option used
with some word processing software? If the later, I'm happy I have
something unusual. If the former, I am going to yank those keycaps off and
scavenge the "correct" keys from one of the other VT100's I'm going to
junk.
Anyone know the answer?
Thanks!
Jay West
---
[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
5:54 a.m.
>>>> "Jay" == Jay West
<jwest(a)classiccmp.org> writes:
Jay> I have a DEC VT102 terminal that I got some time ago from a
Jay> listmember. On the right of the keyboard where the numeric
Jay> keypad is, the keys don't match the color of the other keys on
Jay> the keyboard. The upper left key in the keypad is gold, and the
Jay> other keys on the keypad are different colors - red, blue, white
Jay> - and have editing words on them, I think words like "left,
Jay> copy, print", something like that.
Jay> My question is - is it likely that someone scavenged keys from
Jay> another non-vt100 keyboard to replace missing keys, or was this
Jay> some option used with some word processing software? If the
Jay> later, I'm happy I have something unusual. If the former, I am
Jay> going to yank those keycaps off and scavenge the "correct" keys
Jay> from one of the other VT100's I'm going to junk.
Those are DECword (a.k.a., WPS) keycaps. The gold key is the dead
giveaway -- WPS used that as a command prefix, similar to the way TECO
and Emacs use ESC.
You'd be more likely to find those keycaps on an LK201 style keyboard,
to go with a DECmate. Or they would appear on a box that looks like a
VT52 -- an older WPS box. But the VT100 series keyboard makes sense;
if nothing else, that could go with the WPS-Plus application that was
part of one of KO's stranger brainstorms. That was a port of the WPS
system to VMS, and then backported to a PDP11 (RSX or RSTS) for
terribly bad performance, written in a brand new programming language
(KOALA) never seen before or since.
So you have something legit and somewhat unusual.
paul
1:35 p.m.
On Tue, May 04, 2004 at 10:54:52AM -0400, Paul Koning wrote:
Yep... also EDT uses "PF1" a lot, but it was only called the "Gold
Key"
in WPS instructions.
>>>> "Jay" == Jay West <jwest(a)classiccmp.org> writes:
Jay> I have a DEC VT102 terminal that I got some time ago from a
Jay> listmember. On the right of the keyboard where the numeric
Jay> keypad is, the keys don't match the color of the other keys on
Jay> the keyboard. The upper left key in the keypad is gold, and the
Jay> other keys on the keypad are different colors - red, blue, white
Jay> - and have editing words on them, I think words like "left,
Jay> copy, print", something like that.
Those are DECword (a.k.a., WPS) keycaps. The gold key is the dead
giveaway -- WPS used that as a command prefix, similar to the way TECO
and Emacs use ESC. You'd be more likely to find those keycaps on an
LK201 style keyboard,
to go with a DECmate.
Specifically a DECmate II or III(+).
Or they would appear on a box that looks like a VT52
-- an older
WPS box.
WS-78, by another name, but it had an integral keyboard (being in a
VT52 case). I can't say much about what it would look like; it's about
the only PDP-8 that I'm missing.
But the VT100 series keyboard makes sense; if nothing
else, that
could go with the WPS-Plus application that was part of one of KO's
stranger brainstorms.
Not all that strange... WPS-Plus could import (via serial port if not
through 8" floppies) from the PDP-8-version of WPS.
The DECmate I is built into a VT100 housing and uses a standard VT100
keyboard. Because it was a dedicated terminal, they shipped with a
keyboard as you describe, with word processing legends on many keys,
and a Gold, Blue and Red key at the top of the number pad.
So you have something legit and somewhat unusual.
Legit, yes... unusual, no. Sure, they made plenty more "plain" VT100
keyboards than WPS keyboards, but they did make a lot of WPS keyboards.
As other people have pointed out, it's electrically identical to the
more common variety. You'd only care about the legends if you wanted
to run WPS on any one of the supported platforms.
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 04-May-2004 22:20 Z
South Pole Station
PSC 468 Box 400 Temp -81.9 F (-63.3 C) Windchill -156.9 F (-105 C)
APO AP 96598 Wind 17.7 kts Grid 010 Barometer 674.6 mb (10832. ft)
Ethan.Dicks(a)amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
2:05 p.m.
Those are
DECword (a.k.a., WPS) keycaps. The gold key is the dead
giveaway -- WPS used that as a command prefix, similar to the way TECO
and Emacs use ESC.
Yep... also EDT uses "PF1" a lot, but it was only called the "Gold
Key"
in WPS instructions. 
5:57 a.m.
Jay West wrote:
I have a DEC VT102 terminal that I got some time ago
from a listmember. On
the right of the keyboard where the numeric keypad is, the keys don't match
the color of the other keys on the keyboard. The upper left key in the
keypad is gold, and the other keys on the keypad are different colors - red,
blue, white - and have editing words on them, I think words like "left,
copy, print", something like that.
It's a word processing keyboard, probably for some version of DecWord, or
WordPerfect. Both used colored PFn keys.
They were optional keyboards, but quite common. Available for the VT200
series also.
My question is - is it likely that someone scavenged
keys from another
non-vt100 keyboard to replace missing keys, or was this some option used
with some word processing software? If the later, I'm happy I have something
unusual. If the former, I am going to yank those keycaps off and scavenge
the "correct" keys from one of the other VT100's I'm going to junk.
Anyone know the answer?
Thanks!
Jay West
7391
days inactive
7391
days old
5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
dickset＠amanda.spole.gov -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
jwest＠classiccmp.org -
kth＠srv.net -
lbickley＠bickleywest.com -
pkoning＠equallogic.com