DEC Keyboards (was: Re: Classic Computers vs. Classic) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

14 Sep 2001

...
  Okay, this lead
me to pull an LK201 out of the closet.  You're right, the
LK401
is not as mushy as the LK201.  
 That's only part of it, the angle of the keys are slightly different, and
 (and this is the part that is really hard to explain) somehow the LK201
 seems to have sharper corners to me, with the LK401 seeming to be a more
 polished feel to it. 
A big difference is the LK201 uses those easily-lost black plastic posts
to raise the back of the keyboard to a decent height.  The LK401 does have
a more polished look and feel.  The LK201 keyboard always looked to me like
the case was a temporary prototype. The old flip-top version of the LK201
struck me as too much for what it does.  The simpler slot for the strip in
the later version was simpler and less trouble.

...
  BTW, I just checked and it's a pair of LK450's
I got recently, though I
 think I've got a LK461 up in storage.  The LK450 is almost identical to
 LK401, except it's got the PS/2 interface, and the keyboard is about as
 mushy as the LK201. 
I wonder if the mushiness of the LK201 was a response to complaints that
the VT100 keyboard was a little too heavy at times.  As a VT100 keyboard
aged the keys seem to develop little "catches" that made some keys more
difficult to depress.

...
  Of course for the people that prefer a VT100, none of
these keyboards are a
 substitute, but for those that want a proper keyboard for VMS, they're
 great.  I personally don't really care for the VT100 keyboard, though I am
 trying to figure out where in here I can set one up as I want to use it to
 access the PDP-10 emulators. 
A VT2x0/VT3x0/VT4x0/VT5xx can emulate a VT100, so use an emulated VT100
with an emulated PDP-10.  :-)
-- 
Eric Dittman
dittman(a)dittman.net
Check out the DEC Ethusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/