
The worst keyboard ever made - rbanffy
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/shift-happens/issues/the-worst-keyboard-ever-made-148939
======
perl4ever
There is also a page on the IBM PCjr, the keyboard I expected this to be
about:

[https://www.getrevue.co/profile/shift-happens/issues/the-
wor...](https://www.getrevue.co/profile/shift-happens/issues/the-worst-
keyboard-ever-made-71678)

I will say I always thought the C64 keyboard was pretty bad, despite it being
the best selling computer of all time.

~~~
112233
Bah, you western kids had it good. Take a load of This:

[https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Компьютер_БК0010_ф...](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Компьютер_БК0010_фото3.JPG)

Yes, there are microswithces under that sheet of transparent plastic, and a
paper sheat that letters are printed on.

~~~
duskwuff
Hey, at least you had microswitches! When I first saw that, I thought it was a
membrane keyboard.

~~~
112233
It was so stiff, that would have been an upgrade!

The worst, that you can't appreciate on the photo, was the controller, that
allowed only one key to be pressed at a time, and key repeat was a Separate
Key. scary!

------
freetime2
When I clicked the link, I thought for sure this was going to be an article
about the MacBook keyboard. But even as an ardent hater of recent MacBook
keyboards, I am forced to concede the keypad on this calculator is worse.

~~~
sundvor
Ditto. I was in "wait for it" mode for the whole article and it left me
hanging.

------
jrockway
This is kind of a neat hack. Cheap to produce. Easy to repair.

40 years later we are just using our finger to touch pieces of glass. All we
got rid of was the tethered stylus.

------
fuball63
Reminds me of a Stylophone, and early electronic instrument. You can get a
remake for about $20 online, it's a fun thing to play with:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylophone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylophone)

------
ekianjo
> In our reality, to add insult to injury, this was all in the early 1970s,
> the decade that gave us beam springs and Correcting Selectric II – lauded as
> possibly the most pleasant keyboards ever made, and ones whose design
> decisions inform keyboards even today.

Looks oddly similar to the C64 keyboard

------
petee
This is a weird article, it starts by saying its the worst keyboard by
comparing between three select computer keyboards, and then proceeds to show a
calculator from the 1970s...its a numberpad at best, no? I've never heard of a
calculator referred to by its 'keyboard', although i guess its accurate on
some level

~~~
perl4ever
I'm not sure why, but some early electronic calculators ( circa early 1960s)
had many keys and they were referred to as a "keyboard".

See:

[http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/sumlock_anita.html](http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/sumlock_anita.html)

~~~
reaperducer
For the same reason pianos have a keyboard.

------
hcarvalhoalves
The blue VFD (?) on that calc had it's charm though.

