e6 – Keyboards

Our first foray into Macintosh hardware, we examine a part of the Mac we often take for granted: the keyboard. We wind back the clock all the way to the Apple II to uncover all sorts of oddities including the BELL key, "open Apple", buckling springs, and chiclets galore.

apple ][ keyboard
Macintosh Keyboard (M0110)
Apple Standard Keyboard
Apple Standard Keyboard II
Apple Extended Keyboard II
AppleDesign Keyboard
Apple USB Keyboard (iMac)
Lombard bronze keyboard
iBook keyboard
Apple Pro Keyboard
Apple Keyboard (2003)
12" PowerBook keyboard
MacBook "chiclet" keyboard

Links for this episode:

The ADB era

• Apple ][, //c, //e
  • BELL key

Also notice there is a “BELL” key that is activated by typing “Control-G”. That’s another hold-over from old typewriters and teletype machines that actually did have a little metal bell in them!

• Logitech K760 solar bluetooth keyboard (discontinued)
• US English QWERTY layout
• ⌘ command key
• Univers font
  • regular (original Macintosh)
  • condensed oblique (many models)
• vi arrow keys
• Apple Desktop Bus
• PS/2 port
• buckling spring switch
  • more info than you ever needed on the switches in the AEK II
• Gruber's eulogy for his AEK II (1992–2006)
• Griffin iMate (not Belkin!)

 

Non-sponsor: Power Macintosh 9600

The USB era

• PowerBook G3 "Lombard"
• AirPort card
• VAG Rounded
• change in power key behavior in Mavericks
• Merlin Mann's disgusting keyboard
  (which was actually a Matias Tactile Pro)
• Dr. Drang on keyboards and numeric keypads
• Tontie flash game
• iPad Keyboard Dock
  • discussed on Connected 24 (at about 2:10:00)
• Ed has long hated the iOS punctuation layout

sometimes i wonder if the person who laid out punctuation input on the iphone has ever seen a qwerty keyboard

— Ed Cormany (@ecormany) January 27, 2010

• iPhone 6 and 6 Plus landscape keyboard features