Northgate Focus FK-555

[Polecat]

A Northgate-badged Focus FK-555 was just posted (and sold) on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/305340877559

And it has a Northgate paper label in additional to the usual Focus one. I had speculated a while back that the Northgate boards from Focus originally had such a label, but it has taken this long for one to actually show up. This tells us a couple things.

First, these labels have also been seen on Gen1 (gold label) and Gen2 Northgates, as well as Northgate-badged Monterey and Silitek keyboards. So seeing one on a Focus keyboard confirms, or at least reinforces that these labels were added by Northgate, rather than being put there by the manufacturer of the keyboard.

Second, the info on this one includes a date (04-12-1988) and a Vendor Number (111). And an ID as an "Enhanced CT KBD". The date puts it in the same time frame as the Gen1 Northgates. The CT agrees with Northgate's ads, which show "C-T" (Clicky-Tactile) keyboards being offered alongside the Omnikey models. And, best of all, the Vendor 111 matches the vendor number on the Gen1 Omnikeys, which positively ties the Gen1 Omnikeys to Focus.

None of this is really surprising, but it's nice to finally have an example which confirms what we long suspected. Hopefully someone here bought this one and will share any inner secrets they may find.

edit: attached a couple of the ebay photos. edit2: attached another photo

[Chyros]

Very interesting! Those Northgate labels were put in the top left to my knowledge, not in the nav. The way the paper label is slapped on kind of makes it look like they fell off and someone just put them back on. I've done a whole piece on the history of Focus and Northgate in one of my videos but it's always cool to see new pieces being added to the puzzle . Nice find!

[Polecat]

Absolutely true. I have 8 Northgate-badged Focus keyboards in my database counting this one, and the other 7 have the badge on the upper left. Early ones had a square badge like this one; later ones were rectangular. I'm guessing that this one got moved for whatever reason the upper left part isn't yellowed, either to make room for a menu sticker or as a partial cleaning effort.

The paper label on this one looks like it's covered with clear tape, which is probably the only reason it survived. These were just office-style address labels made on a dot matrix printer. At some point in the Gen2 period Northgate switched to more professional looking mylar labels, probably still applied after Northgate received the keyboards from the vendor(s). Many of the mylar labels had "corrections", either hand-printed, or with small add-ons stuck over the main labels.

Very interesting! Those Northgate labels were put in the top left to my knowledge, not in the nav. The way the paper label is slapped on kind of makes it look like they fell off and someone just put them back on. I've done a whole piece on the history of Focus and Northgate in one of my videos but it's always cool to see new pieces being added to the puzzle . Nice find!

[Crizender]

Not sure if this is of interest (and you may have seen it already!) but there was also a 2nd Northgate FK-555 that sold in the last week:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276269235738

Also has some funny yellowing!

[Polecat]

Thank you. It is of interest and I had not seen that one. The blue labels identify it as an earlier version. I keep a database of Northgate, Focus, Monterey, and a few other selected keyboards. The "inspection numbers" were not necessarily in chronological order, and the format of those numbers changed at least once. This is the 32nd FK-555 on my list, and the 9th with Northgate badging.

Not sure if this is of interest (and you may have seen it already!) but there was also a 2nd Northgate FK-555 that sold in the last week:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276269235738

Also has some funny yellowing!

edit: I'm attaching a label photo of an early Northgate 102 for comparison.

[ChairmanNow]

I keep a database of Northgate, Focus, Monterey, and a few other selected keyboards. The "inspection numbers" were not necessarily in chronological order, and the format of those numbers changed at least once. This is the 32nd FK-555 on my list, and the 9th with Northgate badging.

Some more grist for your mill. This one only has one switch - no on/off. Sadly didn't have paper label.

PXL_20240304_215412855.jpg (2.34 MiB) Viewed 8430 times

PXL_20240304_215256693.jpg (2.36 MiB) Viewed 8430 times

PXL_20240304_215302399.jpg (2.46 MiB) Viewed 8430 times

[Polecat]

Thanks, A good lesson--we should *never* assume there were no changes over time for a given keyboard model. I logged this one previously from an ebay listing. At the time the glue from the paper label was still there, so at least we know there was one originally.

This is an earlier 555 than the last one. The first three digits of the inspection number ("555") on early Focus keyboards matched the model number. I've seen that on other early Focus keyboards (FK-102, FK-727) as well as on a few very early Northgate 102 models.

The addition of the OFF/ON switch on the 555 came a bit later, and that switch swapped the Ctrl and CapsLock keys. The alternate legends were printed on the front of the keycaps, unlike the Northgates, which came with an extra pair of caps having the alternate legends. Those came with very early Northgate 102s, then went away, but came back with the Gen2 Omnikeys. Early Focus FK-2001 keyboards also had the Ctrl-Caps Lock swap feature with the dual legend caps.

The FK-555 User's Manual that Chyros posted for us showed the FK-102, FK-555, and FK-555+ and the differences in layouts. The FK-102 was the European ISO version. FK-555 was the normal US model. The FK-555+ had an = key on the numpad like the Northgates.

Some more grist for your mill. This one only has one switch - no on/off. Sadly didn't have paper label.