A few vintage things

[JP!]

Just picked up this neat collection of computer accessories and electronic bits which were literally destined for the recycling bin. Going through this stuff I feel like I took a trip back to 1978. Also everything smells old with the pleasant musk of basement mold.

A wealth of knowledge here along with various electronic components for lab use. Heathkit offered a number of electronics related educational courses. These included a final exam which you could mail-in and with a passing grade would receive a certificate.

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These were sold by Radio Shack as kits for makers of the day.
63 Key ASCII Keyboard - Radio Shack Part No. 275-1422

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ASCII Keyboard Encoder Project Board - Radio Shack Part No. 277-177

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I even managed to find the manual listing the parts needed to fully assemble this.
https://www.bytecollector.com/archive/d ... yboard.pdf

Old Radio Shack ad featuring this kit:

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Motorola MEK6800D2 - As far as I can tell I have the full kit including both PCBs and ribbon cable.

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The switches here are Stackpole torsion spring

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[Muirium]

A true time capsule.

I believe “Apple” users (it was only named the Apple 1 retrospectively) were expected to use a keyboard module quite like this. You only got an assembled motherboard from them. Quite the time to be a hobbyist! And here it is, in your hands today.

[Falkenroth]

Nice find. I really like the keyboard kits.

[JP!]

Nice find. I really like the keyboard kits.

Thanks. The Motorola MEK6800D2 is not just a keyboard but an entire microcomputer yet to be assembled! My favorite piece of the collection.

A true time capsule.

I believe “Apple” users (it was only named the Apple 1 retrospectively) were expected to use a keyboard module quite like this. You only got an assembled motherboard from them. Quite the time to be a hobbyist! And here it is, in your hands today.

Maybe one of these days I will stumble on an Apple I

[JP!]

I just unsealed the last box (time capsule) to discover this Heathkit ET-3100 Electronic Design Experimenter.

Here is one of these fully completed:

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[JP!]

I recently spotted something neat on eBay I figured I would share. It is the completed keyboard encoder board, the very same as mine. It is fitted into a nice metal framed housing and has the Heep test module installed which functions as an led display to test the keyboard ouput in the absense of a system that accepts ASCII codes.

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[del20nd]

That Tandy board reminds me allot of the stackpole switches that came attached to the original Atari 800. The keycaps look like very similar construction too, with thick doubleshot plastic.

[MathematicalJ]

How cool is that?! Those kits look super fun.