Commodore PC keyboard
Posted: 15 Aug 2011, 13:20
I got this Commodore PC keyboard. It has a Swedish/Finnish layout but the legends for the Alt layer are like the first layers on a British keyboard, not as in modern Swedish layouts for Windows and Linux.
I believe that this version was sold with Commodore PC-5 and PC-10. From what I have seen on the 'net, the PC-10 II and PC-10 III have keyboards in Model M layout made by Mitsumi. There are also other Commodore keyboards with a Model F -like layout that are different from this, but I know nothing about them.
Quite an unusal layout, don't you think? There are two Esc keys: on the main keyboard and on the numeric key pad. On most PC-5 keyboards that I have seen on the 'net the Num Lock and Scroll Lock keys are instead 1.5 units wide.
I can not see that this keyboard is very much yellowed. Commodore did use a beige colour scheme for their computers where the beige was quite yellow to begin with.
There is no label on the back side. Only the "Commodore" sticker on the top. No model number.
The case is held together with snaps. There are no screws other than the one that holds the EM guard.
You may have guessed it already... The keyboard was made by Cherry. Artikel-Nr G80-0915/2.
.. and it has black PCB-mounted Cherry MX switches, all of them with diodes.
The keys caps are nice thick double-shot moulded Cherry caps. The windowed keys are double-shot moulded beige and clear with what looks like dye-sublimated labels. There are red LEDs under the windowed keys.
The stabilizers are a little bit different from modern G80 keyboards. They are less stable, and they are bolted onto the PCB instead of snapped.
The Enter key is unfortunate in not only that it is far away, but that its stabilizers are vertical, not horizontal. That means that if you press the left end, you experience a little friction.
Back of circuit board.
The keys on the space bar row are higher than on the row above it. On modern Cherry keyboards, the keys on the space bar row have instead the same profile as the row above it.
The left Shift key has the profile of the right Shift of a G80-1800, and the right Shift key has the profile of the right Shift on a G80-11800. The F and J keys are indeed scooped.
... and yes, the keyboard does speak the PS/2 protocol, apparently. I am typing on it now.
I believe that this version was sold with Commodore PC-5 and PC-10. From what I have seen on the 'net, the PC-10 II and PC-10 III have keyboards in Model M layout made by Mitsumi. There are also other Commodore keyboards with a Model F -like layout that are different from this, but I know nothing about them.
- cbm1.jpg (154 KiB) Viewed 5409 times
I can not see that this keyboard is very much yellowed. Commodore did use a beige colour scheme for their computers where the beige was quite yellow to begin with.
- cbm2.jpg (95.32 KiB) Viewed 5409 times
- cbm3.jpg (223.16 KiB) Viewed 5409 times
- cbm6.jpg (108.12 KiB) Viewed 5409 times
- cbm7.jpg (116.75 KiB) Viewed 5409 times
The keys caps are nice thick double-shot moulded Cherry caps. The windowed keys are double-shot moulded beige and clear with what looks like dye-sublimated labels. There are red LEDs under the windowed keys.
The stabilizers are a little bit different from modern G80 keyboards. They are less stable, and they are bolted onto the PCB instead of snapped.
The Enter key is unfortunate in not only that it is far away, but that its stabilizers are vertical, not horizontal. That means that if you press the left end, you experience a little friction.
- cbm5.jpg (119.35 KiB) Viewed 5409 times
- cbm8.jpg (96.95 KiB) Viewed 5409 times
The left Shift key has the profile of the right Shift of a G80-1800, and the right Shift key has the profile of the right Shift on a G80-11800. The F and J keys are indeed scooped.
... and yes, the keyboard does speak the PS/2 protocol, apparently. I am typing on it now.
