deskthority

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.


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


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


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:

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

The switches here are Stackpole torsion spring

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.

Nice find. I really like the keyboard kits.

Falkenroth wrote: 19 Mar 2023, 16:18 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.

Muirium wrote: 18 Mar 2023, 22:16 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

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

Here is one of these fully completed:

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.

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.

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