Decision Data 8010 Punchcard Keyboard (NOS)

[HaaTa]

There have been a bunch of these pop up on ebay lately. This happens to be one of the first (and probably in the best condition of the lot).

Uses dual magnet Honeywell Hall switches (1SW11 and 1SW17).
Also, somewhat unexpected, the keycaps...they're amazing. Profile wise, I think they are my new favourites (even though the colours are awesome, still doesn't beat the Sony OA-S3400 Keyboard

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Dish, much deep.
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1974 Week 34. Though there are some parts on the keyboard that are 1973.
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Something tells me this isn't lead free solder
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Flickr Album

[sth]

love the traces on that pcb.

[mr_a500]

This is one of the most beautiful keyboards I've ever seen. The photography is amazing too. Well done, HaaTa. (The black keyboard background reminded me of the 2001 monolith for some reason.)

Thank God I managed to get one. Mine is a bit older, 12th week of 1974. The keycaps are indeed amazing - matching my APL beam spring keycaps and my 1974 Micro Switch keypad keycaps. The feel of the keyboard is better than my other hall effect keyboards. It's now my favourite linear keyboard. I hope I can somehow convert it to USB some day.

[XMIT]

I think 2016 will be the Year of the Micro Switch.

[Quartz64]

Have you managed to convert it to USB?

[Chyros]

I just noticed this has a different (and much nicer) colour scheme than my 8010 Oo . Very nice board!

[andrewjoy]

Oh man that thing is amazing, i need toggle switches like that on my keyboard

[Chyros]

Oh man that thing is amazing, i need toggle switches like that on my keyboard

They are VERY chunky, too ^^ .

[schwasam]

Created a new color scheme: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7yo8 ... 8tLWNJbnF3

If anyone made it work with PS/2 or USB, let me know.

[green-squid]

Unfortunately, having Hall Effect in a vintage keyboard is a blessing and a big curse. They are one of the best switches ever made, but you cannot use them!

BTW no, you will probably not find somebody who has converted this board.

[schwasam]

Sounds like an interesting project then

Do you know of any other hall effect keyboards that have been converted?

[abrahamstechnology]

Why not just get a replacement PCB designed?

[green-squid]

Sounds like an interesting project then

Do you know of any other hall effect keyboards that have been converted?

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=89262.0

This and a Texas instruments phone terminal boards and the space cadet keyboard are the only ones that have been converted. (https://github.com/MMcM/lmkbd2#space-cadet-direct). You're out of luck with everything else!

[green-squid]

Why not just get a replacement PCB designed?

Because there is no Hall Effect firmware out there. Ace Pad Tech, the makers of the only current HE boards out there, refused to give out the firmware to XMIT.

[Slom]

Sounds like an interesting project then

Do you know of any other hall effect keyboards that have been converted?

Grüezi,

Mike McMahon has converted a board that should be similar:
https://github.com/MMcM/micro-switch-ascii-kbd

Also worth a read might be this:
http://randomvariations.com/2014/10/18/ ... ard-logic/

These are only starting points, who will have to put some additional work into this.
And you will most probably be rewarded with only 1kro, does't make sense to punsh more than one character at once on a card puncher ...

[abrahamstechnology]

Why not just get a replacement PCB designed?

Because there is no Hall Effect firmware out there. Ace Pad Tech, the makers of the only current HE boards out there, refused to give out the firmware to XMIT.

That sucks. But I guess you can rip apart an APT and hand-wire it somehow.

[Slom]

Why not just get a replacement PCB designed?

Because there is no Hall Effect firmware out there. Ace Pad Tech, the makers of the only current HE boards out there, refused to give out the firmware to XMIT.

That sucks. But I guess you can rip apart an APT and hand-wire it somehow.

How is the APT controller supposed to help with these vintage keyboards? I don't get it ...

[abrahamstechnology]

Because there is no Hall Effect firmware out there. Ace Pad Tech, the makers of the only current HE boards out there, refused to give out the firmware to XMIT.

That sucks. But I guess you can rip apart an APT and hand-wire it somehow.

How is the APT controller supposed to help with these vintage keyboards? I don't get it ...

Because it's a Hall Effect keyboard, it operates on the same principle.

[Hypersphere]

That PCB could be framed and exhibited as a work of art!

[snacksthecat]

Really beautiful keyboard. You definitely hit the jackpot in terms of color schemes. I picked one of these up about a year ago but it's brown, beige, and very dirty.

I had aspirations to convert it some day but I guess I need some stuff explained to me. Can someone fill me in on the reason so few HE boards have been converted? Is it very tricky to figure out the sensing on HE switches? For instance, if I had a single microswitch and an arduino, would it be difficult to write a program that senses when the switch is activated? Then extrapolate that technique to a whole keyboard?

Sorry if I'm being dense; I promise it's not intentional!

[HaaTa]

Generally that won't work because most hall effect sensors for keyboards utilize threshold detection inside the sensor rather than the MCU. So all you're getting is on/off signals.

[schwasam]

Thanks for all the pointers to other conversions, helps a lot!