Unfortunately, I can’t help with a manual, even though I was once the author of it. The OPERATOR keyboard was the smaller sister of the ALPHAKEY keyboard, both developed by AFC Computer in Cologne and manufactured between 1984/85 and around 1988.
The key modules were supplied by Schoeller Electronic Systems and, unlike the ALPHAKEY, did not use individual Siemens switches. At the time, this was called a membrane keyboard – a mechanical key frame mounted on a switch film, which made it much more affordable to produce.
The keyboard existed in several versions:
• OPERATOR I – with functions permanently programmed into the EPROM,
• OPERATOR II – with keys that could be programmed directly by the user (EEPROM), and
• OPERATOR IIe – a special version for the Apple IIe, featuring the Apple key and a switching function for the screen character set.
An additional port allowed the connection of barcode and magnetic card readers, which could then be used as keyboard input in all programs without any further adaptation.
Depending on the version, the OPERATOR was sold for about 400–700 DM, making it considerably cheaper than the larger ALPHAKEY, which cost between 1200 and 1600 DM.
The directly programmable versions had a PRG key. To program a key, you pressed PRG, then the key to be programmed, followed by the desired key sequence, and finished again with PRG.
You can find a German manual for the ALPHAKEY — which I also wrote at the time — here:
https://archive.org/details/alphakey-ii ... ch-deutsch
