ICL One Per Desk
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| Manufacturer | Alps Electric (keyboard) |
|---|---|
| Layouts | Custom 73-key QWERTY |
| Keyswitches | Alps semi-integrated dome |
| Weight | 435 g |
| Years of production | 1984–1985 |
The ICL One Per Desk (OPD) was a hybrid acting halfways as a personal computer and a communications terminal. It was the result of a collaboration between ICL, Sinclair Research and the British Telecom, with Psion providing a suite of applications. The hardware was partly based on that of the Sinclair QL. After being released in the UK in 1984, the computer was rebadged by BT as the Merlin Tonto for the UK and as the Computerphone for Telstra and the New Zealand Post Office.
The keyboard module for the OPD was manufactured by Alps Electric and is based on Alps semi-integrated dome switches (Alps SKEY-like open rubber dome switches with separate sliders). The custom 73-key QWERTY layout includes 10 colour-coded keys acting as function keys and doubling as a "telephone style" numeric pad.
Keyboards with black QWERTY keys and a red ENTER key are export units intended for the Australian market, whereas keyboards in standard OPD/Tonto colours but with inverted "£" and "#" symbols and 3 letter "telephone" groups on the front faces of the numeric pad are thought to be export units for North America.
Later versions of the keyboard have blocking diodes on 5 keys.
Gallery
Top view
PCB
Closeup of the switch
External links
- RWAP Software — ICL One Per Desk Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- Planet Sinclair — ICL One Per Desk Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- Wikipedia — One Per Desk
- Centre for Computing History — ICL OPD Retrieved 2024-04-30.
