![]() ![]() It's my nature to fixate on something obscure like this and research it to death for several weeks. E-Waste Omnikey 101 Keyboard (Day 10) Dodoid 24K subscribers Subscribe 2.1K views 4 years ago Today we're taking a look at an old OmniKey 101 keyboard, from Northgate Computer Systems. It’s been joked that Northgate went out of business because when people bought one of their keyboards they were so solidly built people never needed to buy another one! The Omnikey 102 keyboard was missing the Northgate logo on the dip switch cover. Before the introduction of Omnikey series keyboards, Northgate badged keyboards from several. The keys are fairly difficult to remove, and so do not tend to. The keyboard even came with a key cap puller so you could move keys around when you reprogrammed it without breaking anything. You can remap any key to any other key, as well as creating macros. I believe they both use the buckling spring system which give the characteristic clickety-clack keyboard sound. However, their Omnikey keyboards were sold through dealers. The Northgate Omnikey Ultra was (and is) fully programmable. Vintage Northgate Omnikey Ultra White Alps Mechanical Keyboard w/ Cable (READ) (175535565982) 19 (8) - Feedback left by buyer 19 (8). The two series of keyboards most sought after seem to be the IBM Model M and the Northgate Omnikey. It seems with the commoditisation of personal computers, keyboards gradually became the victims of cost cutting measures which resulted in cheaper materials being used, membranes instead of dedicated mechanical components and generally crappier and flimsier designs. Looking into this further I’ve found out there’s an entire cottage industry online for the maintenance and reselling of second hand, early generation keyboards people literally swear by their timeless designs. Despite having numerous new machines over the years, he still uses his original Northgate Omnikey 102 he purchased in the 1980s because he claims it’s more solidly built and gives superior tactile and audible feedback compared to the cheap, disposable keyboards most of us now use. For better or worse (I’ve heard plenty of convincing arguments from both sides) I’ve resigned myself to the fact most of my thoughts in life will be expressed by being funnelled from my brain, through my nervous system to the muscles in my fingers where they’ll twitch and spasm in predictable ways with the resulting actions being directed at some form of computer keyboard.Īfter listening to some more recent episodes of Security Now where Steve Gibson has talked at great length about his coding practices I’ve been really interested to learn specifically about the keyboard he uses. ![]()
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