I've been interviewing people who used the Alto in various scenarios (system devs, app devs, non-expert users) and NO ONE used the keyset. It's fascinating historically, but in part because of its apparent irrelevancy. -- Ian
On Wed, Sep 20, 2017 at 1:21 AM, CuriousMarc via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > I see you have the same problem as I did encounter: a rusting shaft that > binds the keys together... I agree, they really spent big $ for production > level tooling (and industrial design and engineering) to make the chordset, > it is quite impressive. > Marc > > > > On Sep 16, 2017, at 1:58 PM, Al Kossow via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > > I had to fix a key on CHM's keyset today, so I shot a bunch of pictures > while it was apart > http://bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/alto/Alto_5-Key_Keyset > > They spent a lot of money on this. There are two castings of the same > material as the keyboard > and monitors, and two injection molded parts for the keys and the four > spacers betwen the microswitches. > > > -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Principal Investigator, "Reflections on Early Computing and Social Change", UW IRB #42619 Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
