Re: PDP8 key (Was: Text encoding Babel.

[Jon Elson via cctalk]

On 11/30/2018 09:53 PM, Guy Dunphy via cctalk wrote:

How come there are 8? The lock only has 7 pins.

Those are the 8 possible DEPTHS of the grooves cut into the key.
So, that gives a possible combinations of 8 to the 7th 
power, I think.
These depths correspond (with an offset) to the lengths of 
the tumblers (pins) in the lock.
So, if you know what the length of a tumbler is, you can add 
the offset and figure out what depth groove to cut in the key.

Jon