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Can anyone identify this keyboard

M

Micom 2000

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Messages
1,284
Location
Manitoba North of 50 degrees Latitude
Going thru my keyboard box I found this. Anyone recognise it. The 5 PF1 to PF10 buttons on the left side are like the Commodore buttons. There is a "GRAPH" and a "LOCK" button on each side of the space bar. It has a 5-pin DIN connector.

Lawrence
 
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Thanks. The last thing I would've thought of. There was a lot of posts quite a while ago on the Classiccmp m-l about this computer. Mostly denigrading it but some loved it. I guess it goes up for sale on E-bay.

Lawrence
 
Why not hold onto it till you can get a 550/555 to go with it. They come up sometimes, often missing the (proprietary) keyboard, but almost always reasonably priced. Just be sure you have a source for bootdisks, single (550) or double (555) sided, depending which drives/model you have. It's not-quite-IBM-compatible.

--T
 
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Terry Yager said:
Why not hold onto it till you can get a 550/555 to go with it. They come up sometimes, often missing the (proprietary) keyboard, but almost always reasonably priced. Just be sure you have a source for bootdisks, single (550) or double (555) sided, depending which drives/model you have. It's not-quite-IBM-compatible.

--T
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There was a 555 on eBay last time I looked; no keyboard or monitor, but lots of disks and docs.

On the other hand, I have one *with* a keyboard & monitor...

mike
 
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Terry Yager said:
Why not hold onto it till you can get a 500/550 to go with it. They come up sometimes, often missing the (proprietary) keyboard, but almost always reasonably priced. Just be sure you have a source for bootdisks, single (500) or double (550) sided, depending which drives/model you have. It's not-quite-IBM-compatible.

--T
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I am supposedly downsizing all this "stuff" I have before I pass on to the wild blue yonder. But I could live to 100 ? Who knows.

As a buddy I have who dealt with old records and audio machines for many years said, "there's no bloody way I'll get rid of all this stuff before I kick the bucket. A lot will go into the trash. But I'll be damned if I will undercut the market."

I'll sell my stuff on a basis of a fair price and for some things give it away to a worthy request, but for many things I have sequestered over the years and which cost me for storage in some cases, I won't sell simply because there's no market at this time. Nor a request from some newby collector kid looking for freebees who could never imagine crawling into a dumpster in a low-rent neighborhood to retrieve an old computer that looked interesting, from under a vermin-infested rug. Daddy don't pay for that.

The keyboard for the Sanyo is at most a $2 value and if it gets more, that's a plus, but no reason to saddle myself at 70 with more uninteresting "stuff".

Lawrence
 
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Micom 2000 said:
I am supposedly downsizing all this "stuff" I have before I pass on to the wild blue yonder. But I could live to 100 ? Who knows.

As a buddy I have who dealt with old records and audio machines for many years said, "there's no bloody way I'll get rid of all this stuff before I kick the bucket. A lot will go into the trash. But I'll be damned if I will undercut the market."

I'll sell my stuff on a basis of a fair price and for some things give it away to a worthy request, but for many things I have sequestered over the years and which cost me for storage in some cases, I won't sell simply because there's no market at this time. Nor a request from some newby collector kid looking for freebees who could never imagine crawling into a dumpster in a low-rent neighborhood to retrieve an old computer that looked interesting, from under a vermin-infested rug. Daddy don't pay for that.

The keyboard for the Sanyo is at most a $2 value and if it gets more, that's a plus, but no reason to saddle myself at 70 with more uninteresting "stuff".

Lawrence
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I agree with all of this, with the exception of the 'uninteresting' part. On the contrary, the Sanyos are very interesting, and worthy of anyone's collection. I know that you have a special affection for the IBM un-compatible macines, so thought ya might wanna have one to play around with for awhile.

--T
 
Unknown_K said:
Collectors and hoarders are an interesting bunch :)
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From my perspective I don't know if I can differentiate between the two. Hoarders I have always considered to be persons who fear doing without something they need for their future well-being or health, however unlikely. Collectors tend to be idealisers of categories of material objects that they may have posessed or who idealized the objects but were never able to obtain them earlier. Both want a surplus of the objects and the motivation is insecurity. As it is with hoarders except they tend to deprive others with life's necessity iin time of need.

Most people, unless you come from an extremely wealthy family, have urges of this sort.
That is precisely the theme of F Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"

But of course the term "hoarders" is much more perjorative than "collectors" and associating them in the same phrase taints all with the same brush. Easy if you dub yourself like early christian saints, without lusts or lowly desires.

Lawrence
 
Micom 2000 said:
Collectors tend to be idealisers of categories of material objects that they may have posessed or who idealized the objects but were never able to obtain them earlier.
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That is squarely where I stand...my father wouldn't allow me to have a computer throughout my childhood (he could afford it, but he was a hole sometimes), so flash forward 20 or so years, and I've got dozens of them...
 
I view collectors as people who want one of everything in one category, and hoarders are the ones who might have 50 of the same item for no real reason other then they can.

There is not that much difference between the very rich and hoarders other then a hoarder can't pass up a "deal" and the rich just amass money so they can buy what they want the second they want it. Either way they both end up with more stuff then they can generally use.
 
There is some truth in your analysis, however in my case it doesn't exactly fit. Druid referred to PCCs, (pshycopathic computer collectors), and I do have in effect more computers than I could possibly use. I also have more records than I could possibly play, more books than I could possibly re-read or read, and National Graphics that I rarely peruse.
Things that are there should I like to re-experience them. Is that a problem ? Am I depriving others of a sustaining means of life in the sense of food hoarders which is the perjorative sense of the term ?

The defining difference between the very rich who CAN hoard lifesaving things, should there not be a time of plenty, is the denial of sharing these necessary things. The compulsive aquisition of things by those with less financial means is a different thing even ignoring the fact that many collectors acquire their objects from the discards of others. At its best it is a symbol of respect for the workmen or artists who fashioned the object, as opposed to the wealthy acquirers who usually have no relation to the object and can toss it away when they lose interest and aquire a new interesting object.

Those who might acquire 50 of the same object for no reason, obviously have insecurity problems but are not common and are not collectors, but obsessives with mental problems. Not your usual collector even tho we might have several back-up copies of a treasured machine.

And the crowning moments of a collectors life is not in a "DEAL" but in a thrift shop discovery, a dumpster or trash find, an auction or yard sale treasure, a gift from friends.

And my house may not be minimalist decor, but it's the way I like it, full of interesting stuff. Just like the world around us. Not your cup of tea ? Tough ! Get over it.

Lawrence

Unknown_K said:
I view collectors as people who want one of everything in one category, and hoarders are the ones who might have 50 of the same item for no real reason other then they can.

There is not that much difference between the very rich and hoarders other then a hoarder can't pass up a "deal" and the rich just amass money so they can buy what they want the second they want it. Either way they both end up with more stuff then they can generally use.
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SwedaGuy said:
That is squarely where I stand...my father wouldn't allow me to have a computer throughout my childhood (he could afford it, but he was a hole sometimes), so flash forward 20 or so years, and I've got dozens of them...
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I think that's actually part of the reason why I collect like I do - wanting one of everything. It wasn't that I was deprived as a kid - I had at least one videogame system and one computer fairly early on (in fact I spent my Communion money to get an Atari 2600), it was always also wanting what my friend's had. For instance, I had a C-64 that I was thrilled with, but my one friend had an Atari 800XL and my other friend had an Apple IIe. I was very, very happy with what I had, but I also loved the experiences on the other systems. Now that I make a decent living, I can spend my "fun" money (money not for family, living, etc.) on what I always wanted to experience as an owner as a kid. Of course my collecting started when I was pretty young - late adolescence/early teens - even before I really thought of it as such. I just love technology in general and collecting vintage videogames and computers is a great expression of that.
 
Reasons for collecting

Reasons for collecting

Bill_Loguidice said:
I think that's actually part of the reason why I collect like I do - wanting one of everything. It wasn't that I was deprived as a kid - I had at least one videogame system and one computer fairly early on (in fact I spent my Communion money to get an Atari 2600), it was always also wanting what my friend's had. For instance, I had a C-64 that I was thrilled with, but my one friend had an Atari 800XL and my other friend had an Apple IIe. I was very, very happy with what I had, but I also loved the experiences on the other systems. Now that I make a decent living, I can spend my "fun" money (money not for family, living, etc.) on what I always wanted to experience as an owner as a kid. Of course my collecting started when I was pretty young - late adolescence/early teens - even before I really thought of it as such. I just love technology in general and collecting vintage videogames and computers is a great expression of that.
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I'm partly with you on this Bill,

There are several reasons why I'm collecting a set number of machines.

1. I read about them, heard about them and saw them back in the day, but there was no way I could afford to HAVE them. Now I can!

2. I enjoy history, and with the impact IT has had in the closing years of the 20th Century. These things are significant historical artifacts I want to keep, preserve, and show future grandchildren and others.

3. Computer technology amazes and astounds me. We take it for granted but when you think about the physics of it, how it all works is an accolade to mankind's collective engineering talent, creativity and knoweldge.

Just lately, I can add a 4th point to that list. Diagnosing and fixing computers. I've found this is challenging and satisfying. Suddenly watching the dead come back to life in an instant because you've found and fixed the problem is a real buzz.
 
tezza said:
Just lately, I can add a 4th point to that list. Diagnosing and fixing computers. I've found this is challenging and satisfying. Suddenly watching the dead come back to life in an instant because you've found and fixed the problem is a real buzz.
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I'm with you on that. At times I wonder if my attraction isn't more about ressurecting them than actually using them. That satisfying "buzz" when the beasts fires up and actually works.

And as well for me, pushing the limits of it, with upgrades which make it capable of doing something that the original designers never dreamed of. Like my IBM 5150 PC with the " Intel Inboard 386" or Atario Portfolio with all the bells and whistles. Authenticity holds no great charm for me unlike most collectors.

I have an 8-track player in my car and an extensive collection of carts, but am avidly searching for the cassette player 8-track adapter so I can also play cassettes and have in waiting a cassette adapter which can use a cassette interface to play CDs thru my speaker system. Of course it would be simply easier to just also interface a CD player or cassette deck with the speaker system.

Similarly why I have a Backpack cd player WITH a sound card inside, and several Iomega and Syquest Zip HD devices for old LTs without CDs or sound card and small HDs. Why I still have an extensive collection of 78s and LPs which I play with a newer(80s) sound system. I did sell my old Tube Eico recently. Perhaps my own personal protest against the throw-away society. Packrat Psycopath perhaps, but in my 100+ year old retirement home I have the space to indulge that finally. Everyone has quirks as my sons point out to me, constantly, especially me.

Lawrence
 
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Since I do it for a business, I find the most satisfaction in repairing them as well. I just wouldn't possibly have the time to use any of them, as much as I might like to, to start collecting them.

I love turning a pile of discarded junk into a number of perfectly working machines and, even though it's time-consuming, at times, extensively testing every single part that is going up on my site, it's nice to know that, when someone buys it, they are going to get something that is working 100% because I put 110% into it.

I'll continue to enjoy the part I like and let others enjoy the fruits of my labours.
 
If you want to expand the collection like crazy, buy up a bunch of computer magazines. I expanded my Nubus mac card collection quite a bit after I snagged some 1989-1995 Macworlds and Macuser magazines. You can see advertisements for all kinds of stuff you never seen before (and then you start looking at ebay and other places for them). Same with software.

One machine I wanted when I was young (and have yet to get) was a TI professional computer, something about a magazine picture of the keyboard got me hooked.
 
Some of my computer mags are one of the things I have to unload. Altho I was never an especial fan of Tandys except my model 2 and CoCo 3, I have a massive collection of 80-US and 80 Micro. And those are as thick as the Byte issues(which I also have to rid myself of) in the late 80s early 90s. I got those at a garage sale. I won't even mention the Atari St mags. Those I paid for with their included software disk in the last half of the 90s at $10 a pop and there were 3 companies whose issues I eagerly awaited for at the newsstands each month. Now that's compulsive behavior, and $30 a month I could have well used for other things. For what I put out for those Zines, I could have bought an Atari Falcon, perhaps 2.
Or a small car.

To get back on topic I'm going to put this Sanyo keyboard up for trade for an Amstrad 1640 or Epson Qx-10 keyboard which will make the Amstrad usable and if I can get either a monitor or adaptor, the Epson. Did I mention it took me 6 years (or more) to find a monitor cable for my DEC Rainbow cause I didn't want to pay the big bucks DEC wanted ? :^}
Finally finding that cable was an high experience that the wealthy could NEVER savor.

Lawrence
 
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