# I think I just had a keyboardgasm **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806 "2008-10-07T04:33:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/21 "2008-10-08T16:30:44Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > Damn, missed the edit window. > > I just wanted to add that the terminal for it was pretty massive compared to the size of its monochrome screen. It stretched back two or three feet and I’m sure the thing weighed well over 100lbs. > > (Shit. I’m probably describing every old terminal, aren’t I?) I’m willing to bet it was a 3270 then. Almost all the DEC units have reasonable (by modern standards) case-to-screen ratios. (I have a DEC 420 that I use for my home linux server, which is stashed in a closet out of sight.) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/22 "2008-10-08T18:21:01Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > For a moment, I thought this was going to be a keyboard like the one I had at an old job of mine, but it’s not. > > That one had a metal casing and must have weighed a good 15lbs. The keys were loud as hell when you hit them, and instead of the function keys F1-F12, it had PF1 through PF24. It plugged into the terminal with a sorta RJ-45-looking plug. Anyone have any idea what kind of keyboard that might be, and if it’s still possible to get one (and if it would even work with a modern PC)? I loved that thing. I think I used one of those as recently as 1998. Along with an amber text-screen monitor. Did it have a key on it named “Clear Screen” or some such? Printing company I temping for had an _ancient ancient_ database program and I had to input figures… the processor must have been something like 500 KiloHertz, you’d type six characters and it would take it several seconds to catch up. Each line of data consisted of several field values with tabs between, and if you made an error the whole line had to be deleted. (and if you missed an error every line subsequent to the line with the error had to be nuked as well). I got quite a reputation for **WHOPPING** out the chars and tabs for an entire line and then waiting for the entire line to catch up and be accepted as data input, it was the only method for attaining tolerable data input speed. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/23 "2008-10-08T19:00:42Z")
That’s what I use every day, model M, dated “19NOV86”. Love the feel, nice and solid. Only downside is no Capslock or Numlock lights, but that’s minor. The keycaps come off easily too, so instead of “asdfgh”, I have “6sdfg[PageUp]” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/24 "2008-10-08T23:19:15Z")
Y’know what this thread is doing to me? One of you suckers needs to invent a keyboard that’s the unholy love child of a Logitech G15, an IBM Model M, and a Microsoft Natural Multimedia (what I type on now). Because I want a gamer console and macros and usb hub, buckling-spring keys, and the particular ergonomic curve of this keyboard that’s the only one that doesn’t make my wrists feel like stabby. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/25 "2008-10-09T01:47:20Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I think I used one of those as recently as 1998. Along with an amber text-screen monitor. Did it have a key on it named “Clear Screen” or some such? Printing company I temping for had an _ancient ancient_ database program and I had to input figures… the processor must have been something like 500 KiloHertz, you’d type six characters and it would take it several seconds to catch up. Each line of data consisted of several field values with tabs between, and if you made an error the whole line had to be deleted. (and if you missed an error every line subsequent to the line with the error had to be nuked as well). I got quite a reputation for **WHOPPING** out the chars and tabs for an entire line and then waiting for the entire line to catch up and be accepted as data input, it was the only method for attaining tolerable data input speed. 1998 was actually the year I started using it, and did so through 2003. I don’t remember if it had a clear screen key, but I want to say it did. I remember waiting for the lines on the screen to catch up with my typing, though I could go back a few Tabs if I needed to make a correction. Once everything on the screen looked okay, I’d hit PF13 to submit it. The machine I used was shaped kinda like [this](http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/2865/terminalsm7.jpg) (crude MS Paint). It was probably a little bit taller and a little bit longer, but I suck at drawing things. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/26 "2008-10-09T05:25:07Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > I’m willing to bet it was a 3270 then. Almost all the DEC units have reasonable (by modern standards) case-to-screen ratios. (I have a DEC 420 that I use for my home linux server, which is stashed in a closet out of sight.) I’ve been looking up some pictures, and I think you’re right. Aside from some very minor cosmetic differences, [this is it](http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zoslnctr/v1r7/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.znetwork.doc/znetwork_261.html). I guess it’s kind of telling that every picture I’ve found of this thing is in black and white. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/27 "2008-10-09T12:48:22Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > I’ve been looking up some pictures, and I think you’re right. Aside from some very minor cosmetic differences, [this is it](http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zoslnctr/v1r7/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.znetwork.doc/znetwork_261.html). I guess it’s kind of telling that every picture I’ve found of this thing is in black and white. 🙂 Ah, the true classics. [This is the one that sits on my desk at home.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/DEC-VT420-0a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806/28 "2008-10-09T12:54:10Z")
I hate clicky keyboards. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate theeeeeeeemmmmmmmmmmmmm!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-just-had-a-keyboardgasm/466806.md?page=1)