IBM PC Oddities
Posted by Benj Edwards | Thursday, August 11, 2011
A Keyboard Fix
While most PC users respected the PC keyboard for its durability and now-famous clicky feel, critics took issue with the nonstandard placement of some keys, including the left shift and return. Many keys also sport an odd “peak” design, as if IBM wanted users to mistype or miss keys all together.
To fix that last problem, Vertex Systems introduced the $19.95 Keyfixer. It included plastic collars that fit over the PC’s return, shift, and tab keys, increasing their surface area. IBM remedied this problem with the AT keyboard in 1984.
(Photos: Vertex Systems, Benj Edwards)
August 11th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
What about IBM's word processing software, Display Write 1.0? It's hard to find any good information on this product on the internet. I even remember the name of the executable "dw1" 🙂
August 12th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
What's bizzare and dystopian about teaching people to read? I say it's utopian. Now if they subliminally taught them to only buy IBM or become chimp plant lackeys… that would be dystopian.
October 23rd, 2011 at 9:57 pm
I think the author was just showing how limited his/her vocabulary is. …ah, if only they had access to one of those evil IBM enslavement machines during their youth.