Modern Symbolics Lisp Machine Keyboard Replica: Keymacs A620N-88 | Hacker News Reader

Modern Symbolics Lisp Machine Keyboard Replica: Keymacs A620N-88

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78 pointslispm34 comments

The later version of the mechanical Symbolics Lisp Machine keyboard has not been in production for decades. They are rare and legendary for their exceptional build quality. They feature a special keyboard layout for use with the Genera operating system, for Lisp programming and for the Zmacs editor. There are unshifted parentheses, control is next to space and it has lots of shift keys (Hyper, Super, Meta, Symbol, ...). There are special keys to switch between programs, to operate the window system, the terminal, the debugger, the console, ... Now there is modern Keymacs (https://keymacs.com) replica with USB interface and serious over-engineering. The instagram post shows a new version with the original Symbolics-like keyboard legend.

Review of the keyboard:

https://youtu.be/gziZnhxcFrk

And same reviewer on an original Space Cadet:

https://youtu.be/oDozftThFMw

NSFW language here and there.

Can't even view an instagram link without a login, Meta junk.

I can’t even log in through the website (“CSRF token missing or incorrect”). Useless non-Web bullshit.

Try gallery-dl, it can often get stuff without hitting a login:

https://github.com/mikf/gallery-dl/

After a lot of downloads you may get a login though.

where a lot is 12 if someone has already taken your IP for a ride

and hundreds if they haven't.

If you can't see a link on the internet without an account on a private system, is it really on the internet at all?

Fabulous! Now it makes me wonder if it is worth the effort to attempt something similar with the semi-legendary "space cadet" keyboard:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EeZTMuSUwAAOGde?format=png&name=...

I've thought about it, but I've been able to resist. No keyboard projects for almost 3 years in fact! So much better on my wallet, but I am starting to feel a familiar itch...

Does anyone know if there is an installable keyboard layout for windows that roughly corresponds to a space cadet layout? At least for the Greek and math characters

Is this keyboard essentially a slave device? For some reason I just imagine a Lisp Machine keyboard as being programmable independent of the host machine. Maybe I'm just different but I still prefer the ergonomics of the split keyboards that arrived later for PC's.

The keyboard itself is not an independent device, but it is part of the console which is basically a subordinate Motorola 68000 computer that is connected to the main unit of the Lisp machine by a long fiber optic cable. The console also includes an HD CRT monitor (which also houses the aforementioned computer), a three-button mouse, and a 16-bit stereo audio DAC. The cathode ray tubes for the early model were custom-blown by Symbolics. The console was one of the reasons why Lisp machines were so expensive.

There was also a small adapter box for the Apple Mac II and Mac Quadras with Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) connection. One could use then the Symbolics keyboard and the three button mouse (made by Logitech) with the MacIvory, a Lisp Machine on a Nubus board, and use it with the Genera OS running inside a Mac.

Sounds like a midrange system.

Symbolics did not use fiber optics; you are probably thinking the TI Explorer.

Right, Symbolics also support long cables, but they were not optical cables, like those of TI.

Looks nice but pretty expensive as well. 1500 pounds for a keyboard has got to be good!

or rare, though I have three of the original ones. :-)

https://moth.social/@lispm/110004084752959978

Somehow in my travels I've managed to acquire an old ADB Mac keyboard with a Symbolics inventory tag. So it must have been near a Lisp machine at some point in it's life (or probably that add-in card they put in Mac's)

I bet with a modern microcontroller you could knock up an ADB to USB converter in an afternoon.

That's sex on a desk there. Good job.

Good to see symmetrical meta keys! Modern keyboard designers, take note.

XMIT ... "transmit"?

What did that key do?

Was it analogous to ENTER or RETURN?

If you enter a comment on HN, then ENTER will only move you to the next line. I suppose XMIT would be the same as hitting the reply button.

I was thinking something similar ... enter for "carriage return" inside a text entry field, then XMIT to send everything off.

This would also be great to write multiline code in a REPL (without all the backslashes).

Though it might be more difficult to read.

Which REPL? In emacs, depending on whether it's slime or ieml, you can do things like hit CTRL-J to get a line break without triggering an eval. Maybe it works in other REPLs too ...

I was thinking of Bash, but it looks like it doesn't work.

I was able to use ctrl-j in bash (on ubuntu over ssh) and ctrl-j didn't trigger an execution.

I just did something simple like:

  cat ./test.txt && # hit ctrl-j here
  > less ./test.txt # the ">" was generated by bash automatically

So, it probably depends on what you're doing ...

Symbolics keyboards had no XMIT key. That's probably a special key possible for this keymacs key.

The Symbolics key has an END key. Enter something in a field. END ends the data entry.

Where can I order custom designed key caps, for a reasonable price?

What a waste of Space.

>no trackpoint

Dropped.

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