deskthority

I just picked up an Apple II+ clone with a defective PSU, a very nice amber monitor and two keyboards.

One of the latter is named 'Operator' and seems to sport some kind of Cherry switches with double shot keycaps.

I will recap the PSU and the rest of the mainboard tonight and see if the thing does fire up.

Has anyone seen this kind of switch before? I couldn't find anything remotely similar in the wiki.

The cherry-like board has a linear feel, slightly firmer than a brown MX, but very smooth.

Is the town/city of manufacture given? I'm guessing East Germany, as I don't think West Germany would get away with ripping off Apple like that. In which case, it could be anything from the Soviet era. The Cherry-like switches could be ИЗОТ for example, especially if they are M9-like or M8-like (both of which ИЗОТ cloned).

Whatever those red switches are, they look a bit suspect to me. It's hard to tell, but they do appear to be flat base assemblies, rather than a single moulding. I can't see any sign of a PCB though. You should remove a group of keycaps, or open up the keyboard — the PCB may be branded.

The keycaps are reminiscent of Siemens but the shape is different.

Ha, I know this board, I have the same one in my possession, albeit with different keycaps. I even have the manual, which identifies the manufacturer as AFC from Cologne and the keyboard name as 'Operator'. As far as I can tell this keyboard is from 1983.
The manual tells the user how to connect it to their computer, since this keyboard was made for a multitude of different systems. The numpad and the F keys apparently can be programmed freely by reprogramming the EPROM, it says that text macros are also possible.
The switches on mine are a bit stiff and bindy, I guess there is some dust in them. It's a membrane switch assembly unfortunately, therefore I can't open a switch without destroying the plastic rivets holding them to the bottom plate.

Highly interesting thanks for the information JohnZD & Nuum! Also reminds me of RAFI in some ways.

The strange keycaps remind me of something Adler made in about the mid '80s, I think some sort of home computer, but other than that extremely vague memory I'm afraid I don't recall anything useful.

Do you mean the Triumph Adler Alphatronics series? They have the same keycaps as some of their typewriters, but in white/off-white instead of dark brown:
(Shameless plug of my own board with those TA typewriter keycaps) Not too similar, I'm afraid.

Oh, yeah, that'll be the one! I honestly couldn't remember a thing about it other than it being cream and orange and the reviewer liking its keyboard.

Nuum wrote: 08 Sep 2017, 11:44 Ha, I know this board, I have the same one in my possession, albeit with different keycaps. I even have the manual, which identifies the manufacturer as AFC from Cologne and the keyboard name as 'Operator'. As far as I can tell this keyboard is from 1983.
The manual tells the user how to connect it to their computer, since this keyboard was made for a multitude of different systems. The numpad and the F keys apparently can be programmed freely by reprogramming the EPROM, it says that text macros are also possible.
...

I look for the manual to this keyboard for a long time. I got a (serial) version of it for the "Gepard Computer", and a friend of mine (a parallel) one for the Apple II.
Would it be possible to have a scan of the Operator manual?