deskthority

These HP 98203C Nimetz keyboards are really coming out of the woodwork on eBay lately. The HP Computer Museum describes them as "very rare," but it definitely seems like that's no longer the case, and they're relatively cheap, too. They are pretty interesting, though:

• Loads of keys, including weird function-like keys and special purpose run/pause/continue/execute program keys..
• Nice key caps. They're really thick double shot spherical caps with Cherry crosspoint mounts.
• A rotary encoder!
• The internal hardware and protocol, HP's HIL, are interesting. It was designed to allow multiple devices to daisy chain. There are mice, of course, and numpads, a single rotary encoder, a bank of six rotary encoders (!!), and even a converter box to allow PS/2 keyboards and mice to connect.

There are a couple of USB converters out there for them. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing any HP 9830A's. They have a really slick color scheme instead of the usual suicide beige.

I'm not selling anything (but I did buy one). I just think they are really interesting devices and wanted to highlight their current availability.