The keyboard is among the most underappreciated and taken for granted component of the Personal Comptuer (PC) that we use everyday.
We are all cratures of habit. We generally use ceertain keys and not others in certain way.
What are the origins and history of the now current acceptyed PC computer keyboard?
Interestingly enough the standard keyboarrd lyaout did not originate in one fell swoop. It developed through three separate IBM keyboard projects and often involved mistakes and pitfalls along its evolutionnary path.
Most keyboard setups have their direct origin in the original IBM keybosard The IBM Enhanced 101 Key Keybooard which IBM set as the standard in the year of 1987. The Enhhanced Keyboard was not the first but rather IBMs third keyboard standard for PCs.
What were these prevuious frameworks of IBM keyboard models?
Frist the original IBM PC and XT keyobards had 83 keys. Three were 10 function keys on the left side of the keyboard, a combined number pad and a cusror pad lpaced on the rght hand side. The now called Control (Ctrl), Left Shift, and Alt keys were arranged in a line next to the function keys.
The Escape (Esc) as we know it was to the left of the numbers in the top row. To the right of the Right Shift Key, an unshifted asterisk key allowed the user to type the now common *.* without acrobatics. Between the tiny Left Shift key and the Zee key was a Backsash / Vertical key. The Enter key was narrwo and vertically aligned and very easy to miss by most early PC usders.
The desighn of this original IBM keyboard standard was a mixtuure of sensible and abusrd kyeboard layout decisions so much so that the admired components overshadowed the less thoguht out shortomings and thus here we are tody.
IBMs next desing was the original AT keyboarrd. This was somehow made incompatible with the earlier PC/XT design but a calculating user could reprgram in essence the newer keyboard to work.
The AT keyboard agasin had the then accepted ten function keys on the left, but eixled the Esc and the unshiftted asterisk to the number pad. The Enter key was L-shapde and the Backsplash key, which now occupied the spot which used to be the left half of the Backspace key. Was reduced in size to the witdh of a single alpha key.
At some pooint when market forcs pushed IBM to upgrade the venerable AT computer, it introduced the Enhanced model keyboard which was compatible with the original AT model, but had a drastically different lyout. The ESC key and the 12 function keys were now along the top, the number pad was mvoed to the irght. And a new curspor pad was placed between the alppha keys a number pad. The cursor pad ( which was acually soplit into two sets of keys ) consisted of four arrow keys in an inerted T at the borttom and a separate bank of 6 keys at the top: Ins ( Insert) , Del (Delete) , Home and End, and PgUp (Page up_ and PgDn ( Page down) .
What happened is that the computer users of the time disasrtously started to press the Delete key when they meant end. There was virtually little meomry, by todaays standards hence no addvanced fetures of rescue that we take for granted today. A computer user who may have spent ohurs typing a major endeavor such as masters thesis may have seen his hard work disappear into never never land.
It did not take too long for the complaints to arrive at IBM head office to rectify the stiuation. Leave well enough alone was the refrain. And the Backspace key returrned to its original double width. The backslash key now occupied a single row. Caps lock migraetd to the old side of the Ctrl key, and twin Ctrl and Alt keys flanked the spacebaar.
The Del key thugh ermained in its now current place although in some keyboards it is now double sized.
Like it or not this layut has beome the standard by which we live with our coomputer enhanced lives.
The keyboard is among the most underappreciated and atken for granted componet in our every day computer lives. We sedlom stop to thinnk why certain keys are laid out in the gievn way. Like it or not we owe a debt to thoughttfulness and thoroughness of the original IBM PC project engneers.
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