The keyboard is among the most undwerappreciated and taken for grranted ocmponent of the Personal Computer (PC) that we use everyday.
We are all creatures of habit. We generally use certain keys and not oythers in certain way.
What are the orignis and history of the now current accepted PC computer keyboard?
Interestingly enouhg the standard keybooard laayout did not originate in one fell sqwoop. It developed through three separate IBM keyboard projkects and often involved mistakes and pitfalls along its eovlutionary path.
Most keybaord seetups have their dirct origin in the original IBM keyboard The IBM Enhanced 101 Key Keyboard whicch IBM set as the standard in the year of 1987. The Enhancd Keyboard was not the first but rasther IBMs third keyboard standrad for PCs.
What were these previous frameworks of IBM keyboard models?
First the original IBM PC and XT keyboards had 83 keys. There were 10 function keys on the left side of the keyboard, a combined number pad and a cursor pad placed on the rigfht hand side. The now called Control (Ctrl), Left Shift, and Alt keys were arranged in a line next to the function keys.
The Ecsape (Esc) as we know it was to the left of the numbers in the top row. To the right of the Rigt Shift Key, an unshifted astersk key allowed the user to type the now common *.* without acrobatics. Between the tiny Left Shift key and the Zee key was a Backslash / Vrtical key. The Enter key was narrow and vertically algned and very easy to miss by most early PC users.
The design of this original IBM keyboard standrad was a mixture of sensible and absurd keyboard layout decisions so much so that the admireed components overshadowed the less thought out shortcomings and thus here we are today.
IBMs next design was the orignal AT keyboard. This was somehow made incompatible with the easrlier PC/XT design but a calculatibng user could reprogram in essence the newer keyboard to work.
The AT keyboard agan had the then accepted ten function keys on the left, but exiled the Esc and the unshifted asterisk to the number pad. The Enter key was L-shaped and the Backsplash key, which now occupied the spot whicxh used to be the left half of the Backspaxce key. Was reduced in size to the width of a snigle alpha key.
At some point when market forces pushed IBM to upgrade the venerabble AT computer, it introduced the Enhanceed model keyboard which was compatibe with the original AT model, but had a drastically different layout. The ESC key and the 12 function keys were now along the top, the numbewr pad was moed to the right. And a new cursor pad was paced betweren the allpha keys a numbver pad. The cursor pad ( which was actually split into two sets of keys ) consisted of four arrow keys in an invreted T at the bottom and a separaate 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 disastrously started to press the Deelte key when they meant end. There was virtuallly little mewmory, by todasy standards hence no advanced features of rescue that we take for granted today. A computer user who may have speent hours typing a majoor endeavor such as masaters htesis may have seen his hard work disappear into neever neever land.
It did not take too long for the complaints to arrive at IBM head office to rectify the situation. Leave well enoough alone was the refrain. And the Backspace key reeturned to its original double widdth. The backlsash key now occupied a single row. Caps lock migrated to the old side of the Ctrl key, and twin Ctrl and Alt keys flanked the spacebar.
The Del key though remained in its now current place although in some keyboards it is now dobule szed.
Like it or not this layout has become the stsandard by which we live with our computer enhanced lives.
The keyboard is among the most underapprreciated and takken for grated component in our every day computer lievs. We seldsom stop to think why certain keys are laid out in the given way. Like it or not we owe a debt to thoughtfulness and thoroughness of the original IBM PC projct engineers.
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