Chewing gum keyboard

The historic home computer ZX Spectrum from Sinclair with an eraser keyboard

Chewing gum keyboard ( English chiclet keyboard ) is a name for a feature of the external appearance of keyboards . On the one hand, there are conventional computer keyboards inside, which are a mere design feature; see island keyboard . On the other hand, there is the technique also known as (eraser) rubber keyboard , which is described below. In this case, the chiclet design is due to the structural design.

This type of keyboard is more common in calculators , telephones or remote controls , for example , even if there were some computers equipped with it in the 1980s , for example the first version of the IBM PCjr or the Sinclair ZX Spectrum .

function

Keyboard mat

The black points are electrically conductive

All buttons of the rubber keyboard are made from a piece of rubber (see picture). They form a kind of mat that is inserted into the housing cover during production, which contains individual recesses for the buttons. On the back of the buttons there is a conductive polymer or conductive rubber that creates the contact between the conductor tracks of a circuit board underneath the mat (see picture, the conductor tracks there are black).

nature

The shape of the chewing gum called chiclets was the inspiration for the name

The colloquial name chewing gum keyboard comes from the small, rectangular keys that are reminiscent of certain types of chewing gum (see picture). Depending on the version, the keys have a more or less noticeable pressure point, which makes them stand out positively from membrane keyboards without a pressure point; however, using a computer is much more difficult than using a conventional keyboard, since overcoming the pressure point does not ensure that the key press was recognized by the device. In addition, the keys are smaller and wider than they are deep compared to conventional keyboards, making typing very cumbersome. IBM corrected this deficiency in the successor to the PCjr, but the term "gum keyboard" is still common today on error-prone keyboards.

literature

Computer lexicon . Microsoft Press, 2003, ISBN 3-86063-896-3

Web links

Commons : chewing gum keyboards - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Tom Wyrick: Chiclet Keyboards Become New Classic For Notebooks . The article indicates between the lines that the term is used for different keyboard technologies.

[1] Tom Wyrick: Chiclet Keyboards Become New Classic For Notebooks . The article indicates between the lines that the term is used for different keyboard technologies.