Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
continues to develop and sell a variety of traditional and customized models, including keyboards that
match the school colors of several universities. Unicomp sells keyboards directly via its website at
www.pckeyboard.com
.
Another great source for IBM keyboards is
www.clickykeyboards.com
,
which offers a number of used and even new-old stock keyboards, including those with integral
TrackPoints.
If you are a ThinkPad user and love the TrackPoint and/or UltraNav (TrackPoint with scroll button
plus touchpad), you can get an actual ThinkPad TrackPoint or UltraNav keyboard in both standard and
portable (without numeric keypad) designs:
•
ThinkPad Full-Size UltraNav USB Keyboard
—P/N 31P8950
•
ThinkPad Travel UltraNav USB Keyboard
—P/N 31P9490
•
ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint
—P/N 55Y9003
The latter two versions lack the numeric keypad included on the full-size version. All include a built-
in USB hub with two ports on the keyboard for attaching additional USB devices, such as a
conventional mouse. They also have a built-in cord wrap that allows you to adjust the length of the
cord as well as to hide it completely for storage. Although they don't have the heavy feel of the
buckling spring keyswitch design, they do have the same high-quality keyboards as the legendary
ThinkPad laptops, and they include the same TrackPoint pointing device. They are both extremely
lightweight: The travel and USB versions weigh only 1.17 lbs and 1 lbs, respectively, whereas the
full-size model weighs only 1.41 lbs. A good way to find the best price is to search for the part
numbers online. Using these keyboards makes the transition from laptop to desktop easy, because you
can have the same keyboard and pointing devices on both.
Other excellent keyboards include the Cooler Master CM Storm keyboards
(
www.cmstorm.com/en/products/keyboards
). These keyboards have mechanical switches with
excellent tactile feedback, with a positive click sound, plus they feature fully adjustable LED
backlighting.
Pointing Devices
The mouse was invented in 1964 by Douglas Engelbart, who at the time was working at the Stanford
Research Institute (SRI), a think tank sponsored by Stanford University. The mouse was officially
called an X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System. Xerox later applied the mouse to its
revolutionary Alto computer system in 1973. At the time, unfortunately, these systems were
experimental and used purely for research.
In 1979, several people from Apple—including Steve Jobs—were invited to see the Alto and the
software that ran the system. Steve Jobs was blown away by what he saw as the future of computing,
which included the use of the mouse as a pointing device and the GUI it operated. Apple promptly
incorporated these features into what was to become the Lisa computer and lured away 15-20 Xerox
scientists to work on the Apple system.
Although Xerox released the Star 8010 computer, which used this technology, in 1981, it was
expensive, poorly marketed, and perhaps way ahead of its time. Apple released the Lisa computer, its
first system that used the mouse, in 1983. It was not a runaway success, largely because of its $10,000
list price, but by then Jobs already had Apple working on the low-cost successor to the Lisa: the
Macintosh. The Apple Macintosh was introduced in 1984. Although it was not an immediate hit, the
Macintosh has grown in popularity since that time.
