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Re:IBM mainframe tube module part II: Powering up and using ... by kragen on Sunday January 14, 2018 @04:23PM (#16146567)
My first computer was a Heathkit H89 that my dad assembled about 1980. It had a keyboard microcontroller (I don't remember, maybe an 8048), but it also had hardware debounce: the keyswitches snapped together a solid copper electrode, on one side, and four copper "fingers" on the other. The idea (as he explained to me) was that the fingers would bounce out-of-sync with one another (although they looked pretty identical, maybe there was a subtle difference I couldn't see) and there wouldn't be any time when all four of them were out of contact at once.
Re:IBM mainframe tube module part II: Powering up and using ... by DiThi on Sunday January 14, 2018 @05:08PM (#16146778)
That's really interesting. Although it may not be the so much the out-of-sync bouncing but the flexibility of those fingers absorbing the shock. It would be interesting to see one of those in action with a high speed camera.
Re:IBM mainframe tube module part II: Powering up and using ... by dws on Tuesday January 16, 2018 @01:51PM (#16160946)
Several friends and I went in on a bulk buy of H19 kits. Every one of us discovered that we'd missed soldering the connections for the space bar.
Re:IBM mainframe tube module part II: Powering up and using ... by kragen on Monday January 22, 2018 @07:48PM (#16209771)
...is that you, Dave? I had no idea you had H19s!