Surely that honour belongs to the Sinclair ZX80. A horrendous membrane keyboard that made the spongy keys of the ZX81 an improvement by comparison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX80
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Replying to @samfosteriam @therealfitz
The difference for me is that many people speak of both ZX80/81/Spectrum fondly as starting points in their programming careers. PCjr had word processing software. The nerve!
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True. But I also can't imagine that anyone did any real typing on the membrane keyboard of an Atari 400. Did you find otherwise in your research?
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Sort of. I see PCjr belonging to the same higher home computer category as Apple II, while Atari 400 and ZX are down there with C64 and so on. PCjr was advertised as a “home office” machine; few people used the other two for serious things (which broke Sinclair’s heart).
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All three had word processors, though (although only PCjr marketed its). And the desire to do *cool shit on your computer* was really strong, even on clearly inadequate machines.
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All three had third-party replacement keyboards, too – as well as official upgrade paths towards better siblings.pic.twitter.com/ofJNsQV8KZ
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I believe objectively in terms of raw “writing words” keyboard quality, PCjr v1 is better than v2, both better than ZX, and all are better than the 400. Now I want to get all four converted to USB and have a speed typing competition at my book opening party!
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But, the important thing is also: those keyboards were no longer just for writing words. Games, spreadsheets, databases, programming, all started adding to the repertoire.
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PCjr addressed it with overlays, for example (which decreased usability), ZX Spectrum with its infamous legends. Membrane tech like 400 is still used in some places where keyboards are touched by gloves and can get really dirty (Note: [Clean] key).pic.twitter.com/AEjI2cKJIo
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That’s what makes it all impossible to compare, but possible to tell stories and write books. :·)
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I don’t know if I even answered your question, but now I want to give a “what’s the worst keyboard ever made” talk. :·D
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(Space Cadet, for example, represents a very male, insular, and unapproachable vision of computing and you can make an argument it makes it worse than even the 400!)
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