What I haven’t got a look inside of are the earlier gold-logo-plate Omnikeys. After that Northgate went to mask-programmed firmware inside the microcontroller. The two-board variants are kinda interesting in that the firmware is in an external EPROM. Then there are also the product variations: 102, Plus, Ultra, and I think there may be a 101. The “programmable” firmware has bugs that make the keyboard lock up once in a while and the “fix” is to clip out the flash chip used to store the “programming”. 1996 is the “programmable” Omnikey with Windows keys. (There are a couple variants of this, one with double-sided controller PC board, the other with single-sided controller PC board.) 1991-1995 there is a single keyboard-and-controller single-sided PC board with a single connector out the back and configuration and reset pushbutton out the top under the Northgate logo plate (it flips up). 1989-1990 there is a keyboard PC board and separate controller PC board with connector(s) (one or three), configuration switches, and reset pushbutton out the back. There are at least three major hardware designs. There is an “SF Select” key on these that lets you set the function keys to the top to be F_n_ with a modifier key (Shift, Control, Alt). Yup, the function keys to the left are old pre-PS/2 IBM PC style. Lessons learned: Control must be to the left of A, a little bit of tactile feedback helps, curved boards (like the mid-2000s Apple keyboard) get in my way, and I like clicky but don’t need it. I’ve also tried a few other things, some good, some horrible.
#Omnikey northgate pro#
Have been OK on MacBook “chiclet” keyboards and have tried a “chiclet” Apple Pro Keyboard with success. Got a Matias TactilePro (original), thinking maybe I needed some tactile or audible feedback, which I still use (and have worn some of the printed key labels off). Then in 2005 got a new iMac with the Apple Pro Keyboard and watched my typo rate go through the roof. Got into Macs around 2001 and am mostly happy with their ability to switch Control and CapsLock in System Preferences. Got hold of a Northgate Omnikey and have been using those for PCs since, but for one stretch where an officemate objected to the sound of clicky keys and I got another PC keyboard built on a PC board and cut-and-jumpered it to switch Control and CapsLock.Īlso used HP’s 95/100/200LX palmtops for most of 20 years, thumb-typing notes to self. Noticed some left-hand pain which I put down to reaching for the Control key down there and started looking around.
#Omnikey northgate how to#
Figured out how to switch Control and CapsLock in MS-DOS and Windows but not in Soft-ICE/W, so spent some months porting a TCP/IP stack to a Windows VxD using an Emacs-like editor and Watcom C.
#Omnikey northgate driver#
Carried on with Apple ][ Plus, HP 2645, a variety of HP and other keyboards, got the Emacs in my fingers (but also used EDIT/3000, TDP, QUAD, and something called “VOODOO” on HP 3000) and then in about 1994 got moved to doing Windows driver development so got a PC on my desk.
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