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All of my life the doors have been closed now. And all of my dreams have been locked up inside. But you came along and captured my heart, girl. You're the key to my life
~ Key to my Life, Boyzone
Photo taken by Marc.
This is a prototype keyboard, likely an early version missing all printing on the keys, case and underside.
I purchased this from Dick Huston, ex-Apple engineer (Apple employee #25).
He wrote, "Here's a curious thing - a keyboard without labeling on the keys. It's a prototype that was kicking around the engineering offices that I found amusing because, to this day, I have to LOOK to see what I'm typing.
"The keyboard would work with any Newton with OS 2.0 or greater, but was primarily intended to be used with the MP2000/2100 series. This one is among the first produced, as evidenced by the lack of labeling on the keys."
This was my first computer. It was in constant use from 1986 until 1994. I learned to program on it.
I so like it, but hate the fact that the transceivers for Arc mouse (micro) and keyboard (nano) are different.
The keyboard on my laptop. You can see how the "f" key has been rubbed smooth but has kep the lettering.
I received an email from a coworker about a retiring professor trying to retrieve data off of old computers. Our central IT was unable to assist due to the age of the machines. The professor was trying to move files from a Mac OS X 10.2, 10.4, and NeXT computer. My heart skipped a beat after that reading that last one. Moving the vintage Mac files would be no problem because I keep those tools handy. I restore vintage Apple //, Macintosh, and other hardware as a hobby.
If you don't know what a NeXT computer is, it's this insanely expensive computer built by Steve Jobs after he was ousted from Apple in the 1980's. It ran Unix, had a gorgeous graphical user interface, and if you use OS X today it is still the foundational basis for the operating system. It was lightyears ahead of anything else out there at the time. Have you ever visited a website before? The first webpage was served on a NeXTcube.
I've never seen a working NeXT computer before though. I saw one in Berlin in a museum and read about them extensively, but I had no idea that our university actually had them.
I immediately went to the professor's office and he showed me what he was trying to do. We talked a little bit about vintage hardware and I told him that I'd never seen a working NeXT before. I was a little hesitant to respond because day-to-day we're flooded with tickets IT support isn't really my thing. Sometimes users, especially tenured professors, need a delicate approach because of their demands. This person could not have been more affable, kind, and good hearted. After talking a while he said he would rather have the hardware saved than go to scrap per university policy.
In the interest of archiving his data and this magnificent hardware I will be cooperating with him to save this NeXT computer. I've also agreed to save the Mac Cube and Power Macintosh G3. Twist my arm. They'll become archive computers if anyone needs a WordPerfect 3.5 file converted. Yes, people still have those.
I decided to document everything in place before moving it all to a secure location. That includes the NeXT computer, original manuals, flyers, software, printers, accessories, and even the original boxes.
The plan is to document EVERYTHING in detail. So stay tuned for future updates.
You can follow me as I post future updates:
Website: kenfager.com
Twitter: kenfagerdotcom
Instagram: kenfager
Flickr: kenfagerdotcom
I'll be Away From Keyboard for a week or ten days. Try not to miss me too much during my absence, 'kay?
I bought a replacement keyboard for my laptop and it's unusable. Who needs the \ | key more than shift or return?
January 19th 2015
It was cold out this morning, but I managed to brave a 6k run, which felt really good. I spent the rest of the day doing chores like cleaning the bathroom and sorting the laundry before collecting the girls from school.
This evening was spent in front op the laptop, writing a report for a meeting at work tomorrow and number crunching to make sure my data is ok for it. I've got piles of marking I need to do, and would prefer to be doing, but hey-ho.