Chiclet keyboard

Chewing gum keyboard ( chiclet keyboard english ) is a name for a characteristic of the appearance of keyboards. Firstly, there is the inner workings of conventional computer keyboards, which are this is a mere design feature; please refer to the island keyboard. On the other hand, there are also ( erasing ) rubber keypad mentioned technique, which is described below. The chiclet-style design in this case has its origin in the structural design.

This type of keyboard is rather common in, for example, calculators, telephones, remote controls, even though there are some so -equipped computer, such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the first version of the IBM PCjr or were in the 1980s.

Function

All buttons of the keyboard rubber are made of a rubber piece (see picture) made ​​. They form a kind of mat, which is inserted in the production in the housing cover, which contains individual cutouts for the buttons. A conductive polymer or conductive rubber that makes contact between interconnects a temperature below the mat board is located at the back of the buttons (see picture, the interconnects there are black).

Nature

The colloquial name chewing gum keyboard comes from the small, rectangular buttons, the chewing gum to certain places ( see picture) remember. Although the keys have a more or less depending on the version tactile feedback, making them stand out positively membrane keyboards without pressure point; yet the operation of a computer compared to a conventional keyboard is much more difficult, since the overcoming of the pressure point does not ensure that the keypress is detected by the device. In addition, the keys are compared to conventional keyboards smaller and wider than deep, so that the writing is very cumbersome. IBM introduced this deficiency in the following model of the PCjr from, but the concept of chewing gum keyboard is common in error-prone keyboards today.

Swell

• Computer Glossary, Microsoft Press, 2003, ISBN 3-86063-896-3

• Keyboard ( input device )