IBM ENHANCED KEYBOARD FOR THE PERSONAL COMPUTER

Announcement Letter Number ZG86-4008 dated April 18, 1986
Europe Middle East Africa - Last Revised on April 18, 1986


Brief Description of Announcement, Charges, and Availability

Customer Letter Section


*****************************************************************
*                                                               *
*  IBM HARDWARE PRODUCT INFORMATION             April 86        *
*                                                               *
*  IBM HARDWARE PRODUCT INFORMATION                             *
*                                                               *
*  IBM HARDWARE PRODUCT INFORMATION                             *
*                                                               *
*****************************************************************
*                                                               *
* This document is provided as general customer information     *
* only. IBM products and services which are announced and       *
* available in your country can be ordered under the applicable *
* standard agreements, terms, conditions and prices in effect   *
* at the time. For further information please contact your      *
* local IBM representative.                                     *
*                                                               *
*****************************************************************
=================================================================
                                                      ZG86-4008
IBM ENHANCED KEYBOARD FOR THE PERSONAL COMPUTER
The Enhanced Keyboard represents an  advance in keyboard design for
the IBM Personal Computer family. It  is designed to meet the needs
of the personal computer user, the office system user, and the user
that communicates and interacts with larger computer systems.
This keyboard is designed to conform to ISO standards.
The Enhanced Keyboard is provided in a 101 key version for the U.S.
user and 102 key versions for the European users.
Both versions are recappable, as detailed in Highlights, so the key
tops may be changed for applications requiring special keys.
It is designed to be used with the PC Personal Computer AT Expanded
and with the  Personal Computer XT 'S' models and  is not supported
on othe IBM  System Units.  IBM provides no guarantee  that it will
work in conjunction with other system units.
The  keyboard is  attached  to the  system unit  with  a nine  foot
pluggable coiled  cable, permitting the  computers adaptation  to a
variety of  workspace configurations.  The Keyboard  height can  be
adjusted to  two different  positions for  typing comfort.  With an
adjustable  typing angle  it  offers commonly  used  data and  word
processing  functions, along  with separate  numeric functions  and
cursor keypads.
The keyboard layout can be divided into four (4) sections:
1.  Typing Section
2.  Numeric Pad
3.  Cursor/Screen Controls
4.  Function Keys
The 101 key U.S. keyboard and the 102 key European keyboards differ
only in  the typing section of  the keyboard. The U.S.  keyboard is
arranged similar to the Selectric (TM)  keyboard layout but with 47
graphic  character  keys.  The tab,  capslock,  shift,  enter,  and
backspace keys have a larger striking area and are located in their
familiar  Selectric (TM)  locations.  One  control (Ctrl)  and  one
alternate (Alt) key  is placed on each  side of the space  bar. The
typing section  and the numeric pad  have home row  identifiers for
the touch typist.
The typing  section for  the European keyboard  has a  layout which
meets the  International Standards Organization (ISO)  standard. It
has  48  graphic  character  keys and  a  vertical  enter  key.  An
alternate graphic  (AltGr) key on the  right side of the  space bar
provides additional graphic characters.
The cursor  and screen  control keys have  been separated  from the
numeric  pad and  therefore the  numeric  pad can  be dedicated  to
numeric input.  A division sign key  has been added to  the numeric
pad so that the four arithmetic  operators as well as an additional
enter  key  may  be  easily accessed.  Like  the  current  Personal
Computer keyboards, the numeric pad may also be used for cursor and
screen control when not in numlock mode.
The cursor control keys are arranged in the inverted T arrangement.
Insert, delete, home, end, page up and page down keys are separated
from the numeric pad and located above the dedicated cursor control
keys.
The function keys are located across the top of the keyboard spaced
in groups of  four. The escape key  (ESC) is isolated at  the upper
left of  the keyboard.  Two additional  function keys  are provided
(F11 and F12) for a total  of twelve. Dedicated Print Screen/SysRq,
Scroll Lock,  and Pause/Break keys  are provided for  commonly used
functions.
Indicator lights, located at the upper right corner of the Keyboard
(not in  the keyboard  for the  Personal Computer  XT 'S'  models),
indicate the  status of  the Num  lock, Caps  lock and  Scroll lock
keys.
A microprocessor in the keyboard  handles the system unit interface
protocol, scan code generation and command processing.
HIGHLIGHTS
o   101 Key U.S.and Israel Version ; 102 Key WTC Versions
o   Recappable keytop capability (93 unit  size keys, plus four one
  and a half sized keys : Alt, AltGr, Ctrl's)
o   Selectric (TM) Typing Section for U.S. Version
o   ISO Typing Section for European Version
o   Dedicated Numeric Pad
o   Dedicated Cursor and Screen Controls
o   Twelve Function Keys
o   Status lights for  Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll  Lock (Not in
  the Enhanced Keyboard for the XT 'S' models)
o   Nine Foot Cable
o   Language Support:
  US  English,  UK  English, French,  German,  Italian,  Spanish,
  Danish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish/Finnish, Swiss, Belgian,
  and Hebrew.
TECHNICAL DATA
o   101 Keys for US
o   102 Keys for Europe
o   Serial Interface
o   Status Lights for  Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll  Lock (Not in
  the Keyboard for the XT 'S' models)
o   Dimensions
  -   Length - 492 mm (19.37")
  -   Depth  - 210 mm (8.27")
  -   Height - 58 mm (2.28") Legs Extended,  50.2 mm Retracted.
o   Weight:  2.25 Kg (5 pounds).
The keyboard  layout IDs  and the  related supported  codepages are
represented in Table 1.
TABLE 1
KEYBOARDS IDS AND CODEPAGES
+-------------+------------+------------+
| COUNTRIES   | KEYBOARD   | CODEPAGE   |
|             | ID         |            |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| U.K.        | 116        | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Germany     | 129        | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| France      | 189        | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Italy       | 141        | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Spain       | 172        | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Denmark     | 159        | 437 Nordic |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Norway      | 155        | 437 Nordic |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Sweden    / | 153        | 437        |
| Finland     |            |            |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Switzerland | 150F/G     | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Portugal    | 163        | 437        |
|             |            | Portuguese |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Belgium     | 120        | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| Israel      | 212        | 437 Hebrew |
+-------------+------------+------------+
| U.S.        | 103P       | 437        |
+-------------+------------+------------+
PREREQUISITES.
The keyboard  is not included  with the system  unit and has  to be
ordered.
Keyboard software support for other than US English is required and
is provided via:
o   Updating DOS Package for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and U.K.
o   National Language Supplement for the other countries.
SPECIAL CHARACTERS
Most micro computers  have different internal code  structures from
those used in  mainframe computers. The IBM  Personal Computer uses
an internal  ASCII based  code structure  as opposed  to an  EBCDIC
internal code which is used in IBM host computers.
To  improve  the  capability  of   the  IBM  Personal  Computer  to
communicate with interconnected IBM  systems, including mainframes,
IBM has  now restructured  the user  interface to  accomodate these
differences.   This   has   resulted   in   an   inconsistency   in
representation of the  unbroken vertical bar special  character. On
certain country keyboards when the key showing an unbroken vertical
bar  is  depressed  a  broken vertical  bar  is  displayed.  (Note,
however, that where  appropriate communications software is  in use
the unbroken vertical bar is correctly transmitted.)
Users with  keyboards exhibiting this  inconsistency who  wish, for
cosmetic reasons,  to change the  keytop engraved with  an unbroken
vertical bar to one with an engraving  of a broken vertical bar may
obtain a replacement  keycap at no charge from  the party providing
this keyboard (the IBM Authorized Dealer or the IBM Branch Office).
Details about ordering them are contained in a separate announcment
letter.
                *****   END OF DOCUMENT   *****