I'm supplying the link to the reddit thread here because the person who typed it in from the GQ article provides a bit of additional context.
Readit Newsdcminter commented on Text of Terry Pratchett's 1995 Bill Gates Interview old.reddit.com/r/discworl... · Posted by u/dcminter
dcminter commented on Exploring Different Keyboard Sensing Technologies lttlabs.com/articles/2026... · Posted by u/viraptor
I can't say for sure about the Wang terminal keyboards, but what you're describing sounds a lot like a mechanism from some IBM Model B keyboards (usually called Beamsprings). I have an IBM 5251 keyboard that has a solenoid that hammers the side of the metal case whenever you type, and I've heard that it was added as users would have been used to typewriters and wanted to know for sure when they had registered a keypress
So honestly I don't quite remember if I encountered this with the Wangs, or if I'm recalling my Dad telling me about it from his experiences.
If the latter then odds are that it was either a machine from Wang and in that case most likely the 2200, or otherwise it will have most probably been equipment associated with the Gamma 10 from De La Rue Bull, or possibly the Ferranti Pegasus - both of which I know he worked with.
Of course, he might have been telling me a third-party anecdote in which case it's possible the IBM Display Station was the machine in question.
That all said, last time I was discussing this with someone they mentioned that the 2200's terminal had a "solenoid" trace on its PCB so it's quite possible that this really was the relevant device. Last time I personally had hands on a live 2200 was about 1993 though, so I really can't be sure.
There's a chap in the Netherlands with a Wang 2200 museum - perhaps I should just write to him and ask :D
dcminter commented on Exploring Different Keyboard Sensing Technologies lttlabs.com/articles/2026... · Posted by u/viraptor
I don't know how their switches worked, but the Wang 2200 terminals¹ that my father worked with had an interesting angle on tactile feedback; on each keypress a single chunky solenoid attached to it physically moved to give a satisfying "chunk" noise and vibration.
The idea presumably was to give solid mechanical feedback to professional typists used to the same from electromechanical typewriters throwing the type arm onto the platten.
Note this was late 70s/early 80s so I may be confusing/conflating it with other machines.
¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_2200#/media/File%3AWang22...
dcminter commented on Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules? · Posted by u/blenderob
> we all had calculators in our pocket that were more powerful than the computers that put people on the moon.
Pencils and slide rules are what got us to the moon, and back to Earth. Pencils and slide rules.
Yes, but also very early microchips!
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The living computer museum used to have SSH access for their vintage systems.
The "interim computer museum" has some (most?) of that now: https://icm.museum/?faq
Anyone here going to the VMS bootcamp? [1]
I'm rather tempted. I'm funemployed at the moment and live over in Stockholm so it's just a (long) train journey away. I used to enjoy messing around on Vaxen in my college days.
I can't see myself ever using VMS professionally though, and it has a somewhat vague description of the actual content. It's not super expensive but I'd have to fork out for the travel and accommodation.
I'd love to hear about it if anyone does a write-up after the fact.
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