Keyboard Builders' Digest / History

IBM 5556-005

Full kanji keyboard spotted by whiteknight128.

KBD.news
Published May 8, 2021

The Type 5 Keyboard was a 254 key keyboard intended for the Chinese market. It used the Kanji alphabet and was intended for 5250 emulation purposes (Deskthority).

Each key corresponded to 12 Kanji characters, and the keyboard provided means of selecting between them. The keyboard was attached by a 1.26m cable to a Multistation with Chinese font support hardware using a special Kanji keyboard adapter, part number 4773169.

The keyboard had a listed price of 238,400 Yen.

Sound test:

Published on Sat 8th May 2021. Featured in KBD #25 (source).

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