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Rolitron Rolco-60

The Rolco-60 by Rolitron was a dedicated microcomputer for currency exchange facilities in the early '90s.

KBD.news
Published October 6, 2022
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This is my latest acquisition, a Rolitron Rolco-60 microcomputer from 1989.

(Not much info about it, but during the last few years of collecting vintage stuff I learned that if I don't write something immediately, I'll never cover a keyboard/computer. So here you go.)

I knew nothing about this Rolco-60 and bought it because of the ortho layout – for about $38 (shipping included).

According to the seller, this was made in 1992 and was used at currency exchange facilities. A short announcement in the Hungarian "Számítástechnika" (Computer World) weekly magazine seemed to confirm the date:

Pic:

Beside the usual marketing bullshit the text claims the Rolco-60 can be used as a calculator but also as a microcomputer, and is a dedicated device developed for currency exchange firms by the B. Braun-Rolitron Orvos- és Biotechnológiai Kft. (B. Braun-Rolitron Medical and Biotechnology Ltd.).

The magazine issue is from 1992, 25th of February, and introduces the Rolco-60 as a new product in the line of office automation products by Rolitron.

The strange thing about this date is that both of the handwritten and yellowed stickers inside the (otherwise relatively thick plastic) housing claim that it was manufactured in 1989.

Pic: 89/03/17 (main PCB) and 89/03/10 (switch plate)

89/03/17 (main PCB) and 89/03/10 (switch plate)

May I own one of the prototypes now? Maybe. I don't know. As you can see, this thing had a built-in printer. However, there's nothing under the hood below the printer cover, nor looks like there was ever something, which could strengthen the prototype theory.

On the other hand, there's a proper serial number on the back sticker ("97000243").

Rolitron history

Based in Budapest, Rolitron was founded by László Rózsahegyi in 1972. In 1991 it fused with B. Braun Austria GmbH and became B.Braun Rolitron (this is the era the Rolco-60 was featured in the magazine referenced above).

In 1994 the company became independent again as Rolitron Ltd. and in 1997 it fused with Optotrans and became Synergon, a relatively big company listed on stock exchanges in London and Budapest until 2016, a few months after the company filed for bankruptcy.

Layout, switches and keycaps

As you can see, the device features a numpad and a 13x4 ortholinear keyboard (with a 8u spacebar and 2u Enter – thus 44 keys).

The keycaps are very thin uniform dye-sub ones, with a circular hollow stem.

Pic:

I have no clue about the switches. [edit: Ericsson RMD 973] I clicked through all the linear switches in the Deskthority wiki but can't find anything similar. Feel free to ping me if you know what this is. (More close-ups here.)

The winner is keycashcow (thanks!) who commented the solution on r/olkb: this switch is the Ericsson RMD 973 as you can see here or here.

Pic:

Linears for sure, and the switch housing is open on top (covered by only the cap itself). By removing the caps you can see the leafs in work. ;)

Very heterogeneous feel. Some of the switches work nicely, but a handful of them are quite hard to press. Pressing the bare switch stem feels quite pleasant until you put caps on it. Hm.

But the most outrageous thing is the huge flex of the PCB. Pressing a key somewhere in the middle, I'm pretty sure I can easily achieve a 1 cm flex. OK, the flex was caused by a missing screw.

Gallery

Resources

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Published on Thu 6th Oct 2022. Featured in KBD #98.


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