Cherry-made Hi-Tek High Profile
Overview
Cherry were contracted by DEC to manufacture complete Hi-Tek “High Profile” keyboards, based on Hi-Tek’s drawings. The reasons for this are no longer known. Cherry produced many of the components in-house, including the switch contacts, the plungers and the PCB. The return springs were likely produced by Cherry also. It’s not clear now whether Cherry moulded the switch grid frames, as these may have exceeded the size of their mould machines.
The only known keyboard is UB80-01AA, a keyboard produced for the DEC DECwriter. UB80-01AA keyboards use their own serial number range, instead of the single unified range of other models. The switches are the less-common black plunger type with the small obround island on the separator bar.
Examples
| Model | Date | Cherry serial | DEC serial | Encoder | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UB80-01AA | 3838 | geekhack | |||
| UB80-01AA | ca. 1978 | 48421 | 233701 | GI NKBD-905 | Deskthority |
| UB80-01AA | ca. 1979 | 59067 | 249945 | SMC KR3600-902 | KBref |
| UB80-01AA | ca. 1980 | 85464 | 284481 | SMC KR3600-902 | KAref |
Sources
- Conversation with Peter Cherry