SORD M243EX keyboard

The photographs below (from UncleFan) depict a SORD M243EX keyboard, labelled “Rigaku DATAFLEX” and manufactured by Hirose Cherry Precision. This unit has internal Hirose model number B25-2450A, Hirose date code or serial number 84080060 and SORD serial number 05200101. This gives us a manufacture date of 1984, possibly August; the case is marked June 1984. All switches have black plungers; the heavier switches for space bar and the numeric keypad enter key have spots of white paint on them; normally these were indicated with a different plunger colour, but possibly Hirose had yet to introduce this practice. A slightly later M243EX keyboard can be seen with more typical switch colouration.

The encoder chip is a Motorola M5L8279P-5, accompanied by a considerable amount of TTL chips.

The switch PCB is marked “001-0203-B”.