Japan M-Type keyboard, TRON keyboard

, 2014-02-28, …, 2014-03-19

The Japanese are truely the pioneer of keyboard design. All these are symmetric.

NEC Keyboard based on a then new Japanese language input system, called M-system or M-type.

NEC M-shiki keyboard NEC PC98 1992 — «M-system keyboard with compromised layout for NEC PC98 from 1992. It has Alps yellows and very heavy grey on top left key. —hasu 2013-02-22» img src

Note that the M-system layout for English, has all vowels {E, U, I, A, O} for left hand. This is similar to Dvorak Keyboard Layout.

M-system is designed by Dr. Masasuke Morita at NEC in the early 1980s.

japanese ergonomic keyboards — «元日本電気特別顧問森田正典氏が考案したM型キーボード('83年～)。左に母音、右に子音を配置しキー配置の覚えやすさと、左右交互打鍵と複数文字列を単打鍵で入力できる複合キーにより、高速な日本語入力を実現したという。文豪などに搭載されたほか、PC-8801/9801用、Windows用が発売された» 〔写真で見る歴史的なコンピュータ～「情報技術のエポック展」レポート【訂正版】 2013-01-21 By Impress Corporation. @ http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/article/20010313/ipsj.htm〕

NEC keyboard pk-kb015 2 — «M-system keyboards designed by Masasuke Morita in 1983.» (thx to hasu, 2011-09-02)

pk-kb015 NEC keyboard — «M-system keyboards designed by Masasuke Morita in 1983.» (thx to hasu, 2011-09-02)

写真で見るＭ式キーボードの歴史 @ ~~http://qpress.jp/morita/m_keys.htm~~
【NEC】 Keyboard based on new input system (M system) 2013-01-21 By Information Processing Society Of Japan. @ museum.ipsj.or.jp…

TRON Keyboard of Japan

TRON keyboard OKI front — TRON keyboard. img src 2560×1709

This is the keyboard for Japan's TRON Project. Not sure if this model is still being made.

TRON Keyboard Unit TK1 001 KeysUp-s1520x831 — TRON Keyboard Unit TK1 001. img src 950×520 1520×831 1900×1039

Note the English letters printed in front of keys. It is the Dvorak Keyboard Layout.

The key's physical layout is a bit strange. On the left side, note the large gap between A and O. Same thing for the right hand on N and S. If you are typing English on this keyboard, that might be a problem.

A modern (2007) version of the TRON keyboard is the μTRON Keyboard.

utron keyboard — “μTRON Keyboard”. img src

See: μTRON Keyboard from Japan

A year 2014 version of the TRON keyboard is the Esrille New Keyboard.

Esrille New Keyboard 2014-03-19 25021 — Esrille New Keyboard, 2014-03-19 prototype, from http://www.esrille.com/keyboard/

See: Esrille New Keyboard

Some references about the TRON keyboard design:

〔TRON Project 1987 Open-Architecture Computer Systems 1987 By Sadao Tachibana, Ken Sakamura. @ amazon [An Implementation of the TRON Keyboard pp 139-150]〕
〔Ken Sakamura, Method to Input Japanese Characters in BTRON Environment — Design of TRON Keyboard, Information Processing Society of Japan, Japanese Documentation Processing Study Group, 7 - 2 (1986)〕
〔Masaru Nakaseko, Ergonomic Design of Keyboard, Human Engineering, Vol. 22, No. 2 (1986)〕