Ken ShirriffMar 23, 2025
In 1968, Douglas Engelbart revolutionized computing by showing the mouse, hypertext, and collaborative computing in "The Mother of All Demos". Most of his ideas are now part of everyday computing, but one device—the keyset—failed to catch on. Let's look at Engelbart's demo and the keyset. 1/N
Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025
Engelbart's demo was like a PowerPoint presentation over Zoom, projected onto a large screen. He collaborated with co-workers 30 miles away, talking with them, editing shared files, browsing the code online, and clicking links with the mouse (which he invented). Impressive for 1968!
Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025
Engelbart's demo was later called "The Mother of All Demos". But first, an Intel demo at Comdex got that name. In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and Saddam Hussein promised "The Mother of All Battles" in the Gulf War. "The mother of all..." became a meme, applied to many things including Intel's demo.
Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025
In 1994, Wired writer Steven Levy wrote a book "Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer that Changed Everything". He discussed how Engelbart influenced the Mac, calling the 1968 demo "the mother of all demos". The name stuck, ensuring the fame of Engelbart's demo.
Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025

Engelbart's daughter, Christina Engelbart, loaned me a keyset, so I built a USB interface for it and plugged it into my laptop. I had a hard time using the keyset and I'm not surprised it didn't catch on. Supposedly it takes "only" a week to learn, too long for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpshKBKt_os

Using a vintage Engelbart keyset with my Mac

YouTube
Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025
Here's the vintage keyset with my USB interface. I used an Arduino-like microcontroller (the Teensy) to make the keyset act like a standard USB keyboard. To get upper case and special characters, you click mouse buttons at the same time. Too much coordination for me!
Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025
This reference card explains what keyset presses and mouse buttons generate each character. Memorize this chart and then you too can use the keyset. A much steeper learning curve than the mouse.
Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025

Engelbart's software ran on a large Scientific Data Systems (SDS) 940 computer. Microwave links and modems connected the computer to the demo, 30 miles away.

To get into computing, Xerox later bought SDS, spending $8 billion (current dollars) on a disastrous acquisition.

Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025
For more on Engelbart, the Mother of All Demos, and my keyset interface, see my blog post:
https://www.righto.com/2025/03/mother-of-all-demos-usb-keyset-interface.html
A USB interface to the "Mother of All Demos" keyset

In the early 1960s, Douglas Engelbart started investigating how computers could augment human intelligence: "If, in your office, you as an ...

Show threadKen ShirriffMar 23, 2025

Thanks to Christina Engelbart for loaning me the keyset.

Credits: images of the demo are from the recorded demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhpTiWyVa6k
SDS 940 diagram from http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sds/9xx/940/980126A_940_TheoryOfOperation_Mar67.pdf

1968 "Mother of All Demos" with Doug Engelbart & Team (1/3) [re-mastered]

YouTube
Show threadSteve Loughran

@kenshirriff After I broke a collar bone in 2001, I did hurriedly look at options for chorded keyboards. I couldn't see anything.
What I did do was get a moonshot keyboard and implemented layering on a single half such that when I pressed the alt key it would flip to the mirrored key of the other half.

A challenge here is learning and memorising all the key strokes. I had to plan every word in advance out which key sequence and then do it with my eyes closed. I was not very productive.

Mar 23, 2025 at 6:16pmWeb