Foone Turing Builds a Seven-Bit ASCII Keyboard Operated Using Single-Bit Toggle Switches - Hackster.io

Oct 30, 2024

Pseudonymous vintage computing enthusiast Foone Turing has created a keyboard with a difference: You type by flicking switches to input the binary value of your desired character, then hit a button to execute — similar to how early computers were programmed.

"Check out my new keyboard! It's just got 7 switches and a button," Turing writes on Twitter. "You know binary, yeh? Just enter the binary value of the character you want to type, and then push the button. Nothing could be simpler!"

The build is inspired by vintage computers like the Altair 8800 where, in lieu of a dedicated display device or electromechanical terminal, programs would be entered one-byte-at-a-time using a series of toggle switches on the front panel. Turing's keyboard works the same way: Toggle each one of seven switches to enter the ASCII value of the desired character, then press the button to transmit to the connected terminal.

It's an approach with inherent limitations: Seven toggle switches only allows for classic ASCII, without the additional character and control codes added by eight-bit extended ASCII or more modern character sets. It's also slow, though Turing's video demonstration shows that it's possible to work the system surprisingly quickly with practice.v

"I usually try to play a game with my keyboards, but this one can't hold keys down, so that made it kinda hard," Turing notes. "So I picked a DOS game that requires just letter presses... or so I thought. Turns out Wheel of Fortune requires F-keys too, so I cheated for those."

The binary keyboard isn't Turing's first unusual input device, more of which are detailed on the project's Twitter thread.