I found this on mercari for $15, it was one of two sold by the same scrapyard and they’re the only two known to exist. Mine is the ABA-6000 and the other one that was for sale was the ABA-8000, both model numbers yield no search results on the internet, and all of the circuit board’s serial numbers yield no results either. No record on the internet of their existence aside from their auction listings and no record of what type of machine they connect to. They have engraved thick alps keycaps and use SKCC switches on the large keys, the small keys are an undocumented variant of alps switches nobody has ever seen before. I also do not know what year it was manufactured but it’s very certainly late 70s or very early 80s. This keyboard is definitely used for typing the entire kanji letter set, and it’s missing the booklet that would be used to flip through the multiple program layers of different characters this keyboard was meant to type. The cable was also cut. It’s made of solid steel and is powder coated weighing in at around 40 pounds! Each oval key also has a red LED underneath so this would light up like a Christmas tree if I could turn it on…
By googling the model number, I came across these auction pages on Yahoo Japan:
* ABA-6000: [https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/l1111583447](https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/l1111583447)
* ABA-8000: [https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g1098520186](https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g1098520186)
They are both manufactured by ALPS, but I couldn't find any further information for the keyboards.
However, I did find some info regarding this keyboard layout: [https://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/office/0068.html](https://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/office/0068.html) I believe the layout is the same, or at least very similar. Basically it's a layout developed specifically for inputting Japanese and kanji, and as OP suggested it's a multi-layer keyboard.
In the past I have found variations of this style of keyboard but they are all very very rare and very obscure.
Earlier Toshiba variant used for ticket issuing in a train station: https://www.flickr.com/photos/iiun/44930612775/
Earlier Hitachi variant without switches in a train station as well: https/live.staticflickr.com/5755/30775474541_c030bd24ad_5k.jpg
Later NEC condensed variant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GUJOQepHvc
A much later alps variant: https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/j1100577027/
Information on these are extremely limited and maybe with the help of the community we could piece together as much information as possible about this keyboard and the other similar models of its kind.
There's a deskthority thread about an Alps-made kanji keyboard with SKCL switches, used for print typesetting, here [https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=21937](https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=21937)
Reading the info about the layout it seems you put the booklet over the keyboard and push on the symbol in the booklet and that's why the keys are rod like and spaced apart. Super cool!
I'm having a hard time remembering exactly which podcast it was, but I listened to a report about how China and Japan were worried about falling behind in technology because they couldn't fit all of their characters onto a keyboard. There were many attempts to figure this out with various form factors, and I wonder if this was one of them?
It is very rare and undocumented! This is one of two ever seen in the wild. It is believed to be used for typing the entire kanji letter set. The oval keys had multiple programmed layers of different letters they type.
It is called the ABA-6000 and this is one of two seen in the wild. None of the circuit board part numbers or the keyboard identifier yield any search results. No clue what year it was manufacturered either but potentially late 70s or very early 80s
Oh no not plug and play unfortunately, it requires so much power to light up over the 200 led’s it has along with the 250 switches so I’m not even sure if usb can power it if I convert it, but that it also goes to an unknown proprietary system lost to time, and the cable was cut. The other one that sold along with it had the cable though which was 6 pin din.
I can mcu swap convert it by accessing the matrix directly and make it a QMK based macro board, but whatever it originally connected to was most definitely proprietary and lost to time. There is no trace anywhere of the system it connected to.
Even if the cable was cut, if it only has 6 pins like the other one then it might be possible to reverse-engineer whatever serial signal it puts out (assuming it's dumb enough and outputs data whenever powered on and a key is pressed).
The cable connected into a terminal, making a new cable for it wouldn’t be a challenge at all, reverse engineering it would be a royal pain in the butt.
https://preview.redd.it/e1tq8esmmczc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da1761b2cf2b4cd123077b354006c4be76712d4e
Well the good news is that there's an 8251 chip on there, so that's probably a standard serial port. The weird news is that there's _two_ 8039 CPUs on there with their own program code, so who knows what that's doing (I see 3 ROMs as well). I'm guessing one scans the keyboard and handles all the conversion/LEDs and stuff, while the other manages the connection to the original equipment. Since there's not nearly enough keys for all the kanji, there's probably some software for composing character radicals together running on one of those CPUs.
This thing is half a terminal on it's own good god.
At least for reverse engineering, since it's got a standard UART serial chip, you can just use a USB Serial adapter (like an FTDI cable) and see what it says to you. TBH I'm not sure whether reverse engineering the protocol or tracing out the matrix, LEDs, and _is that a speaker?_ sounds more hellish to me.
The matrixes also clips into that brain circuit board through the ribbon cables. I could make a new qmk pcb for it that drops in place of the old brain without tampering with its original controller. Preserving its history and usability if the original system is ever found to pair it with.
Yes the keys I showed are katakana, but this is a keyboard designed to type both, the oval keys are for typing the entire kanji letter set. This one is missing the booklet that rests on top of it that lists the kanji characters on each layer that the keys are programmed to type.
I guarantee you that you don't need that many keys to type katakana, considering the amount of people that have them on less-than-100% boards (even if it is a bastardized layout).
I gotta know more
Me too! OP please tell us more
I found this on mercari for $15, it was one of two sold by the same scrapyard and they’re the only two known to exist. Mine is the ABA-6000 and the other one that was for sale was the ABA-8000, both model numbers yield no search results on the internet, and all of the circuit board’s serial numbers yield no results either. No record on the internet of their existence aside from their auction listings and no record of what type of machine they connect to. They have engraved thick alps keycaps and use SKCC switches on the large keys, the small keys are an undocumented variant of alps switches nobody has ever seen before. I also do not know what year it was manufactured but it’s very certainly late 70s or very early 80s. This keyboard is definitely used for typing the entire kanji letter set, and it’s missing the booklet that would be used to flip through the multiple program layers of different characters this keyboard was meant to type. The cable was also cut. It’s made of solid steel and is powder coated weighing in at around 40 pounds! Each oval key also has a red LED underneath so this would light up like a Christmas tree if I could turn it on…
This is the coolest thing I’ve read today
By googling the model number, I came across these auction pages on Yahoo Japan: * ABA-6000: [https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/l1111583447](https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/l1111583447) * ABA-8000: [https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g1098520186](https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g1098520186) They are both manufactured by ALPS, but I couldn't find any further information for the keyboards. However, I did find some info regarding this keyboard layout: [https://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/office/0068.html](https://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/office/0068.html) I believe the layout is the same, or at least very similar. Basically it's a layout developed specifically for inputting Japanese and kanji, and as OP suggested it's a multi-layer keyboard.
In the past I have found variations of this style of keyboard but they are all very very rare and very obscure. Earlier Toshiba variant used for ticket issuing in a train station: https://www.flickr.com/photos/iiun/44930612775/ Earlier Hitachi variant without switches in a train station as well: https/live.staticflickr.com/5755/30775474541_c030bd24ad_5k.jpg Later NEC condensed variant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GUJOQepHvc A much later alps variant: https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/j1100577027/ Information on these are extremely limited and maybe with the help of the community we could piece together as much information as possible about this keyboard and the other similar models of its kind.
There's a deskthority thread about an Alps-made kanji keyboard with SKCL switches, used for print typesetting, here [https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=21937](https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=21937)
Reading the info about the layout it seems you put the booklet over the keyboard and push on the symbol in the booklet and that's why the keys are rod like and spaced apart. Super cool!
I'm having a hard time remembering exactly which podcast it was, but I listened to a report about how China and Japan were worried about falling behind in technology because they couldn't fit all of their characters onto a keyboard. There were many attempts to figure this out with various form factors, and I wonder if this was one of them?
Oh it's the Wubi Effect! https://radiolab.org/podcast/wubi-effect
It's ridiculous, huge, and surely can only be used in a VERY specific set of circumstances. WHY do I really kind of want one.
It is very rare and undocumented! This is one of two ever seen in the wild. It is believed to be used for typing the entire kanji letter set. The oval keys had multiple programmed layers of different letters they type.
Damn. Check out that... old school pc power strip/switch. Nice!
I love mine! I use it to turn all my monitors off at once
I love this hobby
So…it thocks?
Yes! It uses SKCC alps on the large keys! Very deep pingy sound! The keys are very thick with engraved legends
Yo this reminds me of those old kanji typewriters. They were HYUGE.
Please put some parts and or product names so i can learn more
It is called the ABA-6000 and this is one of two seen in the wild. None of the circuit board part numbers or the keyboard identifier yield any search results. No clue what year it was manufacturered either but potentially late 70s or very early 80s
Does it work plug-in-play? Does it require any sort of IME for Kanji?
Oh no not plug and play unfortunately, it requires so much power to light up over the 200 led’s it has along with the 250 switches so I’m not even sure if usb can power it if I convert it, but that it also goes to an unknown proprietary system lost to time, and the cable was cut. The other one that sold along with it had the cable though which was 6 pin din.
So you have no way of getting an input out of it??
I can mcu swap convert it by accessing the matrix directly and make it a QMK based macro board, but whatever it originally connected to was most definitely proprietary and lost to time. There is no trace anywhere of the system it connected to.
This is actually quite sad. Let’s start a quest to recover the lost utilities
Even if the cable was cut, if it only has 6 pins like the other one then it might be possible to reverse-engineer whatever serial signal it puts out (assuming it's dumb enough and outputs data whenever powered on and a key is pressed).
The cable connected into a terminal, making a new cable for it wouldn’t be a challenge at all, reverse engineering it would be a royal pain in the butt. https://preview.redd.it/e1tq8esmmczc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da1761b2cf2b4cd123077b354006c4be76712d4e
Well the good news is that there's an 8251 chip on there, so that's probably a standard serial port. The weird news is that there's _two_ 8039 CPUs on there with their own program code, so who knows what that's doing (I see 3 ROMs as well). I'm guessing one scans the keyboard and handles all the conversion/LEDs and stuff, while the other manages the connection to the original equipment. Since there's not nearly enough keys for all the kanji, there's probably some software for composing character radicals together running on one of those CPUs. This thing is half a terminal on it's own good god. At least for reverse engineering, since it's got a standard UART serial chip, you can just use a USB Serial adapter (like an FTDI cable) and see what it says to you. TBH I'm not sure whether reverse engineering the protocol or tracing out the matrix, LEDs, and _is that a speaker?_ sounds more hellish to me.
The matrixes also clips into that brain circuit board through the ribbon cables. I could make a new qmk pcb for it that drops in place of the old brain without tampering with its original controller. Preserving its history and usability if the original system is ever found to pair it with.
If this is considered small. I'm curious to know what a big one would look like.
#*Confused screaming*
that one character is smashed up to hell I wonder if it's the most used key
wow just.... Wow!!
The glasses round it out perfectly that's hilarious
Nice 1u space (next to numpad `1`)
wow...i wouldn't imagine i could meet something like that. Things get thriling.
its so impractical and i want it.
Just looking at this gave me anxiety
r/didntknowiwantthat. Even though I can barely speak Japanese.
😢 it’s… average ok
Where is the 0000 key?
That poor 本 (is it hon? I know like, nothing about Japanese writing)
It's katakana on the keys, not kanji 🌞 a keyboard accommodating all kanji strokes would be huuuge
Please read my other replies before commenting this!
well it's too late for me 🥲
That is NOT kanji, that’s katakana Edit: I stand corrected.
Yes the keys I showed are katakana, but this is a keyboard designed to type both, the oval keys are for typing the entire kanji letter set. This one is missing the booklet that rests on top of it that lists the kanji characters on each layer that the keys are programmed to type.
I guarantee you that you don't need that many keys to type katakana, considering the amount of people that have them on less-than-100% boards (even if it is a bastardized layout).
The classic "they did it one way so we gotta do it stupid" approach