Keyboard Cables?

[Gary S. Trujillo]

In article <1542 at lznv.ATT.COM> jlw at lznv.ATT.COM (J.L.WOOD) writes:
> In article <7454 at ihlpf.ATT.COM>, gmark at ihlpf.ATT.COM (Stewart) writes:
> > Does anyone have any sources for UNIX-PC keyboard cables?...
> 
> The original posting - somewhat updated:
> 
> From postnews Wed Dec 10 14:41:01 1986
> Subject: UNIX PC Keyboard Extension Cable
> Newsgroups: unix-pc.general
>... 
> 	Dupont Connector Systems
> 	Catalog 86-A p 372
> 		^^^^ - Very old catalog
> 
> 	Latch-N-Lok (tm) Modular Interconnections
> 
> 	Convergent Assembly 81610 in white but
> 	to extend 10 feet $20 ea, $14.35 100
> 
> 	1-800-233-1173 ext 7552 Bonnie
> 				^^^^^^ - two+ year-old contact

I had a chat this afternoon with Bonnie Wheeler, still at the same extension
after these two years (dunno what happened to Cindy).  Here's the scoop, as
well as I can summarize it:

	1. The part number she has is "81610-001".

	2. The length of this cable is 10 3/4 inches in its "relaxed"
	   (non-extended) state, with an expansion ratio of 4 1/2 to 1,
	   which means it will extend to a few feet.

	3. The cost is $35.

	4. The delivery time is approximately 2 weeks.

Now, having said all that, let's take a look at the facts.  Seems to me that
the stock cable is about the quoted length, and, yeah, it'll stretch to a few
feet alright, but I don't want to do so, 'cause I've seen a cable that seems
to have been over-extended sometime in its life history, and it just doesn't
bounce back to its original coiled shape, despite what Bonnie had to say about
these cables having a good "memory" (meaning, I suppose, their tendency to
return to their original length and shape -- say, that reminds me, does anyone
recall a movie with Red Skelton 20 or more years ago - called "The Fuller
Brush Man," I think, a murder mystery/comedy sort of thing where an important
part of the plot had to do with their being unable to find the murder weapon?
Ah, but I digress!).

Well, to make a long/short story short :-), Bonnie says that she can't find
mention of a longer cable.  Given the stretch ratio quoted above, It would
appear the cable would have been just over two feet "relaxed."  Anyway, she
says they can make cables to any length, but they have a minimum order of
$250.00.  After some more conversation, she finally said, in effect, that
they could waive the minimum order requirement.  For my purposes, a cable
that's only about another 6-8 inches longer would do the trick.  She says
they could sell such things for about $40, but that the delivery time would
probably go up to something like 6-8 weeks.  I suggested that they might
just batch up a bunch of orders so it's not too much trouble for them to
make 'em up, but she said that would just snarl the system even more.

Y'know, despite what I said earlier, I find that I can actually stretch the
standard cable far enough to put the keyboard on my lap, even though I have
the computer sitting so the front edge is back well over a foot from the
front edge of the desk it's on - this without seeming to risk distorting the 
cable unduly.  Hey - what are you folks complaining about??

Maybe we could get Lenny, Gil, and John to design us an infrared interface
for the keyboard, like they used to have on the PeeCee Junior??  Yeah, and
maybe an extendable periscope option for laptop use!  ;-)

Well, I alerted Bonnie that she might be getting a large number of calls on
the subject of cables, and promised to FAX her a copy of the original
message, as well as this one.

Hope this info helps.
-- 
Gary S. Trujillo			      {linus,bbn,m2c}!spdcc!gnosys!gst
Somerville, Massachusetts		     {icus,ima,stech,wjh12}!gnosys!gst