Offtopic: Northgate keyboards

[Harry Binswanger hb@xxxxxxxx]

> People have said, in earnest, that it's possible to put a keyboard
> through a dishwasher cycle to clean it. (I swear.) I've never attempted
> it myself but it might be worth trying as a last resort.
This won't take long. I can't resist telling the story of when in 1981 my
floppy drive stopped working. I live in NYC (natch) and heard of a place
that could fix head-alignment problems in Calif, where I happened to be
headed anyway. So I very gingerly removed the drive, swaddled it in bubble
wrap and styrofoam and took it on the plane in my lap, as I recall,
practically holding my breath the whole way. Because, in this era, working
on computers was associated with Clean Rooms and equipment for doing
neurosurgery. I thought even looking hard at anything as sensitive as a
floppy drive might cause it to be irremediably damaged.
When I got to the "shop" in Calif., it turned out to be some guy in his
garage. He took my drive and sprayed Windex into it, then swooshed it dry
with a blash from an air hose, like they have in gas stations. And after
that, it worked fine.