[GreenKeys] ENTER

[David Christ]

An interesting question.  I started with computers in 1960 and to 
this day it is return for me.  I don't recall keypunches having enter 
keys but the 3270 terminals did have an entry key.  It has been many 
years now since i have used this equipment so I may get some details 
wrong but here are my recollections.  The 3270 system was built 
before high speed communications were available.  I used the 3278 
monochrome and 3279 color models.  The terminal would display a full 
page of information. Either 80 or 132 characters wide and 24 or 27 
lines long.  This information was held in memory.  The unit could be 
formatted as an entry form so there would be places on the screen to 
fill in the information.  You could tab or new line (this key is 
where the return key is normally located) from field to field.  When 
you had everything entered you would press the enter key (to the 
right of the space bar) and only the entry fields would be sent to 
the mainframe.   This minimized the amount of data transmitted and as 
it was sent in bursts several terminals could use the same port into 
the mainframe.

The PC was used in many business as a replacement for 3270 access to 
the mainframe as well as for spread sheet and word processing.  The 
IBM PC keyboard inherited much from the 3270 system.  The "CR" key 
was labeled both with the word enter and the down and left pointing 
arrow from the 3270 new line key.

I personally believe the enter label is a hangover from IBM.

Carriage return has not disappeared.  Current Macintosh keyboards use 
the word Return.  However they also have the label enter in smaller 
type because so many program instructions use the word entry.

This makes me feel so old.

David K0LUM

>
>I was wondering if the origin of the ENTER key (as opposed to CR) was
>also in teletype chat?
>
>Or did manual keypunches have an enter key?
>
>Or did it really only evolve with IBM?
>
>With kind regards, David