Very little comes up on a search for 5.25u spacebar, but these Choc keys seem to support something close.
Also funny to run across custom layouts very similar to some of my own in decade-old deskthority posts, especially as the poster then rejects the one most like my stuff with “I don’t like it very much.”
Really interesting the work that was done to diversify and detail the technological equipment in Alien Romulus - for the rest let’s forget about it…
The first one is definitely built from a Commodore 64, I’m pretty sure: the layout and especially the slight misalignment between the first two rows and the others are a trademark. It seems that the keys have been changed, they are very similar to MT3 profile.
The second one seems to recall the shapes of a Commodore PET but the keyboard is clearly more modern: the keys seem to be in Cherry profile, and you can clearly see the F and J keys with the more pronounced scoops. Interesting is the fact that the layout is ISO and not ANSI.
Saw an old thread on GH saying there were Cherry boards with 8u spacebars. This one could maybe be a panel-mount industrial model, or maybe a prop mold. It’s hardly an insane layout, very similar to the M0116 and descendants, but I’m not immediately familiar with it. Still, seems pretty likely to be based on something real. There’s nothing bizarre here, and the scooped homing keys strike me as the sort of thing that doesn’t happen based solely on interpreting keyboards yourself as a prop designer.
On a related note, I just watched Romulus and it was surprisingly good. Well paced with simple and succinct characters that didn’t feel annoying. The set(s) design was amazing too. Whole thing was pretty awesome.
Looks like the later C64 (all beige) variant, when they used the C128 case design. It had these MT3 looking keycaps. They probably just colored the mods and top row.
These keyboards are on every desk in Silo. First starting noticing in Season 2.
Looks like a 9.5u spacebar. Also a lot of oddly stepped keys. I would say they built it for the set because I’ve never seen anything quite like it. If so, it’s an amazing choice. The tech in this show is all vintage, which is important to the storyline. Someone did their homework.
I know the quality’s not great, but it’s a good example of the many improvised and, to borrow a modern term, cyberdeck-ish boards in the show. The producers weren’t limited by reality, convention, or the need to have the keyboards actually output anything, so there were a range of boards, from straight up mechanical typewritiers, to terminal and homebrew looking funky things. Now that I think about it, a whole pictoral essay could be devoted to the input devices of Max Headroom.