La tecla de Oro

La tecla de Oro era una tecla de un teclado de computadora utilizada como prefijo para invocar una variedad de funciones de edición y formato. Usualmente se localizaba en la posición superior izquierda del teclado numérico (posición similar a la actual Bloq Num) en teclados tales como el de la VT52 o VT100, y fue un elemento distintivo y consistente en la interfaz de usuario implementada por la Digital Equipment Corporation a lo largo de su múltiples líneas de productos.

Se la utilizaba en WPS, EDT y muchos otros programas comunes de VAX, y aunque estaba realizada normalmente en un plástico amarillo dorado, esto no era una regla general. En algunas terminales DEC se las incorporaba en una tecla común denominada PF1, como en la VT100 y VT200, o estaba moldeada de color azul, como en la VT52.

En algunos teclados, la función normal de la tecla estaría impresa en la porción inferior de la tecla, mientras que su función alterna se activaba con la tecla DORADA.

USO

La tecla dorada se usa para invocar funciones combinadas. Por ejemplo, en el procesador de texto WPS-8, la tecla C tiene también la marca CENTR. Telca Oro+C invoca la función de centrar la línea de texto actual.

La tecla Oro es una tecla de Prefijo, no una tecla de moficador. Una tecla de modificador debería ser presionada y mantenida mientras se presiona una segunda tecla; mientras que la Tecla oro se presionaba y soltaba antes de que se presionara y soltara la segunda tecla. En tal sentido, DEC y el software compatible usa la tecla Oro de la misma forma que Emacs usa la tecla Escape.

Origins

The base model VT50 terminal was equipped with a main keyboard only, and so had no Gold key. The model VT50H added a numeric keypad, including three unlabeled keys whose functions would be determined by whatever program was running.[5]: p14  Located at the top left of the keypad,[6]: p3.1  these were later named "PF" keys, and by convention, the first of them, PF1, became the Gold key.

The VT50H numeric keypad was of limited usefulness in editing because, from the perspective of the computer receiving its input, most of the keypad's keys were indistinguishable from their equivalents on the main keyboard. The VT52 terminal added an alternate keypad mode in which all keypad keys would send distinct character codes.[5]: pp14-15 [6]: pp3.5-3.6 

In his introduction to a 1990 DEC oral history presentation, Robert Everett, Fellow of the Computer History Museum,[7] credited John T. (Jack) Gilmore with "designing Digital's gold keyboard interface".[8]: p1 
Classic software

Software using Gold key keyboard functions was developed across multiple generations of DEC computers.
ALL-IN-1 WPS-Plus keyboard layout; functions using the Gold key are shown on black background
ALL-IN-1 WPS-Plus keyboard layout; functions using the Gold key are shown on black background

PDP-8 processors ran the WPS-8 word processing software package on several models of one- and two-user dedicated "word station" systems.[4]

PDP-11 processors running RT-11 used the KED/KEX editors.[9]: ch 1 

VAXen running VMS used the EDT editor,[10]: ch 2  initially with either the VT52 or the VT100 (which have slightly different keypads).[10]: p2.3 

Alpha AXP RISC processors running OpenVMS also used EDT, often with later-model terminals such as the VT220–VT420.[11][12]: pp150-155 

EDT recognizes an additional usage for the Gold key, to enter a repeat count.[12]: p152  For example, the keystrokes GOLD20= enter a line of twenty equals signs. Repeat counts also apply to keypad editing commands, but if such a command itself requires the Gold key, the Gold key must be pressed again before the command key. For example, assuming a VT100 keypad, GOLDkeypad 6 perform the PASTE editing command (once), while GOLD4GOLDkeypad 6 performs PASTE four times.[11]: p.EDT-78  For editing commands which are directional, such as moving the cursor, negative repeat counts may be used to indicate reverse direction.

VAX and Alpha VMS systems supported the ALL-IN-1 office application suite, including the WPS-Plus word processor.
Compatibility and continuity

Various hardware and software products have been produced to maintain compatibility with both the variety of legacy Gold key host systems and with the expertise and preferences of the many Gold key users.

At the same time that DEC was selling VAX-based WPS-Plus in the late 1980s, Exceptional Business Solutions of Culver City, California, sold a PC-based word processor named WPS-PC, "designed for users who have experience with the DEC family of Gold-key word processors and would rather fight than switch."[13]: p330 

As personal computers began to replace serial terminals even in their core role of talking to central host computers, DEC itself supplied its new Rainbow PC with a Gold Key Country Kit for use with VAX ALL-IN-1.[14]

Emacs offers an EDT emulator package [15] which supports both physical and virtual VT100-style terminals. There is a slight complication for virtual (xterm-style) terminals which run on top of a host PC operating system, in that the Num lock key cannot be remapped to the Gold key at the level of Emacs; instead, it is remapped at the level of the X server (instructions provided). As of the latest stable release of Emacs (2013), EDT and Gold key support is a current feature.

Note that software can never quite achieve full functional fidelity across desktop platforms simply because keypad hardware differs: the PC numeric keypad has only 17 keys, the VT100 terminal and LK201 keyboard each have 18 (not including arrow keys),[11]: p.EDT-4  and the VT52 numeric keypad has 19 keys.[6]: p3.1 [11]: p.EDT-5