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What is written on the side of the 'mystery key' on an IBM PC 3180 keyboard?

enter image description here

To be more specific, I'm talking about the text seen here...

enter image description here

Community
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Tamara Wijsman
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    I think that is the any key symbol, that you hit when the program says hit "any key". – N4TKD Jun 01 '11 at 13:13
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    Lets see. Is it a question about computer hardware or software? Yes. Is it a question with a definite answer ? yes. is it subjective, no. Looks like a perfectly relevant question to me. – Journeyman Geek Jun 01 '11 at 14:46
  • This wouldn't be as bad if it was a different key... the problem I see is: the key still has the same purpose, there is just an extra symbol on the side... I don't know about anyone else here but I can't make out what that symbol is. – Supercereal Jun 01 '11 at 15:35
  • @JohnDR: Well, I think they wouldn't implement an actual `any` key... – Tamara Wijsman Jun 01 '11 at 16:41
  • @peth: Sorry for having interpreted that as a playful joke (I guess I'm also a bit too alert because I'm in an exam period and have a lot of stress burden me) as it is of course a nice comment to read towards others. But imagine being interested in this and asking it and then having such a comment put this question or any of us in a bad daylight, I would've simply agreed or be less affected with a comment that just pointed out the flaws in a non-jocular way. I'll try to ignore jokes from now or place more polite canned bin responses that question why a bad daylight comment has been placed... – Tamara Wijsman Jun 02 '11 at 13:36
  • The "PC" in the title doesn't really apply since this is a terminal keyboard not a personal computer keyboard. – Brian Aug 01 '11 at 20:59
  • @Brian: Can you back that up? Because this is listed as a PC keyboard as far as I can see and can be connected to a PC. – Tamara Wijsman Aug 02 '11 at 15:20

2 Answers2

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While the key itself is effectively "Delete" (or "strikeout" as I would like to think of that symbol) the picture is not very clear and I cannot find any clearer images on the internet.

Looking at the rather fuzzy top image I believe that what may be there is effectively

abc(strikeout)

as in

a

but with "abc" and so denoting that it is to delete an entire word as opposed to an individual letter.

You can just about make it out if you squint a bit and use a bit of imagination...

enter image description here

I found a slightly better angle here and it's just looking more and more like "abc(strikeout)" to me

Mokubai
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    Is that a computer in a cardboard box that you linked???? Or is it a cardboard box case? – Supercereal Jun 01 '11 at 15:16
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    And is that a USB cord attached to a plastic bottle??? what a strange picture... – Supercereal Jun 01 '11 at 15:19
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    @Kyle, I've read through the page I found it on and I'm honestly not convinced just what it is really meant to be... see for yourself: http://www.9999hp.net/botnet/ – Mokubai Jun 01 '11 at 15:19
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    OK @Mokubai that totally created more questions than answers... I love the "terminals" which are just plastic bottles with keyboards "plugged in" to the top. The whole page is quite comical.. – Supercereal Jun 01 '11 at 15:22
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    I just got it... it's a "bot net" or bottle net XD – Supercereal Jun 01 '11 at 15:24
  • @Kyle Oh gawd, I hadn't thought of that. /headdesk I was too busy concentrating on the key to notice the awful joke staring me in the face. – Mokubai Jun 01 '11 at 15:27
  • I thought that was a water coolant setup. – horatio Jun 01 '11 at 15:48
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On the Affirmative 1227T, the corresponding key is marked 'Delete' on the top and 'DelWd' ("Delete word"?) on the front. So I'd guess that it's the same strikeout symbol, only striking out a word rather than a character.

john_e
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