Retrospective: Why Did Old PCs Have Key Locks?

Megalith

Megalith

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Hey, remember how PC cases used to have cam locks? No, grandpa, I don’t, but it is pretty crazy how some of them did nothing more than lock the keyboard input. Luckily, software got so advanced that users could secure their systems using complex algorithms called passwords. What’s with the wood grain on old PC towers…
 
I remember the lock on my old Antec 1030 SOHO (yep, definitely the dream case). I thought it was neat at the time. Though after the honeymoon phase, I stopped locking it.
 
In 1987 I got an IBM RS6000 fresh off the assembly line. I wrote the first 'C' based algorithm to calculate the Option Adjusted Spread for Mortgages at PaineWebber. It had that very lock. In contrast the comparable HP machines of that time did not have locks.
 
Look at this guy and his fancy 486/DX2... some of us celebrated the day we got a math co-processor for our 386/SX before having to save up for a 486 later in life. But mine had a lock too!
 
I'm not afraid to say it.....I actually never knew what the hell those did. I was too busy worrying about 640kb locking me out from playing my games, then a physical lock.


I just assumed they locked the front panel on so no one could steal the dust off your foam filters.......or something stupid like that.
 
Not that long ago my Antec P180 had a key lock--never used it, never knew what exactly it locked!
 
I still have a basement server inside an Antec 1030SX. There, the lock was on the side to prevent unauthorized opening of the case. And, the case being metal, it actually wasn't all that easy to force open.

Let's see if anyone can outdo the weirdness of my first PC. It was a Talon SuperCharger, yes, that external box you'd hook up to an Atari ST via external DMA cable. NEC v30 CPU, 80186 compatible. I mostly did Turbo Pascal on it, WordPerfect for DOS oh please may the Lord bring back dot commands.

It had some issues with slow screen refresh, and a few (very few) things didn't quite work right because of the v30 compatibility and/or the weird DMA setup. But for the most part it worked fine and got you a PC for reasonable cost. http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv4n6/pcemulator.html
 
westrock2000 said:
I'm not afraid to say it.....I actually never knew what the hell those did. I was too busy worrying about 640kb locking me out from playing my games, then a physical lock.


I just assumed they locked the front panel on so no one could steal the dust off your foam filters.......or something stupid like that.
Click to expand...

EMM386
 
Actually that looks like the front of an original IBM AT case, so it's a 286 running at 6 Mhz, or the later model running at 8 Mhz.

If I remember correctly, the lock disabled the keyboard and also locked the case closed to keep someone from stealing the expensive 128kb ram chips or the $700 video card with 64KB of ram :p
 
Reminds me of a story...

A long, long, time ago I talked my cousin into building his own computer after having built my first one. We got it all together and couldn't get it to boot. It would just stop at the splash screen and sit there. He was none too happy about this and yelled something about having the world's most expensive paperweight along with some expletives.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting there starting at the tower wracking my brain trying to think of what to do next.

Then suddenly I realized, I was staring directly at the key lock and it hit me! lol They shipped the stupid case with the lock on. The all-new hardware required some CMOS setup so that's why it wasn't booting, and we couldn't go into the setup because the keyboard was locked. Fun times... lol
 
M76 said:
I still use it daily on these.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I have a drive dock like that in my server. I'm not sure if I still have the key though. I've never locked it.

I remember my first computer, a 286 had one of those locks on the front. I don't think I never had the key. I was never quite sure what it did.
 
LOL. For some reason, this reminds me of what I thought security was when I was young. When I was younger, my "security" involved me making a bunch of shortcuts on a floppy drive, and burying programs etc. in a million folders with weird names. I'd pop the disk in the PC, and use the shortcuts to get directly to them.

This was all to prevent my younger siblings and parents from finding/messing with my Rom/Emulator collection...among other things. Damn I miss Win 3.1/95 and the birth of the internet.
 
tordogs said:
Not that long ago my Antec P180 had a key lock--never used it, never knew what exactly it locked!
Click to expand...
Assuming it's the same as the 183 I had, just the front door (I'll try anything once).
 
nutzo said:
Actually that looks like the front of an original IBM AT case, so it's a 286 running at 6 Mhz, or the later model running at 8 Mhz.

If I remember correctly, the lock disabled the keyboard and also locked the case closed to keep someone from stealing the expensive 128kb ram chips or the $700 video card with 64KB of ram :p
Click to expand...
Definitely. Or even just yanking the HDD and walking off with it since it also wasn't unheard of to bolt down or cable lock a PC to something so someone couldn't just walk off with it. Even without being worried about theft(of hardware or data) you didn't necessarily want people opening up that brand new(and expensive) tool(the computer) and screwing around with dip switches, jumpers, etc. or simply being curious and popping the hood to look around as if it were a car.

Gotta remember that at the time in the early 80's, some of those workstations ran anywhere from $2k to $10k(we're talking $22k+ today if you count inflation, this is pretty damned expensive), and you didn't want curious employees breaking that expensive new gadget.
 
M76 said:
I still use it daily on these.
Click to expand...


I have a few similar still on a shelf in the storage room at work. We used these probably a decade ago. One of the companies we do research for sent their data on them. Although I can't remember which or what data is on the drives.. Eventually I will get around to sending them out for disposal / recycling.
 
My Osicom 286 had one. It was my first pc after my TRS-80. It was fast at 16mhz. I jumped it to 20mhz though with a desk fan to keep it cool.
 
Merc1138 said:
Definitely. Or even just yanking the HDD and walking off with it since it also wasn't unheard of to bolt down or cable lock a PC to something so someone couldn't just walk off with it.
Click to expand...

I still remember getting a call years ago from a customer (large areospace company).
They needed a new 486 CPU board for the new Compaq server we had just sold them. Seems someone had stolen the 486 board out of the server.
The server was in a secure area, so I'm not sure how the thief got the board past security, but if it had been reported I'm sure they would have had a lot of government paperwork to fill out :p

Even worse, a few weeks later I get another call because they needed to buy a new 486 CPU. Somebody had stolen the CPU out of the new board. :eek:

Worse security ever :nailbiting:
 
nutzo said:
I still remember getting a call years ago from a customer (large areospace company).
They needed a new 486 CPU board for the new Compaq server we had just sold them. Seems someone had stolen the 486 board out of the server.
The server was in a secure area, so I'm not sure how the thief got the board past security, but if it had been reported I'm sure they would have had a lot of government paperwork to fill out :p

Even worse, a few weeks later I get another call because they needed to buy a new 486 CPU. Somebody had stolen the CPU out of the new board. :eek:

Worse security ever :nailbiting:
Click to expand...
LOL. CPU is easy, but even the few ways that come to mind to sneak a board out of a building are pretty ballsy. Damn that's just... no security whatsoever, heh.
 
Romeomium said:
This was all to prevent my younger siblings and parents from finding/messing with my Rom/Emulator collection...among other things.
Click to expand...


Uh huh. Did your ROM's need to a sock to play too?

blue-sock.png
 
ChoGGi said:
Assuming it's the same as the 183 I had, just the front door (I'll try anything once).
Click to expand...

Yah, just looked at some pictures and guess it locked the door to cover the power buttons--maybe a good idea for those with curious little fingers around or nosey spouses--have neither.

The key always stayed in the little inside compartment that held extra parts and pieces--now that was an idea I liked.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Yeah, I have a drive dock like that in my server. I'm not sure if I still have the key though. I've never locked it.

I remember my first computer, a 286 had one of those locks on the front. I don't think I never had the key. I was never quite sure what it did.
Click to expand...
This is a highly durable drive enclosure, it's made of thick steel, probably would survive a meteor hitting it. And it's certified for 25.000 insert cycles. We use it to move data from the field to the office.
Sets of 5 drives, fitted with 500-1000GB SSDs. Between the enclosures and the drives, a set could easily cost a few thousand USD.
 
Now im gonna safely lock my computer with this key that everybody else has as well WOOHOOOO
It was te same with those typical floppy disk boxes/containers.

I actually used my lock on a jumper instead so i could select the multiplier i wanted to run with on my pentium system. or was it the turbo button... soo many years ago.
turbo on 16mhz turbo off 8mhz ... woohoot the speed :D
 
westrock2000 said:
I'm not afraid to say it.....I actually never knew what the hell those did. I was too busy worrying about 640kb locking me out from playing my games, then a physical lock.
Click to expand...

https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Management-All-John-Goodman/dp/067230306X

Why be lazy and use a simple 'loadhigh' command to optimize memory, when you can read a NYC-yellowpages-sized text on the intricacies of the high-memory space, including tricks like sacrificing all graphical abilities to squeeze out almost megabyte of standard low-memory.
 
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westrock2000 said:
I'm not afraid to say it.....I actually never knew what the hell those did. I was too busy worrying about 640kb locking me out from playing my games, then a physical lock.


I just assumed they locked the front panel on so no one could steal the dust off your foam filters.......or something stupid like that.
Click to expand...

don't worry i'm in the same boat as you, i had no idea what the locks were for either and still didn't until this article was posted, lol.
 
sir-gold said:
https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Management-All-John-Goodman/dp/067230306X

Why be lazy and use a simple 'loadhigh' command to optimize memory, when you can read a NYC-yellowpages-sized text on the intricacies of the high-memory space, including tricks like sacrificing all graphical abilities to squeeze out almost megabyte of standard low-memory.
Click to expand...

One game in particular squeezed everything it could. Zone 66. I still loved that game and wish I could have finished it properly.
 
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sir-gold said:
https://www.amazon.com/Memory-Management-All-John-Goodman/dp/067230306X

Why be lazy and use a simple 'loadhigh' command to optimize memory, when you can read a NYC-yellowpages-sized text on the intricacies of the high-memory space, including tricks like sacrificing all graphical abilities to squeeze out almost megabyte of standard low-memory.
Click to expand...

HEHEHE, I used to use a program to view the "free" space as well as memory space taken by adapters and then try to load everything in a specific order as well as grabbing stuff with the memory managers in specific ranges.

If it crashed, I would try again.

Most systems I could end up with about 620Kb free low memory and still have everything work properly.
 
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I remember getting a variety of cases later much later than 1994 that had these. And I also noticed that most of them used the same exact key, I probably still have some. And I don't mean the same type of key I literally mean the numbers on the keys from different case makers were the same. So you were highly likely to be able to open most cases with the key that came with your case. Which seemed stupid to me, or maybe I just got really lucky.
 
cyclone3d said:
HEHEHE, I used to use a program to view the "free" space as well as memory space taken by adapters and then try to load everything in a specific order as well as grabbing stuff with the memory managers in specific ranges.

If it crashed, I would try again.

Most systems I could end up with about 620Kb free low memory and still have everything work properly.
Click to expand...
yeah i remember poking thorough the memory to get a free of UMB.
you could throw away monocrome suppot on some graphcis card and get up to 700 somehing Conventionel memory. or the hassle of memory
 
I've had several pcs with the lock. Only time I ever used it beyond curiosity as a kid, was a few years ago when my home pc was in a reused antec full tower with the door across the 3x5.25 and 2x2.5 bays, as well as the power button. I'd lock it so my kids couldn't get into it or turn it on or off.
 
tordogs said:
Not that long ago my Antec P180 had a key lock--never used it, never knew what exactly it locked!
Click to expand...

Just checked my Antec case. Yep, has a front panel door lock. No clue where the key might be. Case is on its 3rd MB and 2nd PS.
 
Can't remember clearly enough, but I think the key locked the case and/or disabled the power button if it was "locked." I'm leaning toward it being just the power button though... I think we messed with it and then it was decided "we'll never use that" and never locked it again.
 
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