Gold key (DEC)

Usually located in the top-left position of the numeric keypad on platforms such as the VT100, it is the signature element of a consistent user interface implemented by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) across multiple product lines.

[2] The Gold Key is used to invoke single-key functions which may be located on either the main keyboard or the numeric keypad.

The model VT50H added a numeric keypad, including three unlabeled keys whose functions would be determined by whatever program was running.

[8]: p1 Software using Gold key keyboard functions was developed across multiple generations of DEC computers.

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

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.

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).