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I know they have been around for a long time, for example this 2003 commit has support for them. What was the first...?

chx
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    You might want to narrow this question down - so far this may result in an argument about what are special function keys and how they are implemented. After all, neither a browser or forward or back are anything new to the 1970s or even before. Keyboards with application specific function keys have always been around. Take the NEOPOST PC Keyboard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5g5uY63Pq4 - (Got one as well). – Raffzahn Mar 22 '19 at 19:45
  • My Thinkpad X30 had them in 2002, but the X20 range didn't. – Mark Williams Mar 23 '19 at 10:50

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The web didn’t exist back then, but some of IBM’s 3270 terminal keyboards had forward and back keys; for example the keyboard provided with the 3279 terminal in 1979 (look at the cursor keys in the bottom right-hand corner):

Photo of an IBM 3279 terminal

(Photograph by Dave Fischer; source; CC BY-SA 3.0.)

Stephen Kitt
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