Until 1996 CD-i only had a keyboard available with the professional CD-i players. It was not used in consumer models. When Philips launched internet access in 1996 by releasing the CD-Online discs, they also released the compact keyboard "KeyControl" to connect to your player via the same controller port as the gamepad/mouse. In this way you could enter your url's far easier. There was also a digital keyboard available onscreen, but the use of a physical keyboard is pretty much needed to get the experience right. The nice thing is that the KeyControl not only worked with the CD-Online discs, but it also worked with the encyclopedia's (like I remember the "Philips Media Encyclopedie" by SPC Vision in The Netherlands and Belgium and also the Medical Encyclopedia, also by SPC Vision.
