USB-retrofitted 8-bit computers...

nathanscribe · 22 Oct 2013, 22:13

Erm, OK...

http://usvsth3m.com/post/64759353855/th ... ectrum-one

webwit · 22 Oct 2013, 22:55

I like Sinclair nostalgia, except for the keyboards which were really bad.

mr_a500 · 22 Oct 2013, 23:17

webwit wrote:I like Sinclair nostalgia, except for the keyboards which were really bad.

I expect Satan will be the biggest customer of those USB Sinclair keyboards - to use in Hell to punish the damned.

nathanscribe · 22 Oct 2013, 23:24

Agreed. Imagine having to work for the rest of your life on a ZX81... possibly even worse than typing on a smartphone. Maybe.

bhtooefr · 22 Oct 2013, 23:45

I'll take an Apple //c board with Taxi Yellow Alps, kthx.

Oh, wait: https://www.tindie.com/products/option8 ... apple-iic/

Peter · 23 Oct 2013, 15:50

nathanscribe wrote:Agreed. Imagine having to work for the rest of your life on a ZX81... possibly even worse than typing on a smartphone. Maybe.

It was worse than a smart-phone, at least you don't have to type in all the programs again
every time your smart-phone crashes !
(Don't get me started on the horrors of using cassette-tapes as 'storage'

)

Findecanor · 23 Oct 2013, 19:42

The Commodore 64-C never had black keys ... Only the "breadbox" C64 did.

bhtooefr wrote:I'll take an Apple //c board with Taxi Yellow Alps, kthx.

Oh, wait: https://www.tindie.com/products/option8 ... apple-iic/

Ha! They use Teensy.

Those look like great keyboards.

nathanscribe · 23 Oct 2013, 21:14

Peter wrote:It was worse than a smart-phone, at least you don't have to type in all the programs again
every time your smart-phone crashes !
(Don't get me started on the horrors of using cassette-tapes as 'storage' )

Haha yes, good old cassettes... having said that, in my own collection the ones that used to work reliably still do.

Actually the ZX81 was probably smaller than some onscreen tablet keyboards...

bhtooefr · 24 Oct 2013, 00:16

Findecanor wrote:Those look like great keyboards.

Funny thing is, the keyboard shown is actually quite horrible. It uses an Apple proprietary switch (with a cross interface, so Cherry caps fit albeit loosely IIRC) that is prone to internal corrosion, sticking, and other sorts of fun failures, with a flat spring cut in a spiral, so depressing it makes it go conical.

Apple ended up having to replace it for the Memory Expansion //c, for case packaging reasons. Essentially, their proprietary switch was PCB mount, and they used a plastic brace on the underside to add stiffness to the board (because it doesn't mount against a case, it sits above the motherboard). However, the memory expansion model placed the RAM board below the keyboard, so they needed to remove the brace... the solution was going to a plate mount switch, and they had started using Alps for other stuff, so they used Alps.

The specific variant of Alps they used, taxi yellows, is my favorite switch of them all so far.