MeC64 Keyboard

[Half-Saint]

Yeah probably

[IvanIvanovich]

Very nice work. If you were to do a groupbuy for a kit I would be interested for sure.

[tlt]

There is a Group buy thread at the marketplace now, please post there if your interested in a kit.

[tlt]

The price information in this thread (~200€) is no longer relevant. Look in the group buy thread it's 132.5 € for a kit now!
There is one kit left.

[Ascaii]

Hey there, did the switches arrive?

[tlt]

Update on the group buy progress

I just got the 3D-printed adapters and my small improvements seems to be ok. Now I need to order diodes, headers, cables and other small stuff.

The thing we have to wait for is the mounting plates as I'm getting a low priority with the not so profitable order I made to them. I'm hoping they contact me next week but if they don't I'll contact them, I don't want to bother them too much.

I have been wondering if I should spray paint the mounting plates black like I did with the first one or keep them raw aluminum. The result will not be perfect and the paint is not very durable but it looks more like the plastic of the original if you look between the keys or around the edges of the hole in the case. How do you like yours?

[tlt]

Hey there, did the switches arrive?

Yes I got them last week, started to get a little worried that we would have a black hole between us in the postal system

[CeeSA]

I would like to take my plate without painting, thanks.

[tlt]

I have implemented a layout that fits VICE and another one that I made up my self, any suggestions for layouts?

I was thinking of adding a key combination for changing layout on the fly but I can't decide on what combination to use, any suggestions on that?

There are many pictures of layouts on the site, is there a good tool to make them?

[Ascaii]

I will be using mine in the standard german c64 layout. Im boring, but it works

[tlt]

How do you mean standard? Are you going to make a key mapping in the OS that matches the the legends?

[Ascaii]

yes

[tlt]

Update: now I have all the parts and have started to assemble the boards.

[tlt]

I have assembles the boards now and started to pack them. One of the controller was acting a little weird so I had to RMA it.

asambled.jpg (341.94 KiB) Viewed 7982 times

[Mrinterface]

Great! Just in time for my retro computerlab!

[tlt]

The keys on the C64 look something like this

standard.png (15.15 KiB) Viewed 7871 times

The keys is mapped in to the standard scan codes in that position with this exceptions

tlt2.png (12.05 KiB) Viewed 7874 times

If you hold down Fn (right/left arrows) you get this layer:

tlt l2.png (15.17 KiB) Viewed 7875 times

And if you press left shift and F7 you toggle into VICE mode (the layout is mapped so that it fits the VICE emulator)

What do you think about this? Any special requests? I'll give you the source code later, need to at least clean it a little

[mr_a500]

Awesome project!

Those keycap converters look interesting. Possibly they might work for a whole range of vintage keycaps, like the TRS-80 Model III, TI-99/4A, Kaypro, Apple II, etc.

[tlt]

Awesome project!

Those keycap converters look interesting. Possibly they might work for a whole range of vintage keycaps, like the TRS-80 Model III, TI-99/4A, Kaypro, Apple II, etc.

Thanks, if it's the same Mitsumi switches then it should work. The adapter kit might need to be modified, now it's 70 standard adapters, 3 special for the return key and 9 supporting legs

[CeeSA]

Here are the link to online keyboard edt.:
http://ne0.cc/laygen/#__%3A%3A0.25%20%2 ... C64%3A%3A7

tlt - could you please check out the correct sizes? thank you

MeC64 keycap size.jpg (76.14 KiB) Viewed 7940 times

*edit*
here is my little try:
http://ne0.cc/laygen/#__%3A%3A0.25%20%2 ... C64%3A%3A7

MeC64 CeeSA Layout.jpg (70.82 KiB) Viewed 7932 times

[moijk]

No order is alike I see by the switches. (I'm moijk from lemon)

Got a prettier c64 breadbin now so ready for the keys. Of course it is a working breadbin and it'll stay working. I have barly used Vice (Emulation isn't my thing) so I have no input on prefered keymap. if it works on a mac it'll be great (since i only use macs and/or linux).

But out of curiosity, i see you opted for Fn key to get directional keys etc. why not use the shift lock (caps lock) so you can get the directional pad all the time) instead of pressing the fn key? I don't know about you keyboard geeks, but I have never used the caps lock key for its intended purpose in my over 30 years of computer use.

[tlt]

could you please check out the correct sizes? thank you

Looks right except for the space bar, should be looooong 9U

So you want the the same first layer but with the Fn on shift lock and that fn layer?

[tlt]

Moijk - VICE mode is mapped to work in windows but it might work fine in Linux to, have not tried that. It's not the default mapping on Mac so you have to reconfigure the emulator there.

The placement of the Fn key is just a matter of taste, I tried to imitate the Happy Hacking kbd Pro 2. With CeeSAs layout (fn on shift lock) you can put something else on the left/right key like GUI which is very useful on Mac or a control.

[CeeSA]

So you want the the same first layer but with the Fn on shift lock and that fn layer?

yes please.

[tlt]

Shouldn't there be a Win key or a right control key in the lower right corner?

[CeeSA]

yes, I forget it - because I never use right control

[tlt]

How about this layout for Mac?

Mac.png (11.45 KiB) Viewed 7857 times

Layer 2

Mac L2.png (14.27 KiB) Viewed 7857 times

[moijk]

remember that on a mac, CMD is what CTRL is to the windows people. So to find something on a page i do a CMD + F. Option (or alt) is like Alt GR on a pc.

http://img.gfx.no/958/958819/MacBook_Air_tastatur.jpg

(fn is only on laptop keyboards)

run stop = alt
c= = cmd
shift = shift

and
crsr up/dn could be ctrl
crsr r/l could be anything. I use the left anyway.

i guess the other keys will be mapped to the c64 version. which means i still got keys like <, >, ' @ * etc which is great for programming. and i see you changed the arrow up to | which is great.

On my apple extended 2 keyboard i lost the ' key, which made it pretty unusuable for programming. not sure if that was the adater or the built in keymap. And I recall my brother buying a expensive ergo keyboard back in the day (microsoft) which didn't have a <> char. which ment he had to bin the whole keyboard since it was unsuted for programming (and that was before internet, so i doubt he knew how to alter the keymap). So having the necessary keys is pretty important.

what the menu key does i have no idea.

Not trying to be

[tlt]

Are you using Norwegian layout or maybe ansi? The blank keys will input the same chars as you normal keyboard for the same key position. The ledgens on the C64 key will not always match. To my knowledge, there is for example no way to make a key print "@" without being a macro key or without changing the the key-mapping in the operating system.

[moijk]

Are you using Norwegian layout or maybe ansi? The blank keys will input the same chars as you normal keyboard for the same key position. The ledgens on the C64 key will not always match. To my knowledge, there is for example no way to make a key print "@" without being a macro key or without changing the the key-mapping in the operating system.

well, in os x @ is mapped to a key in the default keyboard. just like on the c64 keyboard. * is shift and that key (as the mac keymap shows)

I'm using norwegian keys, yes. but I won't die if this hasn't. but if your going to screw up the c64 keymap in usb mode, i take norwegian keys. (ö is ø, ä is æ and å is å, as you see in the screenshot)

[moijk]

so.. whatever you can match of the right part of the keyboard to the image of mac keyboard is great. but if not, i'll survive.