DIY - QL style keyboard with mechanical Cherry keys ?

[1024MAK]

Sounds interesting...

Mark

[Ralf R.]

Yeah...nothing is better than a mechanical Cherry keyboard. I have one for my Atari, really wonderful, 20 years old an still working.

I'll take one for QL.

[tofro]

...nothing is better than a mechanical Cherry keyboard....

Objection

The original ("klickediklack") IBM PC keyboard. I have used one until just some years ago - Still the ultimate keyboard IMHO.

BTW: There is an US company that builds them (well, "replicas") to order. If I wouldn't use the laptop mainly these days I might have problems resisting to order one.

Regards,
Tobias

(Company at http://www.pckeyboard.com/ in case someone is interested)

[Peter]

Would something like that interest anyone ?

I'm thinking about DIY keyboard with QL-styled housing

PC compatibility would be an option, also SD/CF card slots etc...

How about a keyboard that fits directly into the QL case, replacing the original?
Like the "Schön" keyboard, but good?

Peter

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

Maybe a good idea would be to reproduce the Schon keyboard. I have only seen it is photographs, so can not comment on the amount of work required.

Maybe someone who was a Schon Keyboard can take some pictures of the inside of the keyboard. With a view that we/I can see how much work to make a copy.

Derek

[Ralf R.]

I once had the "Schön" PC-keyboard. It was easy to install and had a very good handling. A little goodie: there were also four Cursor keys for diagonal movement.

F6 to F10 and SysReq (CTRL-C) work as suggested.

I was a bit astonished when I heard, that this keyboard was made by a well known professional company, because after two years, there were the first problems with some keys. The PCB side of the keys were very light gold plated (very!) and they oxidized in a hurry after that time.

The PCB of the Interface also was bonded paper (Pertinax), due to the price.

All in all, it was not bad if it has been a better hardware product.

[Dave]

Yeah, it is also a problem that even in bulk, cherry key switches are ~$1.50 each, so 64 keys would have a cost of $96. If 20 people bought one, that's a minimum of $1920 just on switches alone. I think $2000 would go a long way to the development of a USB and HID driver, which would then let people use a replacement laptop keyboard inlay on their QL case. Those would fit really well, be affordable, etc.

[Peter]

So I'm thinking more toward the option of having keybard done as a separate unit but in "QL style". And with the rest of the machine modularized within small, cheap housing. And with at least some if not all crucial parts done within FPGA.

At the German Sinclair meeting last weekend, one could see both. An older compact black PS/2 keyboard looking very QL style (no WIndows key) connected to a Q68 running Minerva and QDOS Classic. Wish I had bought more of those keyboards.

As far as I remember, the only problem with the Schön keyboard was the surface material of the contacts. Pity such a solution doesn't seem viable today.

[Mr_Navigator]

Any pics at all?