Atari 130XE keyboard rebuild: vintage keycaps on modern switches

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

4 minutes ago, XL Freak said:

actually the red would look b!+chin if u did all the caps that way 😁 can you say, "shine-thru!" baby?

Yeah, I've thought about that, but the very thought of designing and printing a whole keycap set is making me tired right now

 

But then again it's late in this very busy day and I think I need a pause...

 

That might be a fun add-on project at some indeterminate point in the future. I also have some fun translucent red PET filament that would probably go nicely with this if I were to print a full case with it. ... but am I revealing too much? mwahahaha!

 

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

OK, so I had to try. Since the LEDs are blue and the keys are red, too complementary colors, so very little light shines through and only directly above the LED, which nicely coincides with the legend. Maybe this would look better with white LEDs but I kinda like it. Anyway, you asked for it, here it is:

Edited February 21, 2023 by ScreamingAtTheRadio

[macsonny]

On 2/21/2023 at 1:21 PM, ScreamingAtTheRadio said:

OK, so I had to try. Since the LEDs are blue and the keys are red, too complementary colors, so very little light shines through and only directly above the LED, which nicely coincides with the legend. Maybe this would look better with white LEDs but I kinda like it. Anyway, you asked for it, here it is:

Anyone selling these?

[Dysphoria]

I might need to replace the keyboard on my PC now also, as I am fairly sure I've been drooling into it while reading this thread.

[XL Freak]

17 hours ago, macsonny said:

Anyone selling these?

not quite yet. the project is in the final stages of testing and tweeking. follow this thread and you'll see the release announcement

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

First look at a fully-assembled keyboard with new beige caps:

Of course, since everything is modern on this, and there are no adapters, this is pretty much an actual mechanical keyboard, and a pretty good one I think. It feels amazing, the best so far and another notch above the already very pleasant vintage caps on low-pro Chocs.

Edited February 23, 2023 by ScreamingAtTheRadio

[XL Freak]

I just gotta have a set of those red f-keys 🤣😂🤣😂

[XL Freak]

21 hours ago, macsonny said:

Anyone selling these?

@macsonny - sorry for the bad info before.  @ScreamingAtTheRadio is taking pre-orders. send him a PM for details

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

I made a revised adapter, to make it easier to connect to the current PCB: the 1st FFC pin is on the right on both boards now. It makes it way easier to get the cables secured in place without doing origami.

Another difference with the previous adapters is that I'm now taking advantage of the two extra lines we have on the FFC to separate the + and GND for the backlighting. This way, you have a choice of connecting those directly to pins 3 and 1 on the adapter like it was the case before, in which case you get full power to the backlighting. That still works and is what you'd get with the old adapters. Or you can add a small potentiometer in the triangular area on the top-left and this way your backlighting can be adjusted. Or you can power it from a completely different source, if you want or need to, for whatever reason.

 

These are the adapters that'll ship with pre-orders.

 

By the way, one of my goals was to experiment using a flexible PCB instead of FFC to do the connection and avoid the adapter. I did make a design (that is somewhere in the repo) and uploaded it to PCBWay (JLC doesn't do flexible at this date), and man is that expensive. Like, prohibitively expensive. So until flexibles can be done for cheap in small quantities, I'm tabling that and will continue using adapter + FFC.

[Dr.Mercury]

On 2/23/2023 at 4:03 AM, ScreamingAtTheRadio said:

First look at a fully-assembled keyboard with new beige caps:

Of course, since everything is modern on this, and there are no adapters, this is pretty much an actual mechanical keyboard, and a pretty good one I think. It feels amazing, the best so far and another notch above the already very pleasant vintage caps on low-pro Chocs.

OMG. This looks absolute amazing. I think I have to change my pre-order to the new keycaps ...

[Matej]

So beautiful. Maybe whole transparent clear keyboard + leds as F-Keys. Best HW project.

[flashjazzcat]

Beige keycaps look like they need Retr0Briting already.

 

Very nice, though.

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

Here's the white cap set (I also sprinkled some of the fun alternate caps):

[+MrFish]

2 hours ago, ScreamingAtTheRadio said:

Here's the white cap set (I also sprinkled some of the fun alternate caps):

Those look really nice.

 

[Edit]

It creates a nice contrast with the gray case color (and with the key labels).

 

------------------------------------------

 

Something else that would look really cool, would be to use dark gray keys like the Falcon 030 used; and thinking from the practical side, gray keys wouldn't get as dirty-looking so quickly as white keys.

 

 

 

[XL Freak]

4 hours ago, MrFish said:

Something else that would look really cool, would be to use dark gray keys like the Falcon 030 used; and thinking from the practical side, gray keys wouldn't get as dirty-looking so quickly as white keys.

 

@MrFish we have those too!!! check out this post 

[+MrFish]

3 hours ago, XL Freak said:

@MrFish we have those too!!! check out this post 

Ah, yeah... thanks, that looks good. I haven't followed the thread regularly.

 

I cleaned the machine up a little, and monochromed out the Pac-Man. I'd probably go with a normal escape key, though.

 

[Edit]

I'd pass on the bell-bottomed Atari logo too...

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

Where is the BREAK key? Next to the space bar? It's kind of a big deal since it's used in terminal programs as well as when doing BASIC programming to break out and continue working on the program etc. It's in a more difficult spot now.

 

The control key is used for ATASCII characters and was in a natural position, these are used often in BBS screen generation and for BASIC ml string writing. This is a big deal to move. It is also a major key for MyIDE internal, external, MyIDE cart +flash, MyIDE II / MyBIOS configuration and usage! countless others.

 

The extra key blank created next to shift would be better as the shift lock caps lock key if that's the goal.

 

I like the creation of keys next to the space bar. That's kind of nice, just not moving control there, I'd have to see what having the break key buried there on the right would be like.

 

Splitting the left shift key into two distinct keys was an excellent choice, Adding that key was a good idea and lets the caps lock key sit in a nice new place. Moving an important key like the control key, not so much. The BREAK key might be okay, it's something to try out. The keyboard self test screen will need to be altered.

Edited March 1, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[+MrFish]

12 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

...Ditching the Break key is problematic.

The <Break> key is to the right of the <Space> bar.

 

[_The Doctor__]

Yes it's a buried break key, not ditched... bad word choice, fixed. It's in the spacebar ditch. Might be okay.

 

The Control key is a big deal though, it's a mainstay.

 

Combining All the Atari Keyboards into one is possible with what has been done, if a key has changed it's printed appearance by Atari an extra key could have that printed appearance and be tied to the duplicate functioning key. Inverse/Atari key etc. Or a missing key added. Neat stuff. Almost had enough extra keys to sprinkle the F keys in without case modification as you've shown the possibility for 5 spots if the break return caps positions stayed but were re assigned etc.

Edited March 1, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[XL Freak]

5 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Yes it's buried, not ditched... bad word choice, fixed. So it's in the ditch.

but, the Return key is now where it's suppose to be. which was one of the driving concerns of the altered layout. the Caps key is now where it's supposed to be and the Control key is in a more modern position as well. the only other key that was moved was the Break key to give room for a more modern wider BkSpc/Delete key.

 

if the modern layout isn't for you, you can keep your existing caps and stock layout and specify cap adapters on your order. the new pcb can be switched from the stock layout to the modern layout using a jumper.

 

if you want custom caps using the stock layout, let me know and I'll add that to the list of available key caps. BUT!!! you'll have to use your stock spacebar, because its a weird size that our supplier doesn't offer. or you can search the web for a custom 9U sized MX, OEM profile spacebar in the color of your choice

 

jesse

[_The Doctor__]

None of my laptops have a return or enter key like that. nor do my regular key boards. They have all kinds of added keys around the space bar though. Since you stated modern, they all have windows key or alt key near the space bar.

Edited March 1, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

Yes, the new layout is 100% optional and somewhat configurable. If you prefer the regular vintage layout, you can still have it with the new caps, the only exception being the size of the space bar that will require populating the two switches around space. There's a set of two jumpers to the left of the board where you can choose the function of the key above left shift: caps or control. Configure it with Control, and you're back with the regular layout.

 

The del/backspace area has space for either the two normal switches or the 2U backspace, so you just choose to have one large del/backspace or del/backspace and break. Either the old break switch or the new one right of the space bar will work the same, you just have an extra. Same for control, you can have an extra left of space, and the one in the regular position if you set the jumpers accordingly, and use a regular set of return and caps keys instead of the ISO return: there are three switch footprints there as well.

Edited March 1, 2023 by ScreamingAtTheRadio

[_The Doctor__]

Is it either/or? As in can it be like I hope where control is were it has been but the others can be jumpered? A number of keyboards are in dev. It's hard to keep them straight now.

 

I was thinking, control key where it was original, and then Caps near left shift. I thinks we have 3 extra keys total.

Edited March 1, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[ScreamingAtTheRadio]

3 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Is it either/or? As in can it be like I hope where control is were it has been but the others can be jumpered? A number of keyboards are in dev. It's hard to keep them straight now

The caps have not been ordered yet for pre-orders, so if you have an order in progress, just let me know which layout you want in a PM and we'll order the one you want. Keyboard layouts are a personal thing, and it's expected not everybody would be on-board with the changes. That's why we made it all optional

[_The Doctor__]

If I understand, the key switch positions are still there and can be used, they are not omitted or tied together, they are just covered over by the large key caps. A standard keyboard with the 3 added keys is possible.

If we could find a position for a 4th extra key, we could sprinkle all four F keys in, etc.

 

I wonder if the ATARI/INVERSE key Graphic could be combined (as in super imposed) on a key cap.

Edited March 1, 2023 by _The Doctor__