[Coco] Weird CoCo 2 keyboard problem -- any ideas?

Christopher R. Hawks chawks at dls.net
Mon Apr 1 15:31:32 EDT 2013


On Mon, 1 Apr 2013 14:02:52 -0400
Arthur Flexser <flexser at fiu.edu> wrote:

> My recollection from having once opened up a CoCo 1 keyboard is that
> there are no diodes, just contacts that get made when a key is
> pressed.
> 
> If pressing the shift key was opening a broken trace, I'd expect it to
> matter which of the two shift keys you used, and you said it made no
> difference.
> 
> So, I wouldn't entirely take the ribbon cable out of the running just
> yet, though I'm still puzzled as to why the problem with the shift
> key should affect just one keyboard column.

	'Cause that is the column that the shift key is in.

> Maybe try simulating a keypress by momentarily shorting a row and a
> column line in the ribbon cable and see if you get the expected
> output in all cases, and in particular whether you can type a
> question mark while simulating the shift key being down.
> (Admittedly, it seems like this requires 3 hands.)
> 
> Art

Christopher R. Hawks
-- 
There ain't nothin' in this world that's worth being a snot over.
            --Larry Wall in <1992Aug19.041614.6963 at netlabs.com>



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