[Coco] keyboards

[Michael Rowen]

   It seems that there are various motivations when it comes to keyboards.
   The Cloud9 adapter is perfect if you're looking for a high end
   mechanical keyboard solution. I use mine with an MX Red keyboard.
   If you want to fix an original keyboard, Jim's replacement mylar would
   the best option. It would be good to see these produced, but it seems
   the demand hasn't reached critical mass yet. Enough people have to
   commit to buying one.
   As for wiring your own keyboard, that's possible, but pretty messy. I
   modified a Model 4P keyboard to work with a CoCo back in the late 80s.
   It was quite nice and only required about 4 jumpers and a trace cut on
   the keyboard to make it operational. You see these on eBay now and
   then. You won't have this luxury of matrix compatibility on any PC
   keyboard. You also have all those wires back to the keyboard connector.
   The ultimate would be a PCB that you could attach key switches to, that
   would drop in, like the Keytronix and others back in the 80s. But you
   will quickly find that key switches are expensive in small numbers. Add
   custom keycaps... you get the picture.
   If wiring up your own keyboard is your thing, by all means go at it and
   share your success. It would make a good blog! Most people won't have
   the patience and/or time to take it on themselves though.
   Cheers,
   -Mike Rowen