[Coco] Coco KB membrane replacement

[Bill Pierce]

 No, the Coco 2 & 3 keyboard membranes are NOT interchangable. They have completely different layouts and the Coco 3 has 4 keys that the Coco2 doesn't have. Even though the "matrix" in the PIA is the same and both full keyboards can be exchanged, the membranes could not be made "generic" enough to work on both.
I think this has been part of the problem all along in trying to get enough orders as some want Coco 2 membranes, and some want Coco 3 membranes and there's not enough orders for each to justify a run on either one. This may have changed now with the popularity of the Coco FB page as many more have joined the ranks.

Personally, I have 2 Coco 3 keyboards I would love to have working, but I wouldn't pay over $20 for both membranes. I would just buy a PS/2 adapter instead if I'm going to spend mucho bucks. I prefer the "modern" layout anyway as my working Coco 3 already has an Eagle AT adapter and keyboard, the emulators use the PC keyboard and the CocoFPGA uses a PS/2, so I'm lost on a real Coco 3 keyboard these days. I haven't used one in over 20 years other than meesing with my Coco 2s and coco 1 once in a while. I wouldn't even know how to type in a C program in OS9 as C requires a lot of {}[]|\ and I couldn't remember the cntrl keys if I had to. I would have to look them up :-)

 

Bill Pierce
"Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com