Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!sunic!dkuug!freja!skinfaxe!jensting
From: jensting@skinfaxe.diku.dk (Jens Tingleff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: New Atari ST keyboard
Message-ID: <1990Feb15.163924.22221@diku.dk>
Date: 15 Feb 90 16:39:24 GMT
References: <1129@carroll1.cc.edu> <2048@ultb.isc.rit.edu> <1990Feb12.020657.25422@gumby.cc.wmich.edu>
Sender: news@diku.dk (The Netnews System)
Organization: Department Of Computer Science, University Of Copenhagen
Lines: 47

obryan@gumby.cc.wmich.edu (Mark O'Bryan) writes:

>In article <2048@ultb.isc.rit.edu> clf3678@ultb.isc.rit.edu (C.L. Freemesser) writes:
>>
>> Well, there aren't any REAL replacement keyboards for the ST.  You can
>> buy those awful spring-things to stiffen up the keyboard, but they don't
>> work.

Try a German ST magazine, they're full of it (REALLY).

>> 
>> I've been kicking the idea around of building a new keyboard with REAL
>> ...stuff removed...
>> 
>> How do people feel about such a thing?  I'm surprised it has not been 
>> done yet.  From what I hear, quite a few people would like something
>> better than this rubber crap we use now.

>Diverse Data Products of Florida (800) 662-8662 is bringing out a $60 box in
>March that allows you to connect any IBM AT style keyboard you like to the
[..]

The German magazine mc did a replacement that was 100 % compatible,
way back (say -88 ..). The idea is to

	-1 Take a very hard look at the ST circuit diagram,
	   note down the keyboard matrix, connections to
	   the IOContl etc.

	-2 Build a new keyboard matrix with REAL keys, connect
	   to original keyboard controller etc. 

There you are. It involves taking the thing completely apart, though.
You should be able to buy the circuit diagram (The local dealer
here carries it in his catalogue).


All the boxes that connect to the MIDI port are a loss, in my
opinion, for the reasons noted by Mark. Anyway, is there a way
to get the `both SHIFT keys are pressed' kind of data out from
a PC keyboard and into the ST MIDI/serial port ??????
(I once saw a program that needed this key-combination).

I will be adding a new keyboard to my ST (right after the
harddisk and the 2MB exta memory, sigh).

	Jens