muleherder

Update: Adjusted the layout. Increased widths of DEL and right SHIFT rather than BREAK and ATARI since they are more heavily used. Also, the spacebar seems to be neither exactly centered nor precisely aligned with the other keys. I've offset it by 0.125u but I may need to do some more precise measurements. You can play with the layout here, and take the json in the "raw data" tab to plug into http://builder.swillkb.com/ to generate CAD files for mounting plates.

Hi all, I spent a little time this evening working on a plate design for mounting Cherry MX style switches for my little project. I used http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com and http://builder.swillkb.com/ to generate an exact Atari 800xl layout. It worked well, but I ran into a couple of issues. Note: the text on the keys is not too important at this point - the goal right now is to generate the mounting plate cutout diagram... First, the left shift key on the 800xl is 2.5u (where 1u is the width of a typical key such as the alphanumerics). The builder code would not generate holes for a stabilizer for this key, even though it generated it automatically for the narrower CTRL key. Took me a while to track down the issue, digging through the source code for the plate generator and googling a bit. It turns out 2.5u is not a standard size today. 2.25u is standard, as is 2.75u, but not 2.5u. So I could hack the code to make it generate stabilizer mounting holes for a 2.5u width key. But a related problem is that being non-standard, nobody manufactures keycaps in that size. I am planning on using standard Cherry MX compatible keycaps, so that's not an option. I think the best solution for what I'm trying to achieve will be to slice 1/4u off all the leftmost keys (ESC, TAB, CTRL, SHIFT) and adding 1/4u to all the rightmost keys (BRK, RETURN, CAPS, ATARI). Besides fixing the SHIFT key issue, his will make the overall appearance similar to ANSI, though not exactly a purist's 800xl keyboard. Purity is not my goal... Anyhow, I'll update the CAD tomorrow with this. The other issue is that the spacebar is 9u, which is not entirely unheard of but rather unusual. So it might be hard to get a set of matching keycaps which includes a space bar that size. ANSI spacebar width is 6.25u, and 6u and 6.5u spacebars are commonly manufactured. One solution to this might be something like making the spacebar 6.5u and add extra 1.25u CTRL keys to either side. This might look like rubbish though. I still haven't worked out the details of the console keys. The keys themselves appear to be 1u. I'm thinking a separate plate and spacers. There's an LED there too which needs to be considered. I found a local laser cutting service that I hope will be able to cut me a steel plate based on the CAD file that comes out of the builder tool. Combined with my original metal plate from my mylar keyboard, some spacers, and some kind of insulating sheet... I should have something to wire up relatively soon. Would be nice to get some schematics rather than manually tracing and replicating, but I've yet to find a good schematic for the xl keyboard.

Hi there. I recently got an Atari 800xl with a mylar keyboard with lots of bad traces. I considered replacing the mylar, but even then the keys feel like they are passing through the gobi desert on their way down. Rough. I suppose lubrication might help. But then I thought hey, maybe I could make my own keyboard using modern switches. Googling around, I found you all talking about the same thing. Ben Heck's handheld xegs is the only other attempt (successful!) I've seen to fabricate a keyboard for an Atari 8 bit. I'm a software guy with no real experience doing anything more than basic Arduino hobby electronics. But it seems like this should be a doable project. I'm not particularly concerned about matching key-caps, though that would be very cool. I'm thinking of doing a hand-wired keyboard based loosely on this build but obviously interfacing via ribbon cable to the 800xl and with physical mounts that would match the Atari. I guess the hand-wiring might make fitting more difficult but could simplify the process for someone like myself who has no experience designing circuit boards (though I am interested in that approach too). I am terrible with a soldering iron but I think I could hack my way through it. Anyhow, I'd be interested in hearing thoughts on what others have done along these lines and if there's been progress since the last post.