yorgle

I've fixed about 6 or 8 of these keyboards so far and another trick I learned is to avoid over-tightening the screws - especially the screws at the sides of the connector. If the screws there are too tight, they tend to warp the pcb, lifting it away from the mylar at the center of the connector. This can sometimes be cured by sandwiching a small piece of tape over the middle portion of the connector, but eventually, the tape will flatten out or the pcb will warp further and the keyboard will stop working again. On one of my keyboards, the pcb was too far warped to make a tight connection no matter what I did with the screws. I fixed it by using a short piece of 1/8" aluminum bar stock as a washer to provide extra support to the pcb.

When you get to the "I give up" point with it, send it to me and I'll send you a working keyboard from my 1200xl pile. I've been thinking about making another 1200xl to pc keyboard hack but I'm reluctant to cut up a good keyboard. A fixer upper is exactly what I need.

The problem I ran into with a hardwired controller is it's presence messes with the Atari's keyboard encoder and vice versa. Lots of ghosting on the PC side unless the two logic chips are removed from the Atari keyboard, which obviously renders the keyboard useless to the Atari. At least that's what I've found with my 1200xl. I like the idea of a cartridge solution that simply outputs ps2 keyboard codes to the pc when the Atari is booted up.

Count me in for at least one. Will the keys be programmable to other characters/functions?

I respectfully disagree. I've been using my 1200xl keyboard for a long time now as my primary pc keyboard. If it's done with a programmable controller, you've got the 11 silver keys that can be set (as in my case) to provide for alt, function keys, etc. For example, I have the "Break" button on my 1200xl set to call up the task manager. I'd be very interested in a version that allows both Atari and pc use at the same time.

Lots of work there, so I tip my hat to you, sir. But you might want to check out programmable keyboard encoders- they require a lot less soldering and you can assign each key whatever function you want. I'm typing this on a 1200xl right now.

I've successfully cleaned all 7 of my 1200xl keyboards and found it easier not remove the mylar completely from the pcb. Instead, I used a paper binding clamp on the contact area, which allows you to separate the mylar far enough from the pcb to clean all the key contacts while leaving the connector contacts intact. On one keyboard where I did accidentally separate the mylar completely, I was able to get it working again without using conductive paint by sticking a bit of electrical tape above the contact area. The thickness of the tape added just enough extra clamping force to make the contact.

I like the idea of using the atarimax usb cart. I wish I had the programming skill to write a handler to do the conversion. You can also use a universal programmable ps2 or usb encoder (e.g., Hagstrom Electronics) hardwired to the Atari keyboard. That's what I'm using right now with my 1200xl.

BUMP. Just wondering if anyone has put this together yet and if so, how it worked out. I haven't found time to try it yet.

As you can see, I'm just a dabbler in electronics and mostly work off what little I can recall from way back when these computers were new. Thanks for the help.

My atmega arrived today. Hope to start building this weekend, but am confused as to the values for R1 and R4. Are these 2.2k and 4.7k resistors?

I'll give it a go as well. I want to try some sort of pass through connector so I can leave the keyboard plugged in to the atari.

But can you use the Atari keyboard with the Atari and the PC at the same time? That's what I've not been able to do with the programmable controller. For example, right now I'm typing this on my Atari but the ribbon cable has to be disconnected from my 1200's main pcb. If I connect it and turn on the Atari, POKEY gets messed up and the system won't boot. On the pc side, having the ribbon cable connected to the main pcb causes all sorts of ghosting issues. If your device can serve both systems without having to plug/unplug things, I'd gladly buy one. EDIT: sorry, I missed the schematic you posted and the fact that this is open source. I'm going to try building one of these to play with.

I've been using my 1200xl as my primary pc keyboard for over a year using a programmable keyboard controller via ps2. But my system can't have both atari and pc connected at the same time. Does your USB method have this same limitation?

The 1200xl repair thread won't help you as it's an entirely different keyboard than the 600xl and 800xl. The symptom you describe is most likely a broken trace on the pcb which can be found by testing continuity between keyswitch solder points along the same pcb trace. Look closely for scratches on the pcb that cross a trace. Even a tiny scratch can break continuity. Once you find the break, repair is simply a matter of scratching off the green coating from the broken trace and soldering the gap closed or, if the gap is small enough, you can try scratching over the gap with a small sharp object to mash the copper back together. That worked on one of my 600xl's. Another place where continuity can get lost is where the keyswitches are soldered to the traces. Fixing that is simply a matter of remelting the solder. Good luck. Another possible source of the problem is a broken trace inside the ribbon cable (usually where the cable is folded). Check continuity between the points on the pcb where the ribbon cable mounts and the exposed ends of the cable. A broken trace in the ribbon can be repaired by simply soldering a small piece of wire or foil to bridge the break. The final place to look is where the keyboard connector is soldered to the main pcb. The connector is flexed everytime the keyboard is removed so it's possible that a solder connection to the main pcb is broken.

Adventure was the first game I ever played wherein the non-player characters had personality. The fact that the OP blames the bat for getting stuck in a gate confirms this -- you really do start to believe the bat is out to screw with you.

Be careful not to peel the Mylar from the row of pcb contacts along the bottom edge. I use a paper binder clamp to hold it in place when cleaning.

Imagine this profile, maybe just a wee bit thinner, with the top keyboard area being a nice thick, solid feeling, shiny glass capacitive touch keyboard with silver function key row flush fit just like the production 1200xl's.

Glad it found a good home. Anyone needing other 600xl bits just let me know.

I've got a dead 600xl here with a good badge. PM me your address and I'll mail it to you.

That's neat (I used Hagstrom stuff in my arcade cabinet) but if I understand your description, then the post was really typed on the keyboard of a zombie 1200XL. Do you still use the guts of the 1200 for anything? What's in the 1050 housing? What do you do about all the missing keys? For a while, the 1200xl actually worked with the Hagstrom encoder attached, just not at the same time. I worked out a solution to switch back and forth between the two systems using a multi pole switch to "disconnect" the hagstrom from my pc when using the Atari. But after a while, strange behaviors developed when using the pc-- even with the keyboard disconnected from the Atari motherboard, e.g., pressing "u" yielded "uiop-". With helf from Hagstrom's support staff, I confirmed the problem to be the Hagstrom's signal jumping inside the two multiplexer ic's, causing the Hagstrom to think more than two contacts were being pressed. As a temporary "fix", I simply removed the ic's while I try to figure out some kind of circuit to isolate the two circuits. The 1050 houses a DVD/CD drive and usb hub. I mapped the 1200xl to the most commonly used pc keys and keep a wireless pc keyboard nearby when I need to hit unmapped keys.

Pics or it didn't happen...

How did you post from the 1200XL? I have a programmable keyboard encoder hardwired into the atari keyboard matrix. The encoder detects the keypresses and send appropriate ps2 codes to my pc. The advantage of this approach is that I can use all of the atari's keys-- even reset (which is used for ctl alt del.) The encoder can be programmed to match any key with any ps2 code. The downside is that the encoder messes with and is messed up by the atari mb. If someone were to come up with a software solution, I think that would be the way to go. With my setup, I ended up having to remove the two chips on the keyboard to make things work for my pc. Obviously, this renders the keyboard useless for the atari. I plan to experiment with some optocouplers to see if I can isolate the two circuits and have both live together. Google hagstrom electronics lp24 to see what I used.

Wouldn't the signal sent to the pc from the atari have to be converted to ps2 codes somewhere along the line? As I recall, a pc keyboard encoder actually sends three values per keystroke to the pc whereas the atari only sends one. I suppose a driver on the pc side could be written to accomplish the conversion. (BTW, this post was typed on a 1200xl).