Does anyone here knows...

[Faicuai]

...what in the world is this thing? Has anyone seen this before? 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254343941220

 

I just can't tell if this is garage-made or commercially available...

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by Faicuai

[griff3125]

Probably an old 3rd party add-on keyboard for the Atari 400, with badly glued on membrane caps from an original 400(bizarre).

Won't do much good without the docs or cable, but definitely an interesting piece.

Looks very identical to a keyboard used in a Magnum PI episode.

Edited August 31, 2019 by griff3125

[+Stephen]

Sure is fugly.

[+Nezgar]

Hmm... it looks like maybe what the ribbon cable hanging out of this 400 of mine was supposed to connect to, I presumed it led to an external keyboard at one time.

 

Reminds me I still need to crack this 48K 400 open to see what's going on in there by it's former owner, and install the SCCC while I'm at it... (I am now it's 2nd owner)

[+Larry]

There was a remote keyboard made for the 800 in the early 80's.  Ribbon cable allowed you to sit in an easy chair and type into the A8. I had an Atari friend whose 800 was hooked to a big projection tv, and he sat in his favorite chair across the room and typed into his 80-column word processor using a Bit-3 adapter.  SOTA 1983. Can't say for sure, but that item looks pretty much the same as I remember it.

-Larry

 

Edit:  Similar, but probably not the Sidewriter product I remember.  The item I recalled had a more professional look to the case.

[Gunstar]

It looks to me like the space bar is on backwards. If the space bar was the same color as the other keys, if it had all the function buttons and if the screws were hidden/disguised I think it would look pretty good.

 

My guess would be this is a DIY project using some old terminal keyboard case and keys, a DIY circuit board, judging by the keyboard layout (return key inside arrow keys, wrong sized CAPS key, etc.) and wiring it up to work like an Atari keyboard for the 400 via a custom cable that isn't included. 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Gunstar

[xrbrevin]

oh it has an "Any" key!

**press any key to continue**

?

 

[sup8pdct]

1 hour ago, xrbrevin said:

oh it has an "Any" key!

**press any key to continue**

?

 

You beat me to it......................

James

[256 colors]

That's one hideous heap of looking crap one of main attractions was Atari's was the classic and stylish looks

Edited September 1, 2019 by 256 colors

[xrbrevin]

9 hours ago, sup8pdct said:

You beat me to it

its in place of the reset too - a sadistic sense of humour...!

[Gavin1968]

Garbage.

 

[Scooter83]

I took a stab at it but went for 61.00 be interested to see if it was anyone on the site who bought it and any follow up photos of the item. I'm interested to see what close ups they can provide of the board. 

[DavidMil]

On 8/31/2019 at 7:03 PM, Gunstar said:

It looks to me like the space bar is on backwards. If the space bar was the same color as the other keys, if it had all the function buttons and if the screws were hidden/disguised I think it would look pretty good.

 

My guess would be this is a DIY project using some old terminal keyboard case and keys, a DIY circuit board, judging by the keyboard layout (return key inside arrow keys, wrong sized CAPS key, etc.) and wiring it up to work like an Atari keyboard for the 400 via a custom cable that isn't included. 

It looks like they took a keyboard off of an old terminal (like a Vax or something), and tried to modify it to work with an Atari computer.

 

David