trent Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 (edited) Never seen one like it. Sharp key edges. More "grey" than usual. Font is funky. The arrow keys do not have inverted arrows. What is this? Edited December 31, 2020 by trent 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Does it have an Atari key in the bottom right corner? (if not it might have been a 3rd party mod/repair/replacement?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted December 31, 2020 Author Share Posted December 31, 2020 It does. The option keys appear to be normal. This is for sale at goodwill, I'm tempted to get it just to see what the hell it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Looks a lot like some of the XL keyboard variants. Are the key rows stepped (hard to tell from the pics but they look almost flat) Also relevant would be the age (serial #) though it has encased Ram boards which probably means it's not a later one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Too bad that it's missing a couple keys. Due to the custom nature of such, you would be hard pressed to replace them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Well, I won the auction - I needed the bottom part of the case to replace a broken one. I'll report what I find about the keyboard when it gets here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almerian Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 The exposed key switches look like these with the stem broken off: https://deskthority.net/wiki/MEI_Sabrecoil 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 (edited) I have a 600XL and 1200XL with keys that look similar those, they aren't compatible though as you can see by the missing ones. Those missing ones are replacing broken and missing ones from the 1200XL that has the same looking keys, except in their case they are shiny. I forced compatibility by essentially "putting a square peg into a round hole" to fix my 1200XL keyboard. Eventually I'll clear-coat them so they match better, but this 1200XL is still in the midst of restoration. It seems to me I have seen an 800 with that type of keyboard before at some point in my life. Edited January 3, 2021 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+hunmanik Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Possibility that occurs to me: Maybe this is one of the rather rare late-production 800 units made in Hong Kong. The serial number sticker on the bottom will tell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 12 hours ago, hunmanik said: Possibility that occurs to me: Maybe this is one of the rather rare late-production 800 units made in Hong Kong. The serial number sticker on the bottom will tell! My Atari-Wong Hong Kong 800 doesn't have this type of keyboard, but it may have been changed before I acquired it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 3 hours ago, BillC said: My Atari-Wong Hong Kong 800 doesn't have this type of keyboard, but it may have been changed before I acquired it. It actually sounds better if you say, "My Hong Kong Wong Atari 800". 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 12 hours ago, MrFish said: It actually sounds better if you say, "My Hong Kong Wong Atari 800". I wrote it as "Atari-Wong" as that is what is on the serial# label. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 6 hours ago, BillC said: I wrote it as "Atari-Wong" as that is what is on the serial# label. Yeah, that's more politically correct; I won't argue with that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 Got it in the mail today - it is a weird keyboard that I've never seen before, but it is Atari branded. This machine also has a weird card in the rack that I will start a different thread on. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 For internet search posterity: Atari 800 keyboard MEI Mechanical Enterprises Inc ca012952-02 Inspected 6/13/80 1980 Blue pcb circuit board 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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