The ZX81 finally gets the keyboard it deserves
- Reference: 1686812293
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/06/15/zx_81_mechanical_keyboard/
- Source link:
The latter issue has been addressed – not a moment too soon. A chap named Brian Swetland has created a mechanical keyboard for the machine, and kindly published the specs and plans for it on GitHub.
On Twitter, Swetland [1]told The Register he was one of the many turned on to tech by Sinclair – in his case by the MicroAce ZX80. He later crossed over to the Commodore 64, but later decided to revisit the ZX80 and ZX81.
[2]
As documented on his [3]Mastodon feed , he's built a ZX81 clone – the [4]ZX81plus38 to be precise – and while working on that project decided it needed a proper keyboard.
[5]Tales from four decades in the Sinclair aftermarket: Parts, upgrades and party tricks
[6]ZX Spectrum: Q&A with some of the folks who worked on legendary PC
[7]DIY Sinclair clones: Left it too late to back the Next? Build your own instead
[8]Thanks, Sir Clive Sinclair, from Reg readers whose careers you created and lives you shaped
In days of yore, several third-party manufacturers devised and sold keyboards for the ZX81. Most are lost to history. Swetland started from scratch, developing PCBs and finding an outfit to print custom keycaps that reproduced Sinclair's infamous arrangement allowing multiple commands to be typed from a single key after appropriate contortions.
He based the design on the Cherry MX switch – the kind of high-end keyboard kit that gets gamers drooling and can make statisticians weep with its massive mean time between failures.
[9]
[10]
On Wednesday he [11]posted the fruits of his labors to GitHub, under a license that allows free use, modification, distribution and even sub-licensing.
Here's his work in all its glory.
[12]
Brian Swetland's mechanical keyboard for the ZX81. See https://github.com/swetland/zx81-keyboard/ for details – Click to enlarge
Swetland's repo includes KiCAD files for the schematic and layout, plus exported gerbers "generated for an order of five PCBs from JLCPCB."
He's also provided SVG files of the custom keycaps he acquired from [13]WASD .
[14]
One thing he hasn't done finished is an I/O interface for the keyboard – an omission he attributes to lack of "time to poke at that recently."
Perhaps by the time you've built your keyboard, he'll have finished that job. Or maybe retro-loving Reg readers will weigh in and help? ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/dnaltews/status/1669200261792030722
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZIrhP@2ZntcMMpD@afK9IgAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://chaos.social/@swetland/tagged/zx81
[4] https://revspace.nl/ZX81plus38_simple_to_build_ZX-81_clone
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/20/retro_tech_week_rwap/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/30/zx_at_40/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/06/diy_sinclair_clones/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/19/remembering_clive_sinclair/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZIrhP@2ZntcMMpD@afK9IgAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZIrhP@2ZntcMMpD@afK9IgAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://github.com/swetland/zx81-keyboard
[12] https://regmedia.co.uk/2023/06/15/open_licence_xz81_mechanical_keyboard.jpg
[13] https://www.wasdkeyboards.com/61-key-custom-cherry-mx-keycap-set.html
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZIrhP@2ZntcMMpD@afK9IgAAAEk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Well...
"Swetland basically invalidates half the existence of anyone who played Jet Set Willy, Horace Goes Skiing, Knight Lore, etc."
He didn't, as no-one has ever played those games on a ZX81... ;-)
#pedantic
Impressive work and swank indeed. I just need one for my Speccy(s) now...
SB
Re: Well...
3D Monster Maze, on the other hand...
GJC
Re: Well...
I see it like this.
The dead flesh was the "best" for the ZX81 at the time, with a proper keyboard being too expensive. Obviously in later iterations of the Spectrum (I know I know it's not the same) they used a proper keyboard, although it was still a cheap implementation of it.
This project, I think, would've been great if it provided a way of getting the rubber dome keyboard for the ZX81. Meaning you're getting a more modern interpretation of what the ZX81 could've had at the time.
But it's easier to use switches than trying to get rubber domes made up, so at least it makes the thing more usable!
Re: Well...
You could use Topre switches instead which are each individual rubber domes.
Re: Well...
Well that'd be a better fit. But because Swetland is a great man and made all of this available on GitHub, we could do it!
But I can't do it. I've not got the time. And no one is more pissed off with that fact than i am.
English, as she is spoke?
"One thing he hasn't done finished is an I/O interface for the keyboard..."
Hmm, that sentence might need a bit of polishing.
Apart from that howler it's an interesting project.
I never had a ZX81, my first Sinclair was a Speccy. The keyboard on that was a pretty horrible rubbery thing but not a patch on the ZX81's.
I later bought a little known competitor to the Speccy, an Oric Atmos. Now that did have a fantastic keyboard for its time and even today it feels good. A bit clicky, you knew when you had pressed a key and the layout was clear and modern looking.
It's a pity that it did not succeed.
Re: English, as she is spoke?
I wondered if this was an extension of the Northern Ireland vernacular, where a discussion of remaining work might include the phrase "The I/O interface for the wee keyboard needs done"
Re: English, as she is spoke?
Perhaps the word "done" was written first by mistake, but the DELETE key didn't work properly?
Re: English, as she is spoke?
I always liked the look of the Atmos: compared to my Dragon it had better sound, better graphics, better Basic and better games. It allegedly had some irritating bugs but that was a key part of the early '80s home computer experience.
Re: English, as she is spoke?
Yes, but unlike the Welsh-made Dragon it didn't earn its own dedicated joke about having two L keys on the keyboard.
How times have changed..
... the keycap set for this keyboard costing nearly as much as the original kit for the whole machine did.
Of course the point regularly missed about the ZX81, Spectrum and other 80's computers was not that the electronics were especially clever (many built on previous designs originating in the 70's), but that industrial design took a sudden leap as people figured out how to get a £1000 computer to cost only £79 pounds. Stuff like the ULA, membrane / dead flesh keyboard and sharing 1K of ram between CPU and display was of course wildly restrictive, but enough to launch tens of thousands of careers.
Re: How times have changed..
People slate Sinclair for their terrible quality. But it was the low price that reallly kicked off the home computer boom in the UK.
Re: How times have changed..
Yep. As much as I really admired the spec, build quality and cleverness of the e.g. Acorn equivalents, £300 for a BBC Model A was out of reach for many people. And while the ZX81's infamous Wobbly RamPak™ was wobbly, it was also affordable.
Re: How times have changed..
I never slated Sinclair for their quality. If you want cheap devices, you have to cut corners, and they did. I do slightly slate them for announcing stuff then delaying it though. With someone like Apple, you can be fairly certain that if they say something will be available in 30 days, it will be available in 30 days. With Sinclair, you could be fairly certain it wouldn't.
It actually made me feel slightly nostalgic that RCL kept missing the delivery dates for the Spectrum Next.
Well...
Isn't that a 'cheat'? I know so many Sinclair fans who consider the terrible keyboard a vital part of the experience because otherwise what was the point of putting up with that? You have to glamourize the membrane keyboard as a key part of the experience, otherwise you'd have to admit it was just terrible shite. By providing this, Swetland basically invalidates half the existence of anyone who played Jet Set Willy, Horace Goes Skiing, Knight Lore, etc. on the completely shite stock keyboard.
(Since I'm not one of those people, I think this is pretty swank)