rda@epistemi.UUCP (Robert Dale) (05/26/85)
I have a problem for which I would appreciate some advice. I have a home micro, a Memotech MTX machine with the manufacturer's CP/M dual-floppy upgrade. The CPU lives in the same case as the keyboard: this case (hereafter, the MTX unit) is therefore connected to the floppy box (hereafter, the FDX unit) via a 60-way ribbon cable. From the back of the MTX unit, there are also the power cable, the printer cable and the modem cable. The MTX unit is about the same size as a typical detachable keyboard. Except, of course, with all these leads attached to it, it isn't detachable in any real sense. Now, I feel more at home when I can move a keyboard around. Add to this the fact that I'm not entirely happy with the feel of the present keyboard. I can see several possible solutions to the problem. 1. Remove everything from the MTX unit except the keyboard; put these guts into another case, which will sit underneath the FDX unit, and then connect the keyboard in the MTX case to the new case with a fair length of cable. The keyboard PCB is attached to the main PCB via a 20-pin connector, so it looks as if I won't find a coiled cable to do the job. Other friends have recommended only ribbon cable as suitable anyway. But .. ribbon cable is not as flexible as one might desire, and is a touch unsightly; and I still have the keyboard I'm not in love with. 1a. As above, but remove and replace all the keyswitches with ones that feel nice. Gets me a nice keyboard, but means burning my fingers with a soldering iron in a big way. 2. Find an alternative keyboard that will be compatible with the 20-pin connection used, sit the entire MTX unit under the FDX unit and then connect the new keyboard to where the old one was connected. Potentially gets me a keyboard I like, but still unsightly, inflexible ribbon. Also, I'm told that my chances of getting a keyboard that is compatible at this level are very low (still trying to get information out of reluctant manufacturers). 3. Buy a nice serial keyboard, and connect it to one of my RS232 ports; write an appropriate driver for it and hack the BIOS so that this port is read instead of the normal keyboard port. I don't even know if this is possible: although I'm a fairly competent programmer, I haven't mucked about with bits like this (I do my programming on real machines :-)). I'm much happier with software than hardware, so I would prefer this solution provided it doesn't involve too much work. This could get me a very nice keyboard and a flexible cable. So: any ideas? Yes, I know I should have tried the keyboard more before I bought it. Please don't tell me to sell the thing: it has some nice software, and I don't think I'd get much for it in these 16-bit days. All suggestions, comments etc. very gratefully accepted. Robert Dale (rda@epistemi) Snail: University of Edinburgh School of Epistemics 2 Buccleuch Place Edinburgh EH8 9LW Email: ...seismo!mcvax!ukc!cstvax!epistemi!rda