[Coco] Mechanical keyboard upgrades for the CoCo

[Salvador Garcia]

I am not sure if I am following this thread. If I understood, the CPLD was going to be used t compensate the differences in keyboards of the CoCos 1, 2 and 3, not to map a PC layout to a CoCo layout. Am I misunderstanding something?

Salvador




-----Original Message-----
From: Mark J. Blair <nf6x at nf6x.net>
To: CoCoList Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Tue, Aug 25, 2015 8:01 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] Mechanical keyboard upgrades for the CoCo



> On Aug 25, 2015, at 15:59 , Brian Blake <random.rodder at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>
And all of the above is why it makes sense to just use off the shelf key
> caps
and use a CPLD to remap those keys that need to be done - that removes
> the
cost of custom key caps.


I don't like the CPLD approach. I would expect weird
things to happen. For example, if one was to perform the following sequence:

1)
Press and hold the 2 key.
2) Press a shift key.
3) Release a shift key.
4)
Release the 2 key.

On a regular CoCo keyboard, that's the exact sequence that
would be seen by any keyboard polling routine. But with a PC layout being
translated to the CoCo matrix, the sequence would necessarily look like this
(with implementation-specific make/break ordering) as seen by the CoCo:

1) 2
key pressed
2) 2 key released, shift key pressed, @ key pressed
3) @ key
released, shift key released, 2 key pressed
4) 2 key released

This might not
cause any actual problems with existing software, but it's just not the thing
that I want to make. I want a passive matrix, electrically identical to original
CoCo keyboards, and using a layout very close to one of the original ones. Just
constructed with better keyswitches. Basically, a new implementation of the old
HJL-57 keyboard upgrades, since I can't order up a new HJL-57 from an ad in
Rainbow Magazine any more.

I may or may not actually build the keyboard that I
have in mind, but I certainly won't build a CPLD-based keyboard with PC-style
mapping, nor will I build any sort of external keyboard interface (which exists
as a product from Cloud 9 anyway, for anybody who wants one). If somebody else
would like to build a CPLD-based keyboard, USB keyboard adapter, etc., then I
think that's just great! There's plenty of room for folks to build all sorts of
cool projects to get exactly what excites them, and I think it's wonderful that
the CoCo still has such an involved community after 35 years.

-- 
Mark J.
Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/


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