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Author Topic: Am I crazy for wanting to wire up an old Zenith terminal keyboard?  (Read 1365 times)

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Offline andCoffee

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Am I crazy for wanting to wire up an old Zenith terminal keyboard?
« on: Thu, 23 April 2015, 17:49:29 »
I've got a bit of know-how, but not a ton of soldering experience.  I love tinkering with stuff, but most of my soldering goes back to modding original Xboxs in college.

Now over the last few days of spending way too much time on this board, my progress has been, "I should get a mechanical keyboard"->"I should get a topre keyboard"->"I need new PBT keycaps"->"I need SA keycaps"->"I wonder if these old keycaps will fit?"->"I wonder if I can make this old terminal keyboard work?"

So here I am, with a Novatouch (and no new keys because I'm waiting on an SA set), and I've been scanning eBay and craigslist looking at old terminal boards. 

Now my question is, first, am I stupid for wanting to do this?  Is it much more difficult than I think it is?  And second, am I going to like typing on an old keyboard?  Or have these old keyboards been replaced for a reason?  The particular one I'm looking at is in good shape, kind of expensive (about $100), has a clean PCB intact (which I may have to desolder??), and has old Alps Vintage Tee switches.  d

Thanks for any and all help and advice.
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Offline fohat.digs

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Re: Am I crazy for wanting to wire up an old Zenith terminal keyboard?
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 23 April 2015, 18:30:08 »
I am an old man and I have trouble adjusting to different layouts.

Even my laptop, which I have had for 5 years, is awkward to me.

The feel of the switches is very important, but muscle memory trumps many other considerations.
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Offline engicoder

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Re: Am I crazy for wanting to wire up an old Zenith terminal keyboard?
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 23 April 2015, 18:50:33 »
If your talking about the Zenith 120...its much to nice to hack up. I am sure there are a few Heathkit guys who could use it for their Z-100. An Apple M0110 has the same switches and is can be found for less.
« Last Edit: Thu, 23 April 2015, 18:55:20 by engicoder »
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Offline andCoffee

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Re: Am I crazy for wanting to wire up an old Zenith terminal keyboard?
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 23 April 2015, 18:59:38 »
Yeah, that's the same keyboard.  It's definitely a nice one, but that's what I love about it: the old chunky terminal keycaps.

Also, if we're looking at the same one, it's been for sale for over a year as far as I can tell (by finding old posts in this forum that are referencing the same keyboard for sale), so I don't think anyone is jumping on it to fix their terminal. 

Do you know how those particular switches feel?
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Offline engicoder

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Re: Am I crazy for wanting to wire up an old Zenith terminal keyboard?
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 23 April 2015, 19:08:46 »
They are a heavy linear switch. To me they feel like mx blacks but smoother and maybe a bit heavier.
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