Replacement Keyboard for the Microbee
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- Опубликовано: 21 апр 2023
- One part of the mighty Microbee that hasnt aged well is the keyboard, but thanks to Ewan at Microbee Technology, we now have a solution.
If you're interested in Microbee, check out:
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Given the video has been up for a week - its was 5 times, including the re-do.
@16:41 I absolutely love that you are using an OS/2 Warp box to raise up your CRT. Finally someone has found a use for that product! lol
this brings back memories! back in 1985 i worked for a small company in Brisbane. One of our early products was a machine controller for a hydraulic press. we bought like 25 of these microbees at a time. stripped it to the motherboard and keyboard and added our analog controll board on top. I had the pleasure of flying around the country to calibrate these systems when they drifted too much. a CRO a fial guage and a good multimeter... good times. been looking to find a Microbee on and off for years but they are either too dear or non existant..
There’s something very appealing about the look of the microbee - not a micro that I’ve ever seen in the flesh.
There is a huge list of 80's 8-bits where the keyboard is the worst part and time has not helped them. That mod board is a cool upgrade. had to go watch the earlier Microbee vids, been a while, needed a memory refresh.
I used OS/2 from Version 2.1 up to Warp from 1993 up to 1997. And I loved it. It was ahead of it's time.
I *love* your Armatron shirt. One of the best things I ever got for Christmas when I was a kid.
Wow, I had no idea Microbee as an entity was still going. That's wild. The last Microbees I saw were 1994 at highschool, all stuffed inelegantly into a storage cupboard to make way for a fleet of 386SX25s
Yup. Ewan restarted the company back in 2012.
Nice build, and I agree, working on old keyboards is such a time sink! This could be an improvement opportunity for Ewan though - even just a simple silkscreen on the backside of that spacer board that says "This side down" or something could help others in the future
My high school was one of the test schools in NSW for these computers in the early 1980's. I remember the wierd network, and the "server" machine, I was a 64k cp/m microbee (i still have the disks somewhere). Even from new, they had keyboard problems, and the Z80 used to pop out of it's socket from heat. A quick tap on the case in the center usually fixed that. I can remember using the cp/m machine to call the US BBS systems, using a Sendata 700 acoustic coupler and a dial phone. Those were the days, when not many people had any idea of what to do. I had a TRS-80 Model 1 (still have it, still works!!). Spent the last nearly 40 years in the IT industry, thaks to these machines.
When I was in the 5th grade about 40 years ago I used to love flicking all the switches on the multiplexer to boot all the target machines off the disk machine.
I had a rubber key ZX Spectrum while studying Electrical Engineering in Uni and I thought myself very clever when I transferred it's guts into a custom metal case and built an external keyboard with real key switches. Little did I know that the keyboard I chose to use (because I could order it from an Australian electronics store and I could customise the keyboard layout) would turn out to be almost as bad as the original dead flesh Speecy. It was the Microbee keyboard!
We've all done it mate. Hats off to you for showing your scars 😁
Lovely video. You'll blast past 10k
I remember the Microbee & amber monitor from high school. I thought it was a bit poor compared to my C64, but I wouldn't mind having one now.
I want to build a keyboard that has the same style of keycaps as the ones on 1980s computers. The shiny rounded style looks much better than all the modern backlit RGB nonsense.
19:50 The exact same could be said about the Amstrad PCW.
Someone finally found a good use for a copy of OS/2 Warp!
I still need to do this with my 32K rom bee.
They did bring out GSX for CP/M
Ha! I see what you mean by the keyboard video. Great to meet you. My heart goes out to you with the backwards shim-plate, that was not nice (side-note). I'm impressed at your lack of vocabulary and usage of colourful metaphores. I should do this with a couple of mine. Nicely done. Really enjoyed the computer fair. Looking forward to next year.
Great video! Makes me a lot happier with my "solution" of adding longer legs to Cherry MX switches and making keycap adapters. (I should really finish that project off)
What a great video, and to be honest the grumpiness really didn't come across all that much - you were much more restrained than I may have been (well while the camera was rolling at least!)
I'll add my +1 to the chorus of those who used these in primary school (is it a +2 because I can't recall if I said the same in your last Microbee video?) Would love to get my hands on one again one day.
But I guess the burning question is - did the OS/2 box ALSO make it to the show to add 'support'? =)
I've also have a genuine copy of os/2, I bought it when I was in high school.
I really wish more retro systems had key switch replacements like this, since a lot of them are so terrible (especially certain popular machines by commodore and atari.. haha). I was pretty unphased by the reassembly mishap because this happens to me all the time... generally when assembling furniture and no matter how many times I double check my work. I now just expect I'll have to do everything twice. :)
If the Microbee is doing RGBI output, then I would wonder if you use an RGBI to RGB Analog converter into a GB8200 that is upgraded to a GBS Control board will give you a solid sync signal.
Microbee Techology actually lists a device similar to that solution, RGBI to RGB Analog into what looks like a stock GBS 8200 board.
With looking at the pictures I am sure the RGBI to Analog RGB adapter is more advanced than the one I built, but mine seems to work well for me on my C128 with the GBS Control board to a VGA Monitor. I did find I had sync issues using the C128 with the RGBI adapter connected to a SCART to HDMI Adapter. I worked sometimes, but had issues with games I was trying to use. Maybe the Sync circuit on the RGBI Adapter I build doesn't work well, as I believe I currently have the GBS Control connected with RGB-HV not RGBS.
I'd like to do a TI99-4a modern keyboard to replace my failed one. Maybe someone will come up with one at some point for it. The keyboards are not my favorite parts to work on either. (I'll agree that it is likely a goo idea for them to add some "This Side Down" markings on the silkscreen of that upper board is probably a good idea).
13:36 And it was at this point he realised he had FLICKED up. 🤔
Are those (original) Microbee keyswitches the same as used in some Apple and ITT computers?
Used to have a "network" of microbes at high school, till some enterprising individual ran off with the interface from the server rendering the whole thing useless.
The Amstrad CPC is a color graphics CP/M Machine in this case
True. Although I always considered the Amstrad a BASIC machine first. Ditto TRS80.
The right comparison should be made with the Amstrad PCW. THAT was a pure CP/M machine. And despite being touted as an inexpensive machine for office tasks, it did have a bunch of games made for it: yes, it could do graphics, too.
Grumpy? I thought you were incredibly restrained. Ps what are the details for your show at the end of the month? I'd like to attend.
You just missed it 😔
This was recorded a couple of weeks ago. Sorry.
@@MrLurchsThings Doh!!
wow. Microbee was on my "add to collection list". Maybe not so much now given I tend to buy fixxa-oppers, that looks horrible ! As to "CPM no graphics" - Amstrad CPC with floppy drives also example - 664 had it in the box, CPC6128 too which was my first CPM machine :)
But does the Amstrad play games and graphics FROM CPM?
@@MrLurchsThings Yes :) you could start disk based programs from either "basic", or CPM :)
@@MrKelaher I guess I always considered the CPC a BASIC machine first, and a CPM machine second
@@MrLurchsThings fair, though I explicitly got a 6128 for CPM so I could run all that open source goodness - I mostly used it as a terminal, edit, "hack" platform. The games were a bonus though !
@@MrLurchsThings The Amstrad PCW does :)
had an 8256 many yrs ago - a mainly cp/m machine (it's word processor Locoscript had it's own OS-like features but waa cp/m for everything else including graphics based DTP programs and some games like Head Over Heels)
Five
Can I send you my Microbee so you can rebuild the keyboard?
After this? Not on your nelly 😂
3 times
wanna bet 800 times
4
I work at an electronics manufacturer, and we generally don't bother with desoldering irons like that one... as you alluded to, they are HIGHLY prone to jamming. Our solution is the trusty Edsyn Solda-Pullit. Once you get the technique down (iron in your dominant hand, sola-pullit in your off hand, and use the heel of your dominant hand to re-arm the solda-pullit), it's just as fast as using a desoldering iron.
Sometimes you just gotta say f@#k. Totally understandable. Like you said, at least it was recoverable. I also know how something monotonous can make you lose concentration. Great video, nonetheless!