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Old 27th Mar 2021, 5:28 pm   #268
Timbucus
Octode
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, UK.
Posts: 1,362
Default Re: I found it! A very sorry looking MK14.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiriusHardware View Post
Once the SC/MP is running under your program's control it is obviously up to you which row / column nodes you choose to scan and how you choose to respond to them, but I don't think any wiring convention ever got as far as being on paper.

It was arguably the next thing in the pipeline, SOC hinted at their future plans in one or more newsletters which I am sure Tim can effortlessly produce a link to, but instead they made the ZX80, which begat the ZX81 and eventually the Spectrum, so it was probably just as well that they decided to leave the MK14 where it was.

For that reason, I don't think there was ever a 'standard' way of connecting a QWERTY keyboard but that leaves us free to invent one, perhaps utilising an existing standard keyboard such as the ZX81 membrane keyboard, still widely available.

A QWERTY keyboard would only really make good sense with an alphanumeric display permanently fitted, ie, VDU or OrtonView, along with an alternative OS to support them. So once again, we are really veering towards the evolution of the MK14 into a NIBL machine or something like it.
I agree - it is something I plan to do to go with the machine when it has a VDU

The effortless link is:

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/d...Update-Letter/

which talks about the BASIC board that needs a VDU and the 40Key (4x10 matrix) keyboard.

That matrix will mean that the ZX81 and Spectrum ones cannot be used as they are 5x8 but, I assume it would be logical to use a similar physical layout. We really need to try and contact Nick Toop and see what they actually planned in the way of a keyboard.

Out of interest the May 1980 Computing Today contains a Classified ad for an improved monitor with and Alphanumeric keyboard... so at least one was done by a third party.
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