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SiriusHardware · 26th Mar 2021, 10:20 pm

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.

26th Mar 2021, 10:20 pm	#255
SiriusHardware Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK. Posts: 11,554	Re: I found it! A very sorry looking MK14. 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.