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WTB Apple II Plus Keyboard

8

8008guy

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2014
Messages
584
Location
Salt Lake City, Utah
I am looking for a keyboard from an Apple II plus. If someone has one they are willing to part with please let me know. Or if you can point me to a place that sells replacements, that would be great as well!

THanks

len
 
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I hope you have deep pockets..!

They do appear on eBay once in a while.

Do you currently have one that doesn't work?
 
In that case, if it were me, I wouldn't use an Apple keyboard at all. The Apple ][ keyboard was a lookalike teletype keyboard. Those generic teletype keyboards were a dime a dozen at that point, and most likely what most people would have used with an Apple I anyway. I wonder if there are any of those around anymore?
 
For an Apple-1 replica, sure you can use an Apple II plus keyboard with an adapter, but I'm starting to push people away from that mainly because there are too many keyboard less Apple II plus these days because of attrition and the practice of using an Apple II plus keyboard for an Apple-1 replica.

Second, there are better choices. If you are looking just to have a working system. I personally like Mike Willegal's PS2/serial adapter. This way you can hook up your laptop and send programs over that you may not have audio files for. Plus you can get a really cool retro looking bamboo PS/2 keyboard.

Another option, Mike Willegal makes a Datanetics reproduction. Tracking down keyswitches would be hard and expensive. They can come from an early Apple II keyboard, but I'd try to get a military surplus Datanetics as a donor. Still this option isn't cheap. It may cost you more than a few hundred dollars to build, but it would be the correct keyboard that was sold with the Byte Shop Apple-1.

Finally, you could just get as KC9UDX has mentioned, a teletype/terminal or ASCII keyboard. The Smithsonian Apple-1 uses the keyboard from a TI Silent 733 ASR. They are pretty rare and expensive, but you could find plenty of military surplus terminal keyboards or use a cheaper TI Silent 743 keyboard, there are instructions on the net on how to hookup a TI Silent keyboard to an Apple-1. Just what ever you choose make sure they are parallel not serial. These same keyboards were used back in the day on just about every home brew system that had a keyboard. So look for a George Risk Keyboard or something like that.

Good luck with your replica build,
Cheers,
Corey
 
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I went though a number of methods this Fall to connect a keyboard to an Apple 1 Computer. For a long time I used the keyboard from an Apple II+, with a wire-wrapped adapter. This year I assembled one of Mike's adapter boards, which are really easy from a soldering perspective for someone putting together a replica. I also went through the steps to create a custom cable to connect a TI parallel keyboard. Lastly, I picked up a generic PS/2 interface module from eBay and reprogrammed the microcontroller on it to dump plain ASCII with a strobe instead of PS/2 scan codes.

If you are willing to insert a small microcontroller into the adapter, even serial keyboards with known protocols can be adapted. A USB adapter could be developed with one of the microcontrollers with an OTG/Host interface.

In short, there are lots of options and knowledgable individuals here that can help you connect just about any keyboard to an Apple 1. Please do not feel that you need an Apple II+ keyboard just because others have used it on their builds. There are probably more appropriate options depending on the final goals of your build.

As a side note, an Apple II+ keyboard draws over 100mA from the 5v supply due to the power light alone. I would add that to the list of reasons Corey outlined to try something different.
 
HI,

Thanks for the comments.

I did see Mikes site, he is out of the Datanetics boards. :(

I'm trying to avoid the PS2 to ascii option because I'm trying to stay as authentic as possible. All my IC's have accurate date codes. I'm planning on putting a lot of effort into this project, "just working" is not really the goal. I am open to an alternate keyboard option. If you have some URL's to point me to, I would be grateful!

THanks

len


Corey986 said:
For an Apple-1 replica, sure you can use an Apple II plus keyboard with an adapter, but I'm starting to push people away from that mainly because there are too many keyboard less Apple II plus these days because of attrition and the practice of using an Apple II plus keyboard for an Apple-1 replica.

Second, there are better choices. If you are looking just to have a working system. I personally like Mike Willegal's PS2/serial adapter. This way you can hook up your laptop and send programs over that you may not have audio files for. Plus you can get a really cool retro looking bamboo PS/2 keyboard.

Another option, Mike Willegal makes a Datanetics reproduction. Tracking down keyswitches would be hard and expensive. They can come from an early Apple II keyboard, but I'd try to get a military surplus Datanetics as a donor. Still this option isn't cheap. It may cost you more than a few hundred dollars to build, but it would be the correct keyboard that was sold with the Byte Shop Apple-1.

Finally, you could just get as KC9UDX has mentioned, a teletype/terminal or ASCII keyboard. The Smithsonian Apple-1 uses the keyboard from a TI Silent 733 ASR. They are pretty rare and expensive, but you could find plenty of military surplus terminal keyboards or use a cheaper TI Silent 743 keyboard, there are instructions on the net on how to hookup a TI Silent keyboard to an Apple-1. Just what ever you choose make sure they are parallel not serial. These same keyboards were used back in the day on just about every home brew system that had a keyboard. So look for a George Risk Keyboard or something like that.

Good luck with your replica build,
Cheers,
Corey
Click to expand...
 
I have a IIplus that I'm parting out because it was improperly stored so there's rust on a lot of ICs on the motherboard. Mine is the keyboard that has the extra board underneath which looks to be in MUCH better condition than the motherboard. Will that work for what you're building?
 
8008guy said:
HI,

I'm trying to avoid the PS2 to ascii option because I'm trying to stay as authentic as possible. All my IC's have accurate date codes. I'm planning on putting a lot of effort into this project, "just working" is not really the goal. I am open to an alternate keyboard option. If you have some URL's to point me to, I would be grateful!
Click to expand...

Len,

You might want to search for: 959327-0001 and 959326-0001. These are both ASCII keyboards used in TI Silent 700's. Both of these were made by Micro Switch. The 959327 is a 56SW5-2. Micro Switch made a number of ASCII or baudot parallel and plain matrix keyboards.

Item 181614860986 on eBay is listed as a PK 89111. It looks like ASCII out from the schematics listed.

Item 181614854310 on eBay is listed as a 76SD12-1, and has a customer part number of 23726-02. It also has a part number of SD-16097 on the PCB. It doesn't have schematics listed, but with better images it should be easier to determine if it is also ASCII. Given that it has a shift-lock key, I suspect that it is.

Micro Switch was purchased by Honeywell, so you may find keyboards under that name.

These types of keyboards have switches that are desired by keyboard collectors. As a result they aren't easy to find or cheap.
 
After all your comments I am going to go the Silent 700 route. I found one on ebay today that I made an offer on, and it was accepted.

You guys are awesome! I'll keep you updated on my Apple 1 build.

len
 
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