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Atari 400 aftermarket keyboard?

Not common enough that my high school had it. The first computer my fingers ever touched in 9th or10th grade. God how that membrane kb made me hate computers.
 
There were lots of ads for them in the Atari magazines of the day, but I have never actually seen one. My two 400s have the wretched membrane keyboard.
 
After almost 40 years the original Keyboard on my 400 still works. I've had a number of high-end keyboards that cost more than the 400 die in that time.
 
Are the 400 and 800 the same internally? Could you pop an 800 top on a 400 and have an 800?

How ironic that 35 years later I'm still plagued with wretched excuses for keyboards. 4 spelling mistakes corrected in this reply.
 
The main boards are different. The 800 has more slots for cartridges and memory. I think Atari replaced components to upgrade the 400.
 
The 400's flat keyboard isn't so bad. The raised edges help fingers find the keys. The speaker click gives audio and tactile feedback. Lightly feeling each key and then pressing firmly works much better than poking at the keys.
 
“The 400's flat keyboard isn't so bad.”
Now that I see the one with normal keyboard, I love my Atari 400 with the flat keyboard....gives me the authentic and novelty look for my collection 😉😉
 
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