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Osborne 1 New mechanical keyboard

MykeLawson said:
A dumb question though; after looking on bitsavers.org, I can find the schematics of the keyboard interface but not the actual keyboard itself. Given what is shown in the pictures you posted, and seeing that +12v is provided to the keyboard on the OCC2 model, there is circuitry on the keyboard itself. What is a good source for the schematic of the board you are kitting for sale? Myke
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It is my design and there is nothing on the internet. The circuit I put on the board is to make a modern MX switch replace the original click on click off switch
 
Well, for what it is worth, I did some digging and Digi-Key has the Cherry MX1A-11NW switches for $0.52 while Mouser have the same switch for $0.95. That is a big difference.
 
MykeLawson said:
Well, for what it is worth, I did some digging and Digi-Key has the Cherry MX1A-11NW switches for $0.52 while Mouser have the same switch for $0.95. That is a big difference.
Click to expand...

If there's a Microcenter near you, I suggest you take a look there also. Last week I picked up a couple boxes of Cherry MX Black Clear-Top - Lubed (MX2A-61NW) for $14.95 a box. Each box has 36 switches, which comes out to ~$0.41/switch (and since it was a local store, no shipping charge!).

Microcenter SKU for the box is 530865. They might have others on sale as well, just make sure you get the ones that solder in.
 
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My ultimate plan for this is to put it in a Hammond 1456KE3WHBU case, and add the circuitry to output ASCII codes like the old parallel port keyboards from way back. This should be another fun project. Looks like I need to manually figure out the schematic of the keyboard so I can figure out how the EPROM will get programmed so when a key is pressed, the correct ASCII code is output. A 2716(ish) should work nicely if the 8 bits returning from the keyboard, and the three bits that are used in the 3 to 8 decoder that would drive the input lines to the keyboard. I could use a 2732 and use the twelfth address bit to switch between ASCII and EBCDIC... That would be interesting. Or use an NVRAM so it could be made to output whateve....
 
TechDad said:
If there's a Microcenter near you, I suggest you take a look there also. Last week I picked up a couple boxes of Cherry MX Black Clear-Top - Lubed (MX2A-61NW) for $14.95 a box. Each box has 36 switches, which comes out to ~$0.41/switch (and since it was a local store, no shipping charge!).

Microcenter SKU for the box is 530865. They might have others on sale as well, just make sure you get the ones that solder in.
Click to expand...
I just checked the closest MicroCenter and they are sold out. Must be a lot of DIY keyboards being built......
 
I just happened to remember I have a EDE1188 64 key encoder chip. It does an 8x8 matrix keyboard, which is exactly like the Osborne keyboard. It provides an 8 bit parallel output along with a 2400/9600 bps serial output. The data valid strobe goes negative 1uS after a key is pressed. That is ample time for the data to get run through a PROM chip to decode the data into actual ASCII code, and get properly latched so the processor can read the data.
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I disassembled both a O1 and an O1A keyboard and found out a few things.

The O1 ribbon cable works with the O1A keyboard, passes the KB test on the Diag disk and the O1A keyboard board will mount into the O1 keyboard case.

***After using a multi meter the O1 original ribbon cable will work with the mechanical keyboard kit.***

***The O1A cable does will not work with the mechanical keyboard kit. ***

The end that plugs into the motherboard does not have the internal terminal that would connect to the # 19 pin on the motherboard.

So for a O1A you will need to use the supplied ribbon cable that comes with the mechanical KB kit.

If you have a O1 you can use the original cable or the one that comes in the KB kit, you could easily make the one that comes in the kit look original with new plastic covering and heat shrink if your original is not usable or looks ratty.

I'm going to mount my spare good O1A keyboard board into the O1 case for now and then built the kit after I get the O1 completely fixed.
 
Also I should add that the O1 keyboard aluminum back plate sits about 5 mm lower than the O1A due to a couple of spacer plates riveted on each side.

So the Osborne 1A board in the older case will make the keys stick up 5 mm higher than the original keys so that will make a difference with mounting the mechanical keyboard board.

I still need to get my key switches once I decide which ones I want.

O1 at the top and O1A at the bottom.

IMG_20230827_101303380.jpg
 
The Microcenter near me got the key switches that TechDad mentioned previously. I did a test fit of one of them and it fit fine. I just need to get a set of keycaps since mine is not going to be used as a replacement for an existing Osborne keyboard. And I don't want the 'RGB Gamer' type keycaps.......
 
MykeLawson said:
My ultimate plan for this is to put it in a Hammond 1456KE3WHBU case, and add the circuitry to output ASCII codes like the old parallel port keyboards from way back. This should be another fun project. Looks like I need to manually figure out the schematic of the keyboard so I can figure out how the EPROM will get programmed so when a key is pressed, the correct ASCII code is output. A 2716(ish) should work nicely if the 8 bits returning from the keyboard, and the three bits that are used in the 3 to 8 decoder that would drive the input lines to the keyboard. I could use a 2732 and use the twelfth address bit to switch between ASCII and EBCDIC... That would be interesting. Or use an NVRAM so it could be made to output whateve....
Click to expand...
You might want to check out the unified retro keyboard project. It is meant to provide exactly what you are looking for: a parallel ASCII keyboard with a classic period-correct feel, that can be customized to taste, and also can fit a number of vintage computers.

The osborne is not added yet, but the keycap set will cover most of the Osborne keys, except the 2U return key. The options would be to live with a 1.5U return key, or (the right option) create an "Osborne supplement" to include the keypad keycaps and the 2U return keycap, to add on to the "classic" keycaps.
 
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I finally started to build it tonight after my key switches came in today.

Just finished soldering the key switches in.

I'm using Cherry Black switches except for the CAPS LOCK key switch, since it's the only one that clicks on the original keyboard I wanted to duplicate that click.

The one blue switch is a off brand off amazon and did not have the two locating tabs so I had to super glue a couple of corners after lining it up so I could solder it.

d7yR8jT.jpg



Also I highly recommend genuine Cherry key switches since they just snap in place very securely and that makes it really easy to solder since you do not have to worry about the switches moving around.
 
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Klee said:
Also I highly recommend genuine Cherry key switches since they just snap in place very securely and that makes it really easy to solder since you do not have to worry about the switches moving around.
Click to expand...
That's the difference between the "5-pin" keys and the "3-pin" keys. Cherry MX and non-Cherry brands will have both options. The 5 "pins" refer to the two contact pins, the center post, and the two alignment posts. The "3 pin" variety does not have the alignment posts. The 3-pin variety is designed to be used with an aligner plate, which will add stiffness and stability to the keyboard.
 
Yep I found that out since this is the first keyboard I have assembled.
 
Well, I have started building out, and modifying, my kit. I'm converting it to be an old style (somewhat) Parallel ASCII keyboard for my S-100. I'm using a EDE-1188 8x8 keyboard matrix controller, which fits perfectly to the 8x8 matrix of this keyboard. As that chip does not provide pure ASCII codes, I am using the output of the 1188 as the address lines for a 2Kx8 NVRAM chip where I will store the correct ASCII codes. I have run the Ctrl, Shift Lock, and Shift keys to the NVRAM chip as A8, A9, & A10. The 1188 provides a 1uS delayed data valid line that I use to latch the ASCII code into an 8 bit latch and to set a flip-flop to let the processor know a byte is ready. Once it is read, the latch and flip-flop are reset. Using the 2Kx8 chip to store the ASCII codes gives me a whole slew of possible code combinations for things like Ctrl-Shift...... I could have programs check for the code I create for, say, a Ctrl-Shift-C combo to restart back to CP/M..... Anyway, I attached the schematics I have come up with so far.....
 

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