Suggestions for uppercase / Lowercase keymap for Apple II replica keyboard

[dfnr2]

Hi All,

My replica keyboard (see this thread) has an uppercase/lowercase keymap. It works, but has not yet been optimized.

The shortcomings are:

1. The N^ key and P@ key are now nN and pP, so the ^ and @ characters need a new home
2. Currently the POWER key/light is being used as a capslock.

Some notes:

1. It seems the REPEAT key could be replaced, as there is already an autorepeat function, and another keycap could be placed in that spot.
2. The N^ and P@ could be reverted to the normal N and P keys, which are included with the keycap set.
3. The right and left arrow keys could be overloaded with SHIFT and CTRL functions.
4. Currently, CTRL+RESET is required for a reset. If there were enough demand to have a jumper-selectable plain RESET, then the simplest solution would be to add a new keymap (or set of keymaps) with the plain RESET key mapped ot the RESET function. The desired keymap would then be selected by jumper or DIP switch settings.
5. At the moment SHIFT+RESET produces a CLEAR pulse for the apple I. Any suggestions for a different mapping?

Thanks for any input!

Dave

 

[lowlevel]

I know Rocky's boots suggests using repeat key to move faster... so I'm inclined to say that key should work as intended.
I think it would be nice if you could hold the repeat key and press a number to select how fast it should repeat..

I'm not sure how I feel about the keys repeating on their own... but the repeat rate is seems about half speed vs the typical apple II repeat key behavior.

I would suggest Ctrl-Shift-P/N to access ^ and @ ... in case something uses Ctrl-N or Ctrl-P for next/previous.

Holding power/caps and pressing a number could perhaps change keymaps... changing back to the standard key map will get you Shift-N/Shift-P I guess for ^ and @.

I feel the default capslock state on the keymap I'm using should be on or enabled on power up... basic/dos3.3 I think automatically changes your input to upper if you type lower, but some software won't do this and will be expecting uppercase. (Generally you leave the caps lock key on on apple II's anyway from what I've seen.)

I think that's all I have for now.... loving the keyboard though

 

[lowlevel]

Some of the clones had common commands saved as macros in the keyboard... maybe ctrl-shift #'s could do something there...

 

[dfnr2]

I know Rocky's boots suggests using repeat key to move faster... so I'm inclined to say that key should work as intended.

Good to know. I guess that means the repeat stays.

I think it would be nice if you could hold the repeat key and press a number to select how fast it should repeat.

That could be done. I will add it as a feature issue on GitHub.

I'm not sure how I feel about the keys repeating on their own... but the repeat rate is seems about half speed vs the typical apple II repeat key behavior.

This can be adjusted by changing the repeat delay and recompiling. Or by adding the 16 MHz crystal and setting the fuses for external crystal (for the atmega2560). I believe the firmware is tuned for running with the 16 MHz crystal, but the fuses are set for the 8 MHz internal clock, in case some folks didn't feel comfortable with surface mount. The only side effect is a slower repeat rate. Adding multiple repeat rates as you suggested above, would make this a non-issue. Also, the setting could be bound to a DIP switch as well as to a key.

I would suggest Ctrl-Shift-P/N to access ^ and @ ... in case something uses Ctrl-N or Ctrl-P for next/previous.

That is an option. Currently each keymap includes four modifier keymaps. Adding more would actually not require much more memory, and might actually simplify the modifier logic. I will add this as a feature issue in GitHub and will look into this.

Holding power/caps and pressing a number could perhaps change keymaps... changing back to the standard key map will get you Shift-N/Shift-P I guess for ^ and @.

This could be done.

I feel the default capslock state on the keymap I'm using should be on or enabled on power up... basic/dos3.3 I think automatically changes your input to upper if you type lower, but some software won't do this and will be expecting uppercase. (Generally you leave the caps lock key on on apple II's anyway from what I've seen.)

This is the easiest suggestion to implement, requiring no code change, and just one line change in the keymap. I'll get this implemented in the next update.

I think that's all I have for now.... loving the keyboard though

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!