QWERTZ keyboard, a way to fix this?
 

I have a chance to get a hold of a german A500 and A1200 - both of which are with the very weird QWERTZ keyboard layout. I have some spare parts from old scandinavian Amigas - amongst which a QWERTY keyboard available for both, plus kickstart roms.

Will replacing either the keyboards or roms change them to QWERTY?

You only need to change the keycaps, not the ROM. Get a keycap extraction tool and it should be easy if you have a spare donor keyboard.

Doing it that way, you shouldn't need to open the computer casing.

That way the keyboard will remain as QWERTZ even though it shows QWERTY. It needs to work as well.

In other words, I need to know if the keyboard layout is stored in the rom file or the keyboard itself.

No it won't. Only the US keymap is in the Kickstart ROM. All others are loaded from disk using the SetMap command.

Oookay, so if the startup sequence is cancelled without SetMap loading, every german Amiga - even the AGA ones - will type Z's as Y's and vice versa.

That's pretty funky :laughing

Yep, though it's not as strange/unusual as it sounds; PC keyboards work the same way.

Best thing to try is change the keyboard since you have a spare available. The keyboards are probably hardwired, so changing the caps won't work.

That's what I know of it, may not be accurate.

The keyboard layout is not in the ROM or the keyboard, just select the Finnish/Swedish keymap in the preferences and it'll work as such, whether you change keycaps or not.

Yeah, I've known that's the case for scandinavian Amigas with ä,ö and å:s, but always thought the german ones were hardwired to qwertz.

Good to know, thanks everyone.

I personally would not bother risking damage to the keyboard by swapping the keys, just leave them as they are. It's not like you need to look at the keyboard to know which key does what.

I usually just switch the Z and Y keys. The tilting of the keys are a bit off but who cares...

Edit: Rather, >I< dont care =)

I'd be so distracted by the incorrect angle of the keycaps that I'd swap them right back.

Who cares what it says on the keycaps as long as the number of keys matches what keymap you're running in the OS.

Agreed with Jope. I never paid attention.
My first computers were all QWERTZ. The C128 had no "mapping" so it worked as an american one (unless I pressed that special key in C128 mode) and the Amiga was always mapped to an american keyboard. I just don't look at it, I KNOW where the Y and Z should be. I would also feel very distracted by the slant difference!!

To this day, no matter what computer it is on, I follow the same rules, and never look at where the keys are, and if I look at it and I see a Z, I still press it thinking a Y will come out :D