New Cherry MX keyboards for the A500, A600 and A1200

[sneckburger]

If it could be organised to totally remanufacture the A1200 with the ease of use of todays standard (HDMI, flash storage etc.), then the demand for large manufacturing quantities would be met.
Look at the c64 mini for example.
All the available pieces are coming available, but it seems there's a few too many roadblocks to overcome.
This Idea would benefit from a strong headed wealthy investor, preferably one that had nostalgia toward the Amiga to put it all together and get these in the shops..
Any lottery winners / Elon Musks on here?? Anyone???

[Metropolis]

Originally Posted by spudje

Sorry, but that is not how I interpret this:

/rant

I'm feeling the same way. Completely lost interest. I was under the impression we just got a PCB, switches, and standard Cherry caps. I was also under the impression that most of the work was finished in October (as evidenced by the "by Christmas" text) and that the entire point of this would be to use the almost endless color/sizes of Cherry caps instead of having to rely on getting yet ANOTHER version of the Amiga keys made. Didn't someone else already make Cherry Amiga keycaps? How much of the $200 cost is going toward getting yet another variant keycap?

This is a great idea, but the execution has been a mess.

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by sneckburger

Look at the c64 mini for example.

Do you think it has a good keyboard?

[kipper2k]

k, looks like i need to add my 2c's worth...

if commodore hadn't have been so damn proprietry then the world would be sugar and spice and all things nice, but they didn't so we have to live with custom solutions.

Good things come to those that wait, etc etc. When you build/create custom devices for a small order you have to pay, it is not cheap, and chances are you have to wait while it is being manufactured. Take a look at crowdfunding and kickstarter and see how long it takes for a project to be completed, it is not an overnight affair. We are trying to get this done and i do not like it when i am also waiting but there is no choice.

[spudje]

Kipper2k, I totally understand. But like me, other people understood your announcement in such a way that we could use STANDARD cherry keycaps and now it seems that is not the case.

So the least you can say is that your announcement wasn't clear for everyone...

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by sneckburger

If it could be organised to totally remanufacture the A1200 with the ease of use of todays standard (HDMI, flash storage etc.), then the demand for large manufacturing quantities would be met.
Look at the c64 mini for example.
All the available pieces are coming available, but it seems there's a few too many roadblocks to overcome.
This Idea would benefit from a strong headed wealthy investor, preferably one that had nostalgia toward the Amiga to put it all together and get these in the shops..
Any lottery winners / Elon Musks on here?? Anyone???

This comes up every few weeks, and every time there are any number of reasons why it's not nearly as simple as it all sounds. If it was, someone will have already made it and profited from it. Many people seem to think that millions of people would buy such a thing, but that depends on it being cheap enough to be an impulse buy. Licencing the name, the OS, and each and every one of the games you want to put on it, then sorting out solutions for the keyboard and mouse, and pixel-perfect emulation of the AGA chipset, all will add up to quite an expensive machine, making it far less appealing than the mini SNES, NES, PS1, inevitable N64, C64 and so on. Once it gets too expensive for casual buyers, suddenly your market is reduced to a few thousand Amiga users.

In the meantime, there are already a number of solutions that do some of what you want. The most obvious would be one of those ready-to-go RetroPie setups, and then you've got FPGAArcade, MiSTer and similar projects, and Armiga and similar. You should check them all out, and support whichever project it is that meets your needs.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by spudje

Kipper2k, I totally understand. But like me, other people understood your announcement in such a way that we could use STANDARD cherry keycaps and now it seems that is not the case.

So the least you can say is that your announcement wasn't clear for everyone...

You *can* use standard Cherry keycaps, just look at the prototypes of the keyboard. But the Amiga keyboard has many differences to PC keyboards, so a lot of the keys aren't the right shape or size. So if you're getting new space bars, return, escape, shift, F1-F10, Del, Help, Alt, Ctrl, numpad and Amiga keys made up, surely it makes sense to do the whole lot so they match?

[indigolemon]

This initial purchase run is for a complete set, so a made up keyboard with switches and keycaps etc, all ready to go.

I'm pretty sure once this is all sorted that there will be options so people can just grab the parts they want, boards/switches/keycaps, as required.

[Metropolis]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

k, looks like i need to add my 2c's worth...

if commodore hadn't have been so damn proprietry then the world would be sugar and spice and all things nice, but they didn't so we have to live with custom solutions.

Good things come to those that wait, etc etc. When you build/create custom devices for a small order you have to pay, it is not cheap, and chances are you have to wait while it is being manufactured. Take a look at crowdfunding and kickstarter and see how long it takes for a project to be completed, it is not an overnight affair. We are trying to get this done and i do not like it when i am also waiting but there is no choice.

No one is arguing this at all. I think we all understand the amount of time and effort it takes to have these projects come to fruition. I can't speak for everyone, but I think the issue is in the lack of communication from those involved in making this happen. When there *is* some communication, it's still not very clear as to what is happening, people get defensive, or those who had a decent amount of money tied up for months begin to bombard inboxes or forums just to get an acknowledgement.

Having said that, I'm still looking forward to this project. It still begs the question - didn't someone already successfully crowdfund Cherry Amiga keycaps? If so, why the remake?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Metropolis

No one is arguing this at all. I think we all understand the amount of time and effort it takes to have these projects come to fruition. I can't speak for everyone, but I think the issue is in the lack of communication from those involved in making this happen. When there *is* some communication, it's still not very clear as to what is happening, people get defensive, or those who had a decent amount of money tied up for months begin to bombard inboxes or forums just to get an acknowledgement.

Having said that, I'm still looking forward to this project. It still begs the question - didn't someone already successfully crowdfund Cherry Amiga keycaps? If so, why the remake?

Hi,

No one has made Amiga Cherry MX keycaps, the project by Phil is for replacement amiga keycaps which are NOT! cherry MX. It has been mentioned in this thread about the fact that there are custom MX keys that need to be moulded for the Amiga. Most keys are available but the "F" keys, DEL/HELP/TAB/Caps lock/Shift and spacebar for the Amiga are non standard and need the custom mould, this is what is holding us up as we are in waiting mode now.

If you have paid for the preorder and are uncomfortable with the wait then you can request your preorder payment back. Amiga is a bitch, and i guess we love her for it

[indigolemon]

The existing Cherry MX keycaps are 'Amiga inspired' but are all the standard PC sizing, and meant to be used on a PC keyboard (https://www.facebook.com/Amigakeys/). This project will give us the keys the same as OEM size, which is the only way it can look right in an original case

[SpocksBeer]

I'm in for one keyboard already, will likely get two more if I like what I see when I see it. I'm a little miffed that the project went from "yeah yeah, by Christmas no worries mate" to radio silence, then a month after that "totes soz, q2 2019". But eh, I've bigger worries in life.

Also a touch concerned that the project will die the painful death of unsupervised international manufacturing and grandiose promises from third parties that have killed or terminally delayed so many similar small scale, retro-focused manufacturing projects. It'd be nice to have some assurances from Kipper and/or AOTL that this is under control. Pretty sure you've been burned before, Kipper, so I'm anticipating you know what to keep a look out for.

End of the day though, hope it all goes to the current plan and I can go back to enjoying my archaic hobby of retro computing, which seems to be less about doing any actual computing and more to do with keeping the damn things running.

[sneckburger]

I’ve noticed recently that the retro consoles have started to become a popular hit in the shops around me and have stock of such devices like the Snes mini, Megadrive, c64 etc. but why don’t we see a similar plug in and play device for the Amiga? In my school it was by far the most popular computer games machine.
I know there’s devices available like the mist etc, but why these aren’t on the shelves? Has the Amiga been forgotten?

When this keyboard finally arrives (I think its great work BTW, and I look forward to buying one) I will hopefully be fitting it to the A1200 Amiga.net case. But like restoring an old classic car, when does it stop becoming a restoration project and just a replica and I wonder if I should just stick with WinUAE insead. (certainly be a lot cheaper).


Just a thought worth mentioning though, how much development would it take to combine new cases and keyboard with a cheap plug and play pre-set up Amiga emulator that could also be swapped out for your original Amiga motherboard if you decided to? Retail these in the shops as a plug and play device catering for the masses by scratching the Nostalgia itch and at the same time giving the enthusiast what they want at a lower cost than a small quantity batch?

[indigolemon]

Originally Posted by sneckburger

I’ve noticed recently that the retro consoles have started to become a popular hit in the shops around me and have stock of such devices like the Snes mini, Megadrive, c64 etc. but why don’t we see a similar plug in and play device for the Amiga? In my school it was by far the most popular computer games machine.
I know there’s devices available like the mist etc, but why these aren’t on the shelves? Has the Amiga been forgotten?

When this keyboard finally arrives (I think its great work BTW, and I look forward to buying one) I will hopefully be fitting it to the A1200 Amiga.net case. But like restoring an old classic car, when does it stop becoming a restoration project and just a replica and I wonder if I should just stick with WinUAE insead. (certainly be a lot cheaper).


Just a thought worth mentioning though, how much development would it take to combine new cases and keyboard with a cheap plug and play pre-set up Amiga emulator that could also be swapped out for your original Amiga motherboard if you decided to? Retail these in the shops as a plug and play device catering for the masses by scratching the Nostalgia itch and at the same time giving the enthusiast what they want at a lower cost than a small quantity batch?

See post #286 further up this page This one comes up a lot, sadly it's unlikely to ever be easily achieved.

[UberFreak]

This is by no means an attack against this great project, just the way I see things.

I just did a quick Ebay search for sold A1200 worldwide and you can get a complete working unit for around the price of this keyboard (I recently bought one for much less, but that might be an anomaly).
I mean, if it can't be done in a reasonable price, why do it at all?

Am I the only one thinking 200$ for a keyboard is overkill?

[indigolemon]

Originally Posted by UberFreak

This is by no means an attack against this great project, just the way I see things.

I just did a quick Ebay search for sold A1200 worldwide and you can get a complete working unit for around the price of this keyboard (I recently bought one for much less, but that might be an anomaly).
I mean, if it can't be done in a reasonable price, why do it at all?

Am I the only one thinking 200$ for a keyboard is overkill?

It's simply another choice people can make, they either want a mechanical keyboard, and are willing to pay for one - or they're not. Sadly, like anything produced in small batches, the price is what it is as volumes are not as high as conventional PC products.

Saying that, have you looked at how much a decent mechanical keyboard costs? Kinda puts things in perspective, given they are mass produced, and don't need any custom parts/programming.

[Metropolis]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Hi,

No one has made Amiga Cherry MX keycaps, the project by Phil is for replacement amiga keycaps which are NOT! cherry MX. It has been mentioned in this thread about the fact that there are custom MX keys that need to be moulded for the Amiga. Most keys are available but the "F" keys, DEL/HELP/TAB/Caps lock/Shift and spacebar for the Amiga are non standard and need the custom mould, this is what is holding us up as we are in waiting mode now.

If you have paid for the preorder and are uncomfortable with the wait then you can request your preorder payment back. Amiga is a bitch, and i guess we love her for it

Then I suppose the next question is, why design the mechanical keybed to use the old/non-standard key sizing to begin with?

[sneckburger]

Prices are creeping up in the UK for Amiga, looking at A1200 from april last year they were selling from around £150, now you'd be lucky to find one for less than £250.
If the trend continues we'll be at A4000T prices before you know it.
£150 ($200) then for a quality better than original keyboard will look like a steal.

[indigolemon]

Originally Posted by Metropolis

Then I suppose the next question is, why design the mechanical keybed to use the old/non-standard key sizing to begin with?

So that it will fit in the existing Amiga cases?

[Daishi]

I ordered my keyboard on Nov 7th, black keycaps to go with my new A1200 black case. While I was looking forward to a Christmas delivery I didn't really expect it. When was the last time a hardware project like this for a niche market actually shipped on time? While I'm disappointed that the shipment date has slipped, what was the most annoying was the lack of any communication from AOTL (seems to be a trend with them) I guess owning an Amiga has made me a patient man (nothing to do with the 2 children I have been bringing up) I'm grateful to Kipper2K for doing this project (something I thought about years ago, but my procrastination gene is dominant) Looking forward to the conclusion.

Once I have my Amiga A1200 in the black case with the black keyboard (it's going to look so sweet) I'm blacking out the room, turning off the lights and going to watch every bad hacking movie ever made while wearing sunglasses ;-)