New Cherry MX keyboards for the A500, A600 and A1200

[pgovotsos]

I will buy one of each to evaluate. If they turn out to be as good as I expect, I will be buying 40 - 112 depending on price. Also if it will be available in US layout with US / NTSC keys.

I've got 112 500s and 1200s that could use a new keyboard. If these work I'll have 160 sets of the new keycaps from the Kickstarter up for grabs.

If the 1000 model becomes a reality, I'd want a dozen or so. When you move on to the big box models, I'd take at least 50 for the 4000 if I replace all of them.

Suffice to say, if these fit my needs, I want them. Probably in a large volume.

I would totally want an A500 and A1200 at a minimum. I could probably use two of both. Would consider big box as well.

[aZtOcKdOg]

Wow! Fantastic news!

I guess my question is were there ISO vs ANSI layouts variations for all Amigas or just the A4000?

Def keeping my eye on this... and looking at my set of ‘Amiga Inspired Cherry MX Keycaps’ from Loriano Pagni’s KS... makes me think:
A. They are made for the more flat PC style keyboard with no row curve so I suppose they will not work.
B. The ‘Boing Ball’ looks amazing on the blank keys...

Thanks and great work as always kipper2k!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by pgovotsos

I will buy one of each to evaluate. If they turn out to be as good as I expect, I will be buying 40 - 112 depending on price. Also if it will be available in US layout with US / NTSC keys.

I've got 112 500s and 1200s that could use a new keyboard. If these work I'll have 160 sets of the new keycaps from the Kickstarter up for grabs.

If the 1000 model becomes a reality, I'd want a dozen or so. When you move on to the big box models, I'd take at least 50 for the 4000 if I replace all of them.

Suffice to say, if these fit my needs, I want them. Probably in a large volume.

Oh wow, you dont like me do you, i will prob die of rickets due to lack of sunlight lol. I do have the a4000 on the list, i will prob get to starting the a4k in a couple of weeks for the initial look

[klx300r]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Hi,

..Once i am done with these then i will open up my A2k and A4k keyboard and start that

thanks for this much needed and totally amazing project I hacked up an old A500 keyboard into my A4000 keyboard case years ago and it's still working fine but the idea of a new cherry keyboard in my A4k is just WoW

[klx300r]

@ AltRN8


welcome aboard was at a hockey tournament in your city last year and watched a Pens vs Leafs game too..beautiful city!

[kipper2k]

K, i spoke to Aaron at Amiga on the lake, he will start a blog (Expected this Friday) and people can start putting their name on the preorder list. We will start off with 100 keycap sets, and for the first batch we want to start off with a quick and dirty order limiting colours. After a marathon email session today sorting out a few things we want to try to get this order sorted fast and then that will give us a little bit of breathing space and some cash for the next batch. As an example of the cost scale, buying 5 sets of keycaps is $270 USD EACH, so buying bulk is the only way to get the original authentic sized keys at a respectable price. I wanted to buy 5 sets so i could show it off but i wasn't willing to pay that much just for a set of keycaps. Using non standard keys and substituting them with PC sized keys would make it cheaper but then it isn't a real one


So this is what we propose... for those people seriously committed to this project please let us know what you want. The first batch we want to be as close to the A1200 default colours (PAL) as we can and also try to get black for those people that want black. Also need to figure out the extra keys needed for NTSC and try to get them included in the first batch.

Does anyone have the hex/decimal values of the original a1200 colours ?.

So Aaron will have the entire sets in his possession, boards, switches, keycaps, etc. end users will get the nice easy task of assembling the boards, items can be purchased as a full kit and we will split them up later. boards will be available also in the UK once the first batch of keys and functionality of all the components has been checked. As stated earlier it will take 6 weeks from payment received by the company for the keycaps so as soon as we get the required amount of pre-sales we will pay them and get the ball rolling. We plan on using authentic Cherry MX keys, if we cant get them for any reason and have to use others then we will let you know.

So info we need,

-name, email address
-quantity
- a500 or a1200
- colour of cherry MX switch, Brown is default if not stated
- PAL/NTSC in order of priority
- Black or Amiga default

Once the Blog is up i will provide a link or you can keep checking amigaonthelake.com. hopefully we hit 100 soon and can get things going


Based on current prices quoted for all the bits and pieces the suggested selling price is $189 USD for the entire package, this may drop if demand allows us to get better deals for the keycaps. The shipping charges for me to get the boards are horrible, example, DHL charged $65 for the last package of 10 pcbs and 10 plates then hit me with a $25 duty costs. I am pretty sure costs are similar to get them over to Europe also.

[sean_sk]

Ummm dumb question: Even though I don't have a traditional hard drive in my A1200 I still use the caddy as support for my keyboard (I still think it's pretty useful for that). Can it still be used as a support for these new keyboards? Will the new keyboard still be the same dimensions and thickness to still be able to utilize the extra support if needed?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by sean_skroht

Ummm dumb question: Even though I don't have a traditional hard drive in my A1200 I still use the caddy as support for my keyboard (I still think it's pretty useful for that). Can it still be used as a support for these new keyboards? Will the new keyboard still be the same dimensions and thickness to still be able to utilize the extra support if needed?

If your original keyboard fits then this should fit, the keyboard is about 0.035" thicker than an original one

[amenophis]

Originally Posted by Ragnarok

As much as I admire the community's work, since it seems that competition is still a deal, I can't but hope that this campaign will awake the a1200.net team whose keycaps supporters will be more than disappointed right now.

Why keycaps supporters would be disappointed?
And why should this wake the team up?



Keycaps production is currently ongoing and if you were a backer following campaign updates you'd knew that.


Kipper work is awesome, but our two project are totally different.

Our team is building replica keycaps to replace originals, with mitsumi stems. This required plastic injection molds to be made. Labels as well.

Once keycaps are done we'll unveil the keyboard we've worked on.


This is Kippers thread!
Sorry buddy I'll not say anything more haha.


Of course, I'll sign up for your keyboard as well
As I said several time, Teams who develop Amiga hardware should support themselves

Cheers
Phil

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by amenophis

Why keycaps supporters would be disappointed?
And why should this wake the team up?



Keycaps production is currently ongoing and if you were a backer following campaign updates you'd knew that.


Kipper work is awesome, but our two project are totally different.

Our team is building replica keycaps to replace originals, with mitsumi stems. This required plastic injection molds to be made. Labels as well.

Once keycaps are done we'll unveil the keyboard we've worked on.


This is Kippers thread!
Sorry buddy I'll not say anything more haha.


Of course, I'll sign up for your keyboard as well
As I said several time, Teams who develop Amiga hardware should support themselves

Cheers
Phil

Hi Phil, if you can do a decent price on cherry mx amiga keys let the thread know, there is not a lot of choice out there

[amenophis]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Hi Phil, if you can do a decent price on cherry mx amiga keys let the thread know, there is not a lot of choice out there

Hi Brian,

As you know to create replacement replica keycaps we had no choice but to build molds.
A set of replica (replica mean 100% original design) keys natively equipped with Cherry MX mounts means new molds again. No secret here.

We have a solution for Mechanical switches to use original caps and the new ones we're producing. That solution could be adapted for Cherry MX i presume, but we have our own keyboard to be unveiled between production batch #1 & #2, and it has been in R&D for quite some time now since we couldn't reveal without having caps ready... chicken & egg syndrome ya..

I sent you an email a couple days ago, we can discuss

When Aaron set up the page I'll enlist for your keyboard, you can count on that!

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by amenophis

Hi Brian,

As you know to create replacement replica keycaps we had no choice but to build molds.
A set of replica (replica mean 100% original design) keys natively equipped with Cherry MX mounts means new molds again. No secret here.

We have a solution for Mechanical switches to use original caps and the new ones we're producing. That solution could be adapted for Cherry MX i presume, but we have our own keyboard to be unveiled between production batch #1 & #2, and it has been in R&D for quite some time now since we couldn't reveal without having caps ready... chicken & egg syndrome ya..

I sent you an email a couple days ago, we can discuss

When Aaron set up the page I'll enlist for your keyboard, you can count on that!

hmm, no email in any folder, can you snd to me at shaw.ca ?

[amenophis]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

hmm, no email in any folder, can you snd to me at shaw.ca ?

Done

[Romanujan]

Originally Posted by amenophis

Why keycaps supporters would be disappointed?

That's why:

Originally Posted by Romanujan

Of course, I hope the campaign will succeed and we will see new key caps somewhere in 2018...

Originally Posted by amenophis

Commodore keyboards (and keycaps) are a total mess. That's no secret. And these issues needed to find their solutions. And i did find solutions.
And well... they'll be delivered Q2 2017 at most.
But if you support the Keycaps campaign Romanujan i can always make an exception and deliver you 2018

I still have a slim hope you will do this exception Not even to mention, that instead of seeing new projects being developed I would really like to get the CAD files promised as a stretch goal for the case campaign - which (after all these years) are still not available.

-----

@Kipper, what assembly will be required? Just putting the keys on, or also some soldering?

[amenophis]

Originally Posted by Romanujan

That's why:


I still have a slim hope you will do this exception Not even to mention, that instead of seeing new projects being developed I would really like to get the CAD files promised as a stretch goal for the case campaign - which (after all these years) are still not available.

Thank you Romanujan,


However I hope you don't mind me saying again this is Kipper's thread!


If you have questions, please ask directly on our FB page or by email.
Both details you've pointed right now have been answered already through campaign updates.

But for the sake of it
>> CAD files: V2 of the files needed to be amended with modifications.
Files now need to get rid if signatures. Then there is the legal point that still need to be cleared.
Files will be made public the proper way and the legal way.
Keep in mind the team isn't a company but a group of folks and we do this on our free time.


>> Keycaps production: Molds designs and after that labels, have been challenging. You know it already.
We had to create everything from scratch. Not something you can do lightly in your garage. And there is only 1 try on each steps. You miss -> you loose supporters money -> End game. Surely you won't like that.


Again, all these questions have been answered through campaign updates.
Please follow/read them!




I will not answer any other questions on that topic here anymore.
This is Kipper's thread.
Hope you understand Romanujan.


My apologies Brian

[pgovotsos]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Oh wow, you dont like me do you, i will prob die of rickets due to lack of sunlight lol. I do have the a4000 on the list, i will prob get to starting the a4k in a couple of weeks for the initial look

No, definitely don't want you to turn into a vampire

Maybe I misunderstood. From some of your posts I thought that you personally weren't going to be doing the assembly. I thought you were designing and outsourcing production. Did I misunderstand? If you are doing all of the assembly yourself I certainly don't want to inundate you with this kind of volume.

I'm hoping to eventually replace all of the keyboards with this new production but am not in THAT much of a hurry. The old ones have lasted this long - I'm sure they won't all die at once

Please, please take care of yourself first and foremost. Don't want you to get disheartened or hurt your hand. Just do what you can at the pace that is comfortable for you. Just tell us to sod off if we push too hard

[ccorkin]

I'll buy a A1200 version from you, you legend

Ideally I'd like a couple of A1200 keyboards, but will be dependant on final cost of course.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by pgovotsos

No, definitely don't want you to turn into a vampire

Maybe I misunderstood. From some of your posts I thought that you personally weren't going to be doing the assembly. I thought you were designing and outsourcing production. Did I misunderstand? If you are doing all of the assembly yourself I certainly don't want to inundate you with this kind of volume.

I'm hoping to eventually replace all of the keyboards with this new production but am not in THAT much of a hurry. The old ones have lasted this long - I'm sure they won't all die at once

Please, please take care of yourself first and foremost. Don't want you to get disheartened or hurt your hand. Just do what you can at the pace that is comfortable for you. Just tell us to sod off if we push too hard

No worries, There would be no way that this could be handled by me alone hence the reason to outsource and allow other people to get involved in the process. It allows people to do some very basic electronics assembly, the harder part being done by someone else. For self assembly it will take ~ 2 hours if not less.
Another good way of doing it is to schedule an Amiga building party for your local group so you can all get together and have a good social while you build. I really want to do this the cheapest way i can for people, if we need to go commercial it will slow down the process and TBH i still have some reservations about that.

I know some peole may think the price is on the higher side but in order to maintain originality this is the cost, if there is a cheaper way then i am listening