deskthority

Mrinterface wrote:Guess the Project #6

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Ahh... Memotech MTX 512. I tried to buy one a couple years ago because I liked the look of the keyboard. How do the original switches feel? (I assume they're crappy if you're planning on replacing them.) Who makes that switch?

mr_a500 wrote:

Mrinterface wrote:Guess the Project #6

IMG_1247.JPG

IMG_1268.JPG

Ahh... Memotech MTX 512. I tried to buy one a couple years ago because I liked the look of the keyboard. How do the original switches feel? (I assume they're crappy if you're planning on replacing them.) Who makes that switch?

When the memotech MTX just came out, it had one of the best keyboards on the planet. Sadly the switches are not meant to last for decades and they are now very very bad. You can't even type properly on them and this prompted me to build myself my own memotech MTX keyboard. I don't know what company made the switches, I'll check soon.

Mrinterface wrote: I don't know what company made the switches, I'll check soon.

Can't find a brand on those Memotech MTX keyboard switches....

I've seen that keycap slot before in this thread:
http://www.deskthority.net/photos-video ... t2712.html

See #12 and #13. HaaTa should know.

Aren't those low profile Futabas or something?

Getting there.....
EDIT : this video has been unpublic-ed.

That's a weird video - tall narrow screen. I've got most of those computers. I don't have a robot dog though. Now I know I need to get one. A computer collection seems useless without a robot dog.

A ZX Spectrum and a ZX81. You now have the two worst computer keyboards in history! I say this with all the love of a Sinclair fanboy.

Your latest project is to become a wealthy trader playing Elite on the Amiga 500?

webwit wrote:A ZX Spectrum and a ZX81. You now have the two worst computer keyboards in history! I say this with all the love of a Sinclair fanboy.

Ah... so now I know how it all came about. Your first computer had a crap keyboard and it damaged your mind, causing you to obsess over getting a good keyboard, turning you into the twisted keyboard freak we see today. (...like Batman... only with keyboards)


(Edit: oops, that was my own history - my first computer was a Colour Computer 2 with lousy "melted" keyboard.)

I didn't give a fuck about keyboards when I was a teenager. My father had the IBM XT and later IBM AT keyboards, but I only used the PC to play HHGTTG and for some minor word processing (WordStar ftw). I did get some better keyboards for my Speccy though such as dK'Tronics and Saga, which in hindsight also sucked, but I got those mainly as replacements for keyboards broken while playing Daley Thompson's Decathlon, and because it made the Speccy look like a real computer. I think my last Speccy was an Amstrad 128k - I think I see one in the video - and I got rid of all my Speccy stuff ages ago except a load of pirated tapes and one non-pirated game: a won copy of Doomdark's Revenge, signed by Mike Singleton and team. This will now be worth 1 million dollars as a collector's item. Should be somewhere in the basement. There should also be an Amiga 500 in the basement with loads of disks in the same containers as shown on Mrinterface's video, probably all rotten. When I was a teenager I washed dishes for a summer to buy that Amiga! The Amiga is of course still the best computer ever made in relation to its time.

webwit wrote: There should also be an Amiga 500 in the basement with loads of disks in the same containers as shown on Mrinterface's video, probably all rotten. When I was a teenager I washed dishes for a summer to buy that Amiga! The Amiga is of course still the best computer ever made in relation to its time.

Ha! What a coincidence. To buy my Amiga 500, I washed cars all winter (Ford dealership). I definitely agree that the Amiga was the best computer ever made in relation to its time. I'm posting this using an Amiga 500. (seriously)

The real question is what *cough* demo group you were part of. You weren't some kind of lamer, were you?

webwit wrote:The real question is what *cough* demo group you were part of. You weren't some kind of lamer, were you?

You calling me a lamer? You calling me a LAMER?? You talkin' to me?

I wasn't part of any coughing demo group. There were no demo groups in Canada. I never even heard of such a thing as a demo group until 2001 when I looked up Amiga stuff on the internet. (hmm... so I guess that makes me a lamer - but it's not my fault, damn it!)

Commodore was very big in Europe, big scene, especially Amiga, and even more especially the Amiga hacking scene. Much bigger than PC or Mac in Germany and Scandinavia. So the thing was the distribution of hacked software (99% games), and include a demo of the group before loading the game, showing off technical superiority (infinite blobs in assembly with own loading system etc. - using C is for lamers). Then some groups started BBS where you could download stuff for a certain amount per month, and then there was the introduction of phone numbers with a special charge per minute (famous for the sex lines) which some groups used for their BBS offerings. Some time after that some guys, especially in Germany, suddenly started to drive expensive sport cars as soon as hitting 18. I also remember an explicitly vivid party in Trondheim, of all places. Then the polizei awoke and blitz attacked the (biggest) scene in Germany, after which the remaining hacking groups renamed and restyled themselves as *cough* demo groups. So that's where the name demo group comes from, and when they started to concentrate more or exclusively on demos.

MUSEUM!

webwit wrote:Commodore was very big in Europe, big scene, especially Amiga, and even more especially the Amiga hacking scene. Much bigger than PC or Mac in Germany and Scandinavia.

Commodore was big in Canada (started as a Canadian company, after all), but only in the 8-bit era. There was a bit of a home computing "dead zone" after the "video game crash of '84" (effects felt around '85/86). After 1986, nobody was interested in 8-bit. The Amiga wasn't advertised much in Canada, but there was a brief period ('89/90) where the A500 got mildly popular before the PC-clones dropped in price. After 1991, the Amiga was dead in Canada - all Amiga software was removed from computer stores (annoyed the hell out of me because I had a pathetic amount of software). IBM clones had taken over completely.

Pre-internet, I had no way to get Amiga software after 1991, knew nothing about the Euro-scene and didn't even know about the existence of AGA until a decade later. That's when I went berserk overloading on Amiga software, upgraded my A500 like an obsessed maniac, then used it as my main computer (for internet and everything else) until 2008. I think I made up for it.

Better Video :

Looks like a fun room to hang out in!

Do you have a Osborne 1 yet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1
http://www.quoka.de/computer/sonstige-c ... 1-top.html

(Nope I didn't know that thing until I found it on quoka.de)

ne0phyte wrote:Do you have a Osborne 1 yet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1
http://www.quoka.de/computer/sonstige-c ... 1-top.html

(Nope I didn't know that thing until I found it on quoka.de)

Nope,

On my wish list though

Mrinterface wrote:Better Video :

I see you've made a much fancier video with dramatic music and everything. Very nice - but I'd still like to view your original video. I've told my wife I need that weird robotic dog, but without that video it'll be harder to convince her of the importance of getting one.

Mrinterface wrote:

ne0phyte wrote:Do you have a Osborne 1 yet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1
http://www.quoka.de/computer/sonstige-c ... 1-top.html

(Nope I didn't know that thing until I found it on quoka.de)

Nope,

On my wish list though

Get a Kaypro II - they're much nicer.

Iteration 2

mr_a500 wrote:Get a Kaypro II - they're much nicer.

I only heard of these a few days ago when I was watching this:
Apparently the Kaypro II ran the editing software.

mr_a500 wrote:

Mrinterface wrote:Better Video :

I see you've made a much fancier video with dramatic music and everything. Very nice - but I'd still like to view your original video. I've told my wife I need that weird robotic dog, but without that video it'll be harder to convince her of the importance of getting one.

Been busy, so I didn't see this...

Here ya go.... Tell me if it worked out with your wife

Once I'm in my flow..... Things happen *grin*

Cherry MX compatible ceiling fan!

Is an adapter possible for MX on Topre? Or a really high profile buckling spring!

Muirium wrote:Cherry MX compatible ceiling fan!

Is an adapter possible for MX on Topre? Or a really high profile buckling spring!

Close.

Aha! This will be good!