- Monterey K102 controller.jpg (374.73 KiB) Viewed 1936 times
Worst keyboard controller ever
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Daniel Beardsmore
- Location: Hertfordshire, England
- Main keyboard: Filco Majestouch 1 (home)/Poker II backlit (work)
- Main mouse: MS IMO 1.1
- Favorite switch: Probably not whatever I wrote here
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
I had my Tulip ATK 030244 (Monterey K102) apart earlier, and for the first time I pulled the plate out. I found this on the bottom of the PCB:
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Daniel Beardsmore
- Location: Hertfordshire, England
- Main keyboard: Filco Majestouch 1 (home)/Poker II backlit (work)
- Main mouse: MS IMO 1.1
- Favorite switch: Probably not whatever I wrote here
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
This is the actual IC:
What the rubbish on the back of the PCB is for, I have no idea. Reminds me of Jeri Ellsworth's tale of getting the C64 Direct-to-TV manufactured, only even more drastic.
Nearly 50% of the switch uppers (upper shell, return spring, click leaf and slider) are now in my Dell AT102:
I'm also using the doubleshots from the OK-100M instead, as they're far nicer than the lasered keycaps from Dell. However, in addition to obvious mismatches (1u vs 2u backspace, space bar, ctrl/alt etc), the caps lock keycap stem is slightly offset, so it won't fit. (I left it in that unfinished state to illustrate doubleshot vs lasered, just so I can slag off laser etching as I hate it.)
- Actual chip.jpg (277.36 KiB) Viewed 1923 times
Nearly 50% of the switch uppers (upper shell, return spring, click leaf and slider) are now in my Dell AT102:
- AT102W with semiblues.jpg (187.94 KiB) Viewed 1923 times
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webwit
- Wild Duck
- Location: The Netherlands
- Main keyboard: Model F62
- Favorite switch: IBM beam spring
- DT Pro Member: 0000
- Contact:
It strikes me as a patch. Like they had the PCB manufactured in numbers, and then found a bug. It had to be fixed cheaply, hence the dirty patch and lousy, time constrained hand soldering.
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Daniel Beardsmore
- Location: Hertfordshire, England
- Main keyboard: Filco Majestouch 1 (home)/Poker II backlit (work)
- Main mouse: MS IMO 1.1
- Favorite switch: Probably not whatever I wrote here
- DT Pro Member: -
- Contact:
I gathered that (cf Jeri Ellsworth and the C64 DTV), but why are they wiring half the controller back to itself using a bus bar and a load of capacitors? I wouldn't have thought that you could screw up addressing a keyboard matrix that badly …
It's a weird keyboard. The plate mounting holes are stamped out in pairs, which line up with matching pairs of holes in the shell:
They only tapped every other hole, too, unless they're self-tapping the holes (it's only soft plastic, after all).
It's solid and reliable though, but I want blue Alps in a 105-key ISO keyboard :) Sacrifices have to be made.
It's a weird keyboard. The plate mounting holes are stamped out in pairs, which line up with matching pairs of holes in the shell:
- Tulip ATK 030244 -- unused plate mounting holes.jpg (412.37 KiB) Viewed 1916 times
It's solid and reliable though, but I want blue Alps in a 105-key ISO keyboard :) Sacrifices have to be made.
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HaaTa
- Master Kiibohd Hunter
- Location: San Jose, California, USA
- Main keyboard: Depends the day
- Main mouse: CST L-TracX
- Favorite switch: Fujitsu Leaf Spring/Topre/BS/Super Alps
- DT Pro Member: 0006
- Contact:
I'm resisting posting pics of another "controller", that is likely more awful than this...
No patch job, but it needs one...very badly.
A keypad where 6 of the 16 keys are not even connected to the controller...at all. And the "controller"...does pretty much nothing.
No patch job, but it needs one...very badly.
A keypad where 6 of the 16 keys are not even connected to the controller...at all. And the "controller"...does pretty much nothing.