WTB: Apple II Keyboard (or any working ascii keyboard)

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cornetta77's picture
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WTB: Apple II Keyboard (or any working ascii keyboard)

Hi! I'm looking to pick up a working Apple II keyboard or an ascii keyboard for an Apple I build I will soon be working on.
I'm located in FL.

Thanks!
Randy

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Re: WTB: Apple II Keyboard (or any working ascii keyboard)

My suggestion is even if you do find an Apple II keyboard, you should also grab one of Mike Willegal's PS/2 to apple-1 keyboard converters. It let's you use a serial port to send data into your apple-1 replica and also test your setup with a common ps/2 keyboard.

cornetta77's picture
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Re: WTB: Apple II Keyboard (or any working ascii keyboard)

Hi! Yes! I will be picking one up.

I would love to get my hands on a vintage ascii keyboard but it seems it may be a real challenge to find one lol.

Thanks!

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Re: WTB: Apple II Keyboard (or any working ascii keyboard)

Finding an ASCII keyboard isn't hard... Just not super cheap and typically post 1977. If you really want to do it right, make a datanetics replica. I think Mike Willegal still has bare boards. Then keep your eyes out for keyboards you can scavenge switches off of. You will be super happy with the results and it will look period correct. Not sure how accurate your plans are for your Apple-1 replica but if you are going accurate there really is no other practical choice. ASCII decoded parallel keyboards circa 1975/76 are hard to come by. Most keyboards you could "borrow" from something back then were decoded on board (i.e. ADM-3A) or were serial. Even an early George Risk keyboard from that period will cost you hundreds if not more.

PM me if you have any questions on your build. I've built a bunch of Apple-1 Mimeo's.

Cheers,
Corey

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