Extra ports...
Re: Extra ports...
Thanks chaps,
Was a bit of a gamble and I didn't realise the significance of it not having a power supply but I'll take my time with its restoration. The QL keyboard is the stuff of nightmares; it actually feels even worse than I was expecting. Still, not looking to bang out a novel on it so whatever.
Order of work:
Source power supply
Get Keyboard membrane once it powers on and I have a display working
Check microdrives. Not sure I care enough to fix them if they don't work. More of a nice to have.
Get some kind of floppy disk system.
Start exploring the system.
Was a bit of a gamble and I didn't realise the significance of it not having a power supply but I'll take my time with its restoration. The QL keyboard is the stuff of nightmares; it actually feels even worse than I was expecting. Still, not looking to bang out a novel on it so whatever.
Order of work:
Source power supply
Get Keyboard membrane once it powers on and I have a display working
Check microdrives. Not sure I care enough to fix them if they don't work. More of a nice to have.
Get some kind of floppy disk system.
Start exploring the system.
Re: Extra ports...
So the power supply gives two different voltages (picture attached). You can get either internal SD card(s) reader to replace the microdrives or an external one that doesn't require any mods (vDrive). I have the latter an it works pretty well. The internal SD reader is likely faster but I think takes up some free memory and maybe uses the external ROM slot (though doesn't plug into it so internally) ... not totally sure since I don't have one.
- vanpeebles
- Commissario Pebbli
- Posts: 2823
- Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:13 pm
- Location: North East UK
Re: Extra ports...
A little bit of work and you could have yourself a real street sweeper!Brad wrote:Thanks chaps,
Was a bit of a gamble and I didn't realise the significance of it not having a power supply but I'll take my time with its restoration. The QL keyboard is the stuff of nightmares; it actually feels even worse than I was expecting. Still, not looking to bang out a novel on it so whatever.
Order of work:
Source power supply
Get Keyboard membrane once it powers on and I have a display working
Check microdrives. Not sure I care enough to fix them if they don't work. More of a nice to have.
Get some kind of floppy disk system.
Start exploring the system.
- NormanDunbar
- Forum Moderator
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- Joined: Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:04 am
- Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
- Contact:
Re: Extra ports...
Hi Brad,
Many many years later I had an accident with a desktop keyboard and a cup of sweet coffee! So I did what you do, I took the keyboard apart (I think it was a Dell) and lo, inside was a little rubber/plastic bubble mat and a membrane! Sinclair was ahead of his time!
Perhaps the rubber "springs" in your keyboard are a bit stiff through lack of use. There's a thread on a similar matter at viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2337 which might help.
Good luck with the restoration.
Cheers,
Norm.
I suppose it's what you are used to. Back in the day, the best keyboard was the "rubber fish" on the Spectrum! Then the QL came out with a real keyboard, and it did work very well - in my opinion. The membrane thing is a pain though, I've found that they snap at the slightest look.Brad wrote:The QL keyboard is the stuff of nightmares; it actually feels even worse than I was expecting. Still, not looking to bang out a novel on it so whatever.
Many many years later I had an accident with a desktop keyboard and a cup of sweet coffee! So I did what you do, I took the keyboard apart (I think it was a Dell) and lo, inside was a little rubber/plastic bubble mat and a membrane! Sinclair was ahead of his time!
Perhaps the rubber "springs" in your keyboard are a bit stiff through lack of use. There's a thread on a similar matter at viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2337 which might help.
Good luck with the restoration.
Cheers,
Norm.
Why do they put lightning conductors on churches?
Author of Arduino Software Internals
Author of Arduino Interrupts
No longer on Twitter, find me on https://mastodon.scot/@NormanDunbar.
Author of Arduino Software Internals
Author of Arduino Interrupts
No longer on Twitter, find me on https://mastodon.scot/@NormanDunbar.
Re: Extra ports...
Cheers for the help and words of support. I'll update next when I have power and video output.
- janbredenbeek
- Super Gold Card
- Posts: 639
- Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2015 4:54 pm
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Re: Extra ports...
I think most PC keyboards use membranes today.NormanDunbar wrote: Many many years later I had an accident with a desktop keyboard and a cup of sweet coffee! So I did what you do, I took the keyboard apart (I think it was a Dell) and lo, inside was a little rubber/plastic bubble mat and a membrane! Sinclair was ahead of his time!
I still have some 30-year old PC keyboards with 'real' switches which produce an audible click when pressed. These are real solid ones. Also they don't suffer from loads of 'Windows' keys between the Ctrl and Alt keys
Jan
Re: Extra ports...
PSU, Replacement keyboard foil and QL->Scart all on the way now.
I'll hook it up either to a Commodore 1081 or via an OSSC.
I'll hook it up either to a Commodore 1081 or via an OSSC.
- vanpeebles
- Commissario Pebbli
- Posts: 2823
- Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:13 pm
- Location: North East UK
Re: Extra ports...
Hi Brad,Brad wrote:PSU
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