It doesn't hurt to remember that the KIM was, as much as anything, a
demonstration board for the MOS Technology peripherals that were used in it.
It wasn't really intended for a lifetime of use as a computer, so some of
the "features" may need to be babied somewhat. Later vendors of similar
products had to make their demo boards similar enough to compete but either
more feature-rich or less costly. Cutting cost on a keyboard is not always
a good thing, though.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Hellige" <jhellige(a)earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 3:42 AM
Subject: Re: KIM-1 restoration advice sought
>There are several switch makers that sell keypads
that are simply switch
>arrays which you can hook up however you like. If you look at a few
switch
>makers' catalogs, perhaps you can find what
you need and then connect the
>switch matrix to match what's on the KIM. I've built memory circuits,
etc,
>for the KIM, but never paid much attention to the
KIM itself, hence, I
can't
>remember anything specific about the keypad,
except that it could easily
>have been better, and could only have been worse with great difficulty.
I
The keys on my VIM-1 are on a single large pressure sensitive
pad about 1/8 inch thick. Ruuning one's fingers across it, it's
barely noticable when you cross from one key to another. It doesn't
seem to be a keypad that would stand up to much use.
Jeff
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