Ross, What kind of keys does it use? The Motorola and Intel SBCS use individual square switches and square keytops and the whole thing is only about 1/2" high. I found a small supply of new ones in a surplus store here. If your KIM uses the same ones I see how many are left and get them for you. Joe At 07:25 PM 1/17/01 -0800, you wrote: >I have a partially-functional KIM-1 (date code 0378) I'd like to >restore. >(And if anyone has one in good condition to sell, I'm also interested.) > >Currently, there are two things wrong, and I'm looking for general >advice on what if anything can be done to fix them: > >1. The keypad is pretty flakey. Several keys register erratically, >and when they do, they bounce and report multiple times. >The '0' key is particularly bad in this respect. >The 'PC' key is utterly caved in. But all but the PC key >registers in with varying degrees of retries and effort. > >I'm handy with soldering, and could remove the keypad, but >don't have any idea how to clean / fix a keypad, let alone repair >any broken springs, contacts, etc. Can it even be done? Has >anyone here even seen the inside of one of these? > >2. The cassette interface doesn't read. It writes fine, the +12 supply >is >showing up where it's expected (pin 8 of LM311) and +11-ish on the >565 PLL, but I have no idea what the "normal" voltages on each pin >are to assist in further troubleshooting. All I'm sure about is that >the >output of the LM311 is not anything like what's expected, and the >trimpot doesn't affect the PLL frequency one iota according to my scope. > >Any thoughts on how to tell what section is bad? > >Thanks for any ideas out there. > >In the meantime, I am thinking of wiring an outboard keypad and hooking >it >to the application connector. Hand-wired, of course. Where else would >you find a 3x7 matrix? > >. > > > >

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

Thanks for the offer, but unfortunately I don't think it has anything like standard parts. Everything about it looks custom-molded to fit the unusual key shape (curved keytops with painted legends and smoothly- rounded key edges), unusual key layout (slide switch + two independent buttons and 3 x 7 matrix of scanned buttons). The way it's put together suggests to me a very well-designed custom keypad that would only make sense if sold in the thousands.