🇦🇺 Gaming Keyboard for ZX80/ZX81/Minstrel/Jupiter Ace: Part 1 (Minstrel 2 Test) [TCE #0617]
30Thanks to #PCBWAY for their ongoing support! https://www.pcbway.com/
Just a bit of fun. Thought it might be interesting to design a "proper keyboard" for the Minstrel series of computers, which means it's also compatible with the Sinclair ZX80, ZX81 and the Jupiter Ace.
One difficulty my brain found with playing games using the original ZX keyboard layout is the location of the cursor keys on the 5/6/7/8 keys. Thus I added a dedicated cursor cluster ... that's the main "highlight" of this board.
I like it and enjoy using it, and I definitely think it makes playing KONG, or programming, a lot easier and a more pleasant experience.
Unfortunately my attempt to add a dedicated [RUBOUT] key still didn't work, so something I'll need to figure out ... or I might just remove. Pressing [SHIFT] + [0] isn't terribly onerous ... I was just trying to be clever.
It should also work with the Minstrel 4th, and I guess the Jupiter Ace, but I will confirm this in another video.
More info on my Github:
https://github.com/0ddjob/Sinclair
The Minstrel 2 (ZX80), Minstrel 3 (ZX81) and Minstrel 4th/4D are computers designed by Dave at Tynemouth Software:
https://www.tindie.com/stores/tynemouth/
00:00 ... Intro
05:49 ... Building the keyboard
08:16 ... Build finished
10:07 ... Initial testing
11:45 ... ZX80 KONG
15:17 ... CHECKMEM
16:15 ... ROCKET MAN
20:25 ... Channel thanks & outro
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
https://karlcasey.bandcamp.com/
/ @whitebataudio