Ariel Millennium Thornton @arielmt@computerfairi.es

But I now have a hardware reference for a DIY keyboard, not just a PDF scan.

The keyboard ribbon has breaks going too close to the keyboard itself, so it's looking like I'll have to hit up sellmyretro after all.

Home taping is killing software industry profits!

We left this side blank so you can help

Encountered while reading computer program cassette inserts:
"YOU ARE ADVISED TO COPY THIS TAPE ONTO SEPARATE TAPES, RETAINING THIS COPY AS A MASTER SECURITY IN CASE OF ACCIDENT."

It was a different time and a different culture. #DontCopyThatFloppy

*electric adding machine noises*

@pettancow Kinda looks that way. What I find most surprising is that the entire rest of the ribbon is in excellent condition for its age, and that there isn't any heat-related aging anywhere along its length, let alone where it rested directly on top of the chips.

This both complicates things and explains why so few keys worked. Both ribbons were almost completely separated at the connector, & the bits still clinging on snapped right off while carefully lifting the board out. Bits of keyboard are still in both connectors.

Oh, wow, fantastic ideas if I can't repair the membrane keyboard, made all the better by the fact that I work next to an indy Radio Shack dealer.

A DIY ZX81 Keyboard Period Document: http://www.zx81keyboardadventure.com/2018/06/a-diy-zx81-keyboard-period-document.html

@ticky Yeep! I'll have to remember that.

@ticky Now I wonder how many other AAA-powered green-glow devices from that era have dangerously high voltages inside.

On the membrane keyboard, it's definitely something you don't want to do a lot of typing on, with barely any feedback at all. I keep expecting it to beep like a microwave's keypad. But to be honest, the keys that work feel better than any smartphone's on-screen keyboard I've ever touched.

It's so tiny that my 2007 netbook has a larger footprint.