Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Hi

For the guys/gals who have the memotech keyboard like for the ZX81 - what is it like?. From the piccies I've seen it looks pretty sweet. Does it have a good "feel"?

I haven't seen any of these on ebay, they must be very scarce.

cheers
Daryn

Hi. It is rare. So rare that when I saw the thread title I thought "Maybe someone's selling one! I have to hurry up!"

I believe it has the same feel as DK'Tronics keyboards. If this is the case it will feel a bit harder and heavier than modern PC keyboards, but still 10 times better than the old membrane one.

hi!

i have two MEMOTECH-keyboards. one is perfect - the other one comes without a case (naked ) and types not so well. both are black-coloured...

a time ago i had a white keyboard, but you can´t really type on that. i´ve you pressed a button, it doesn´t feel good and doesn´t work well.

i have some photos from my setup (see below).

In Detail:

After the ZX81-ISSUE1 board (with heatsink and fan), which is modified with a video output and the diode circuit (bottom) folloed by an intermediate connector in which a reset button and the HRG circuitry are housed, the MEMOTECH-Keyboard-IF is in charge. Directly behind it is the MULTI MODULE from Kai, which gave me a 64K memory (32K + 2 * 8K), a connection to the Commodore64-Floppydisk, a PIO (Port A + B) and a built in ASDIS (Assembler/Disassambler). Finally, there is the ZONX-Soundmodule. For a ZX Printer, the current powerflow is not strong enough - I probably need a driver board. Left rear you can see the modem, with whom I was in the ZX-BOX from Gernot (that Mailbox no longer exists). The PIO is connected to the USB interface (because of the long cable I had to place a buffer between them - many thanks to Joachim and Ulrich). On the USB-IF is an adapter for Sony-Camerasticks (which are nice and small with 32MB). The small switch (located on the HRG-adapter) is used for switching between C64-Floppy and the ASDIS.

My ZX81 has a storage area for the ASDIS by 8192. My USB-Driver (which I first have to load from C64-Floppy) is at 32768. Otherwise the memory is fully usable. The Multimodule has an EPROM between 8K and 16K. Up to 64K there is only RAM (one 32K and two 8k chips inside). The PIO is also in the Multimodule (C7/CF/D7/DF). The Floppydisk on Port A, the Printer/Modem/USB or whatever on Port B.


greetings
jens

Thats an amazing set-up there!

Very impressed!

cheers
Daryn

and it works! that´s important. USB works fine, too.

there are a lot of better build systems here in the ZX-TEAM (Germany)

you can see them live in march 2010 in germany (near fulda) on the 14th-Microfair.

greetings
jens

Hi All

I have a few add on keyboards and would say that the fuller is the slickest to use with the best feel, but suffers the usual key press lag as it does not have the memotechs buffering. Also the memotech, like all their gear, is very pro looking. Mine is still in use all keys working (though legends worn in places) since i bought it 20 odd years ago.

Regards all Moggy

I wish I had a Memotech keyboard for the Zeddy and a Saga for the Speccy. The DK'Tronics ones were nice, but too bulky for my taste.
Last year I tried to find out what happened to Memotech, but no luck. It vanished, just like many others.

One of these just went on Ebay UK:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0309994603

£155!!!!!

That is unbelievable! 155 pounds! I know its quite a cool accessory, but paying that much??!!

Sold to a Mr. M. O'Tech.