exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I’ve learnt from experience that for these displays you can’t be too prepared. I now always do a full test of all the equipment and cables as they will be at the event and then pack all the cables away in a labelled bag and have an inventory for each machine.

stephen_usher wrote: 20 Aug 2022 22:05 Ouch... My fingers hurt from hammering keys to try to get them to work now.

I have the same problem still with my Dragon, a few keys that either give a double bounce or don't register. I totally understand why your fingers hurt!!

I think that they're the same key switches.

Here's a little limerick I came up with whilst testing the Memotech keyboard:

Sinclair had a little computer,
Whose case was as black as night.
And every time the RAM Pack wobbled,
The programs went out of sight.

Not bad when making it up on the fly whilst typing. :-)

rubber_jonnie wrote: 21 Aug 2022 10:08

stephen_usher wrote: 20 Aug 2022 22:05 Ouch... My fingers hurt from hammering keys to try to get them to work now.

I have the same problem still with my Dragon, a few keys that either give a double bounce or don't register. I totally understand why your fingers hurt!!

My old C64 breadbin has the same sort of problem. I literally hammer on the keyboard to get the keys to register. (You will see if I bring it, as I have no time/intention of cleaning the contacts!)

stephen_usher wrote: 21 Aug 2022 12:20 Here's a little limerick I came up with whilst testing the Memotech keyboard:

Sinclair had a little computer,
Who's case was as black as night.
And every time the RAM Pack wobbled,
The programs went out of sight.

Not bad when making it up on the fly whilst typing. :-)

Nice! So can I put you down for a half hour session of prose on stage at the event? :D

How about this:

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
Elvis is dead,
and so's my VICII.

OK, as soon as the Amazon delivery person turned up with the key cap pullers it was off with their heads and squirt some Electrolube EML200F down the posts.

The result was an instant fix! It's good stuff is that.

stephen_usher wrote: 21 Aug 2022 16:09 OK, as soon as the Amazon delivery person turned up with the key cap pullers it was off with their heads and squirt some Electrolube EML200F down the posts.

The result was an instant fix! It's good stuff is that.


IMG_2774.jpg

I just broke out a can of the same, need to get the Dragon on the desk again, but been busy MSXing today.

Now I've got the MTX512 keyboard operational I'll just have to wait for the new MFX card to arrive before I can do any more.

So today I'm going to pack that away and bring the Sinclair QL with the vMap install down from the loft and look at the pesky internal Microdrive ribbon cables. I never completed fitting them as the wires on the ends kept bending rather than going into the sockets. It's about time I fixed that.

And, as expected the cables were a complete sod, even when I eventually soldered the wires to the plugs and vMap headers.

Still, everything seems to be working now and I will never have to do that again, hopefully.


This is effectively the set-up I'll take to the show next month, BBQL with vMap, vDriveQL, Tetroid Super Gold Card clone and external drive with a Gotek as flp1_ and a 720K drive as flp2_, oh and the OSSC so that I can show the whole width in monitor mode.

@stephen_usher very nice QL. I’ve got one similar spec now except the Vmap and was thinking of bringing it but yours will be a good example for those wishing to see / play with a QL.

May still bring one to sell though as I really don’t need 3.