Interesting news this week - AMIGAstore.eu just released their own take on a replacement *mechanical* keyboard for the A1200 form factor (which I'd guess could be adapted to the A500 as well with a little effort.) This is notable for a couple of reasons:

1. The vast majority of the stock Amiga keyboards (specifically the Mitsumi membrane ones) are fucking terrible IMO. So light and squishy feeling - when I first got my own Amiga 500 I was *immediately* turned off when typing on it.
Sure, I'm probably spoiled by how prevalent mechanical and especially chiclet keyboards are these days, but even some of the older membrane boards I have are much better feeling.

The contrast is even clearer when you've used some of the mechanical Amiga keyboards - I'm lucky enough to have two older Amiga 500s with with Hi-tek "space invader" linear switch keyboards and I love them, and I recently got an Amiga 1000 and the Mitsumi switches on it, while basic, feel much nicer as well.

2. There have been numerous attempts to build mechanical keyboards for the Amiga 1200 in particular (the Rastport KA 59, the Kipper2k one, one recently being offered by this Aeberbach dude on AmiBay) but for one reason or another none of them have ever seen the light in anything close to numbers that make them anything more than obscure, artifacts of unobtainium or at the very least, way expensive.

The dudes at a1200.net are supposedly working on one, which I figured would be the end-all solution to this, given their proven ability to put out quality products and make them highly available (weird case and keycap backer drama aside) plus theirs would be compatible with the original keycaps (and their own reproduction ones, of course...) but that has yet to materialize, and now AMIGAstore.eu has beat them to the punch.

They seemed to be poised to make a lot of money on this from the Amiga retro scene, as rather than announcing something that would be available sometime in the next ~1-10 years like most new Amiga product announcements, they had them ready to ship in what I'm guessing is a fairly large quantity given that I'm sure these are going to be popular and they're (mostly) still in stock today.

The keyboards themselves don't seem too different than some of the ones mentioned above - just modern switches (Kailh blue, brown, and red options in this case) with retro key caps in a form factor that is ready to chuck into an Amiga. At $160 it's probably still a bit much for a lot of people, but that's definitely cheaper than some of the other ones I mentioned - Aeberbach's was $120 *without* key caps, and another $100-200 to key a full set of caps. The Kipper2k one had been listed at $260 but is much more when it occasionally shows up secondhand.

https://amigastore.eu/en/994-mechanical-keyboard-amiga-1200.html

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

on 16 Feb 2025, jack phlash said...

https://amigastore.eu/en/994-mechanical-keyboard-amiga-1200.html

I re-discovered this site right after posting this, which is Sergiusz's original site from when he was building and selling these in small quantities himself - has a lot more details on the design, features, etc.

https://amigakb.wordpress.com

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

Interesting news this week - AMIGAstore.eu just released their own take
on a replacement *mechanical* keyboard for the A1200 form factor (which I'd guess could be adapted to the A500 as well with a little effort.)
This is notable for a couple of reasons:

<snip>

Totally amazing step forward here in a truly necessary upgrade for these machines. My A1200 obsession stops at the keyboard feel!

I've got one of the aeberbach/amibay setups, though, and love it. You'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

The AMIGAstore.eu keyboard has a couple of problems based on a thread on EAB that I read. First off is the keyboard/ctrl key issue. The Amiga keyboard had an oddly shaped spacebar. Getting one available today that is the same dimensions is not currently possible without incurring additional cost, but I read that AMIGAstore.eu is possibly going to address this. The second is that there doesn't appear to be a provision for a light at the caps lock key. The third is that the keys appear to sit way too low in the A1200 chassis.

Hopefully they address and fix all of this stuff, the keyboard saga has gone on wayyyyy too long.

Also I love my A1000 keyboard, that thing is simply amazing.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/02/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: m O N T E R E Y b B S . c O M (911:1719/0)

https://amigastore.eu/en/994-mechanical-keyboard-amiga-1200.html

I've stumbled across these.

Still crazy in Canadian dollars. 270.90 CAD ! That doesn't include any shipping costs.

Man, I'd love to build a modern PC into a Amiga, but don't want to shell out $500 plus dollars for a case and keyboard.... ugh!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (911:1519/1)

on 16 Feb 2025, esc said...

Woot. I was hoping you'd reply to this. :P

I've got one of the aeberbach/amibay setups, though, and love it. You'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

Ha! Nice. I knew you had one of these but couldn't remember if you had the Aeberbach or the Kipper2k one.

My issue with that one, besides the price, was the supportability - the fact that these are being put out in tiny quantities by a single dude. Then again, one positive to most of these modern replacement mechanical keyboards is that they're based on common parts so self-repair should be possible in many cases, so maybe that's just me over thinking it. Still, for such an expensive purchase, I'd prefer having some kind of company standing behind their product. That said, I don't know that AMIGAstore.eu is *that* company - they're not exactly huge, and while I've ordered from them a ton in the past and never had any real issues, I've not had to deal with their support.

The AMIGAstore.eu keyboard has a couple of problems based on a thread on EAB that I read. First off is the keyboard/ctrl key issue. The Amiga keyboard had an oddly shaped spacebar. Getting one available today that
is the same dimensions is not currently possible without incurring additional cost, but I read that AMIGAstore.eu is possibly going to address this.

Ooooh, I need to find that EAB thread. I looked for one as I knew there would likely be one, but didn't find it via Google. I'll go check it out.

I'm not arguing here, but genuinely asking since you know a lot more about Amigas and the modern Amiga scene scene than I do. Are you saying the AMIGAstore.eu keyboard has original key sizes, and *that* is a problem, or that it doesn't, and *that* is a problem? :P

Sergiusz' original design had the modern key cap sizes, so I'm assuming that the AMIGAstore.eu one does too. The KA 59 does too. I'm reading that the Kipper2K, the Aeberbach, and of course the new A1200.net ones have the original key sizes.

It seems that on replacement keyboards with have non-original key sizes, the alt, ctrl, and space bar key cap length was done *intentionally* so that you could source your own and/or replacement caps much more easily. On the surface, that seems like a very good thing to me. A small trade off unless you grew up with an Amiga 1200 and have the *precise* layout of the keyboard burned into your brain. Not an issue for me. Am I missing something else?

I suppose its not a keyboard for absolute purists, but then again, having a mechanical keyboard in an A1200 isn't either. :P Plus, I'd guess most of these people are using modern accelerators and modern versions of AmigaOS too. :P

Seriously though, throw that on the pile of concessions to modern convenience my Amiga 1200 already has - a SUPER white case care of a1200.net plus a reproduction case badge, both of which look genuine at a glance but not so much when scrutinized. An accelerator that *did not exist* in the 90s (Terrible Fire) and a 68060 that would have been sheer unobtainium for me back then. A GoTEK and CF based hard drive, both of which would have blown our fucking minds back then, etc. etc. :D

A bigger issue re: key caps and one I'm frankly surprised AMIGAstore.eu didn't figure out before hand, is that it only includes the US key caps, and even in America most of us are going to be using UK Amigas. WTF were they thinking not launching with optional and/or add-on keycap sets for European countries? LOL! (They do say they're likely going to fix this if sales are strong enough to warrant it, however.)

The second is that there doesn't appear to be a provision for a light at es> the caps lock key.

Yeah, this one is a bit of a bummer. It does have an LED under (but not inside of) the caps lock key as well as separate pads to run your own caps lock LED so at least it's not like it has zero solution for this - I think I read the Kipper2k one will flash your power LED or something silly like that, which seems a lot worse. I'd also suspect someone could come up with a clever way to use that onboard LED to shine through a key cap with a window in it, but then again, I have no idea how to source such a specialized key cap either. *shrug* Does yours have a keycap with a window in it?

The third is that the keys appear to sit way too low in the A1200 es> chassis.

Oh, interesting. I wondered about this from pictures I'd seen - it looks like the keys themselves are lower profile than the originals. That's... possibly a non-issue for me assuming its not so low to cause problems. The Hi-tek A500 keys are similar in that they're not quite as tall but it's not an issue in terms of usability in the slightest. Again, it might drive OG Amiga fans a purists insane though.

Honestly, none of these are deal breakers in my opinion. What do you think? Would you buy one assuming you didn't already have your fancy Aeberbach one? :P

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

on 16 Feb 2025, niter3 said...

I've stumbled across these.

Not surprising, they're doing some mad advertising across social media right now. I found out about it on Facebook of all places... :P

Still crazy in Canadian dollars. 270.90 CAD ! That doesn't include any shipping costs.

Yikes. Yeah, I mean, even at $160 USD its more than I'd like to pay for a quality modern PC mechanical keyboard supported by a large company. There is definitely a retro-enthuist tax on so much of this shit.

Man, I'd love to build a modern PC into a Amiga, but don't want to shell out $500 plus dollars for a case and keyboard.... ugh!

Yeah, your best bet might be to find an old, busted Amiga you could steal the case and keyboard from, but those are going to be rare and even then, they're going to be semi-sought after. You could recoup some of the cost by selling the rest of the components you don't need, though.

You'd also need a way to make the keyboard work with a newer machine - something like a Icomp's "Keyrah" would do the trick but I'm sure there are other solutions.

I've got rough plans to do this myself and I think I have most if not all of the parts assembled, but this one is very low on my priority list and I keep changing gears on what I want to use as the actual PC. A Pi would be the easiest, I think, but I was toying with chucking my old MIST FPGA in there, but there are some other challenges there.

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

Ha! Nice. I knew you had one of these but couldn't remember if you had
the Aeberbach or the Kipper2k one.

I actually had a Kipper2k one! I won it off eBay and it arrived covered in crystallized dried cat piss. I couldn't remove it. I got into an argument with the seller and he finally begrudgingly accepted the return. International shipping both ways...ugh.

But it was a nice feeling keyboard for sure. I'll go out on a limb and say the aeberbach one feels higher quality though...but I never installed the kipper2k one.

My issue with that one, besides the price, was the supportability - the fact that these are being put out in tiny quantities by a single dude. Then again, one positive to most of these modern replacement mechanical keyboards is that they're based on common parts so self-repair should be possible in many cases, so maybe that's just me over thinking it. Still, for such an expensive purchase, I'd prefer having some kind of company standing behind their product. That said, I don't know that
AMIGAstore.eu is *that* company - they're not exactly huge, and while
I've ordered from them a ton in the past and never had any real issues, I've not had to deal with their support.

I think with Amiga gear you're barking up the wrong tree. With rare exceptions, most things you'll find are hobbyist level things with minimal support. Even if you find things that have some degree of actual supportability, there are other challenges. Like, AmigaKit never answers emails. Jens Schoenfeld's website sucks and the forum is a slow pain in the ass, and actually buying things on there now is crazy. Other vendors seem to be hit or miss depending on the day or phase of the moon, who knows.

Ooooh, I need to find that EAB thread. I looked for one as I knew there would likely be one, but didn't find it via Google. I'll go check it out.

Good luck as EAB has been suffering the AI LLM training crawler's collective hug of death. More than 20k guest accounts online at the same time DOSing the server :(

I'm not arguing here, but genuinely asking since you know a lot more
about Amigas and the modern Amiga scene scene than I do. Are you saying the AMIGAstore.eu keyboard has original key sizes, and *that* is a problem, or that it doesn't, and *that* is a problem? :P

It doesn't have original Amiga key sizes which some people feel is a problem.

Sergiusz' original design had the modern key cap sizes, so I'm assuming that the AMIGAstore.eu one does too. The KA 59 does too. I'm reading
that the Kipper2K, the Aeberbach, and of course the new A1200.net ones have the original key sizes.

All correct!

It seems that on replacement keyboards with have non-original key sizes, the alt, ctrl, and space bar key cap length was done *intentionally* so that you could source your own and/or replacement caps much more easily. On the surface, that seems like a very good thing to me. A small trade
off unless you grew up with an Amiga 1200 and have the *precise* layout
of the keyboard burned into your brain. Not an issue for me. Am I
missing something else?

I don't think so, I think you're right on. Like, it wouldn't bother me, but some people are more purist about stuff. I have aftermarket everything to include the mobo and case so wtf do I care lol.

I suppose its not a keyboard for absolute purists, but then again,
having a mechanical keyboard in an A1200 isn't either. :P Plus, I'd
guess most of these people are using modern accelerators and modern versions of AmigaOS too. :P

Isn't it crazy we're trying to change a vintage keyboard into a different flavor of vintage keyboard? :P

Seriously though, throw that on the pile of concessions to modern convenience my Amiga 1200 already has - a SUPER white case care of a1200.net plus a reproduction case badge, both of which look genuine at
a glance but not so much when scrutinized. An accelerator that *did not exist* in the 90s (Terrible Fire) and a 68060 that would have been sheer unobtainium for me back then. A GoTEK and CF based hard drive, both of which would have blown our fucking minds back then, etc. etc. :D

Don't get me started on the PiStorm! There's now a 3d API project to hopefully be Warp3d compatible using PiStorm hardware. That will be amazing. What a fun time to be in the scene....

A bigger issue re: key caps and one I'm frankly surprised AMIGAstore.eu didn't figure out before hand, is that it only includes the US key caps, and even in America most of us are going to be using UK Amigas. WTF were they thinking not launching with optional and/or add-on keycap sets for European countries? LOL! (They do say they're likely going to fix this
if sales are strong enough to warrant it, however.)

Yep. You and me both :P I think the dude that built the original keyboard and licensed to them just built the US one on his own and they're merely using that vs developing something themselves.

Yeah, this one is a bit of a bummer. It does have an LED under (but not inside of) the caps lock key as well as separate pads to run your own
caps lock LED so at least it's not like it has zero solution for this -
I think I read the Kipper2k one will flash your power LED or something silly like that, which seems a lot worse. I'd also suspect someone could come up with a clever way to use that onboard LED to shine through a key cap with a window in it, but then again, I have no idea how to source
such a specialized key cap either. *shrug* Does yours have a keycap with
a window in it?

Yeah, it's a bummer, even the soft glow under the caps lock key without the window looks kinda trash to me. Mine does have a window, yes.

Oh, interesting. I wondered about this from pictures I'd seen - it looks like the keys themselves are lower profile than the originals. That's... possibly a non-issue for me assuming its not so low to cause problems.
The Hi-tek A500 keys are similar in that they're not quite as tall but it's not an issue in terms of usability in the slightest. Again, it
might drive OG Amiga fans a purists insane though.

People in the Amiga world have been complaining about this yet nobody has actually bought and used one of these yet so it's all speculative. Gotta love the Amiga community!

Honestly, none of these are deal breakers in my opinion. What do you think? Would you buy one assuming you didn't already have your fancy Aeberbach one? :P

Sure would! Feels like a no brainer to me. I'd snatch one up before they're gone and unobtanium, like tends to be the trend.

So yeah get one of 'em and lemme know what you think hehe.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/02/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: m O N T E R E Y b B S . c O M (911:1719/0)

jack phlash around Sunday, February 16th...

Interesting news this week - AMIGAstore.eu just released their own take on a replacement *mechanical* keyboard for the A1200 form factor (which I'd guess could be adapted to the A500 as well with a little effort.)

Very awesome, I have a 500 myself, and a working keyboard, but the custom keycaps and backing plate offerred here is a huge deal, this is actually a very reasonable price ($~250 USD). It's very hard to get replacement keyboards for retrocomputers, even with DIY with PCB and cherry mx switches because of the custom keycap sizes and prints are very expensive to do and have to be done in large quantity.

--- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.0.14-beta (linux; x64; 18.18.2)
* Origin: Xibalba -+- xibalba.l33t.codes:44510 (911:1801/0)

Ahh I see from https://amigakb.wordpress.com/how-to-install/ that you are meant to re-use your original backing plate, anyway that's a great design, the photos look really good, a perfect and flush finish. I have an Atari 1200XL which would look pretty good if it weren't for the angled space-age keys at the top all being slightly misaligned from one another.


--- ENiGMA 1/2 v0.0.14-beta (linux; x64; 18.18.2)
* Origin: Xibalba -+- xibalba.l33t.codes:44510 (911:1801/0)

on 17 Feb 2025, esc said...

I actually had a Kipper2k one! I won it off eBay and it arrived covered
in crystallized dried cat piss. I couldn't remove it. I got into an argument with the seller and he finally begrudgingly accepted the
return. International shipping both ways...ugh.

But it was a nice feeling keyboard for sure. I'll go out on a limb and
say the aeberbach one feels higher quality though...but I never
installed the kipper2k one.

Oh fuck, I forgot about that - I remember you telling me about that now. Man, that sucked. :/ The thing I like most about the Kipper2k one is that it has a lot of built in options to use it for more than a straight 1:1 Amiga keyboard replacement. For instance, IIRC it has a USB controller so you could use it in a Pi or FPGA build, and if it was available at a decent price, it would be great for one of those sleeper style builds.

I think with Amiga gear you're barking up the wrong tree. With rare exceptions, most things you'll find are hobbyist level things with
minimal support. Even if you find things that have some degree of actual supportability, there are other challenges. Like, AmigaKit never answers emails. Jens Schoenfeld's website sucks and the forum is a slow pain in the ass, and actually buying things on there now is crazy. Other vendors seem to be hit or miss depending on the day or phase of the moon, who knows.

That all very well might be true, but I guess I personally expect more out of a $160-$260 keyboard. :P

Good luck as EAB has been suffering the AI LLM training crawler's collective hug of death. More than 20k guest accounts online at the same time DOSing the server :(

Ugh, I noticed. I went to go find that thread as soon as I left here and the board was completely down.

I don't think so, I think you're right on. Like, it wouldn't bother me, but some people are more purist about stuff. I have aftermarket
everything to include the mobo and case so wtf do I care lol.

The layout is a bit different than I originally imagined in that the space bar of the original keyboard is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer. Again, wouldn't bother me, but I could see some OG Amigaheads having legitimate concerns there. I do like that they added another ctrl key, though I'm not sure if its position is that much more of an improvement to me. :P

I think its weirder that the new key caps are XDA. Just looks odd on a vintage computer keyboard, but that's an extremely minor gripe and being able to easily source your own is a nice enough trade-off.

Isn't it crazy we're trying to change a vintage keyboard into a different flavor of vintage keyboard? :P

Right?! My eyes just about roll back into my head completely when reading comments and discussions about this shit. You'll always have various people that are absolutely against it for some petty reason like "That shade of beige isn't quite the same as the original one... HARD PASS!" :D

Don't get me started on the PiStorm! There's now a 3d API project to hopefully be Warp3d compatible using PiStorm hardware. That will be amazing. What a fun time to be in the scene....

Oh man, I forgot all about the PiStorm... :D All of the Pi stuff is also similarly mind blowing. Imagine trying to explain that some kids in the 90s? "No, look bro, we have a tiny computer that is in itself hundreds or thousands of times faster than your actual computer shoved onto its motherboard JUST emulating the processor!"

Yeah, it's a bummer, even the soft glow under the caps lock key without the window looks kinda trash to me. Mine does have a window, yes.

I'll have to see it in person, I think, but I'm sure I'd prefer the little window. Still, despite caps lock being cruise control for cool, I'm not that cool, so I rarely use it. ;)

People in the Amiga world have been complaining about this yet nobody has actually bought and used one of these yet so it's all speculative. Gotta love the Amiga community!

As usual. A shit ton of speculative shit talk with no real data. Ha! There is actually an old video from Jan Beta where he installs one of the original Sergiusz versions though it's not really an in-depth review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAo65CjaCHM

Sure would! Feels like a no brainer to me. I'd snatch one up before they're gone and unobtanium, like tends to be the trend.

So yeah get one of 'em and lemme know what you think hehe.

Okay, fine. Ordered! One of the positives of this being done by AMIGAshop.eu is that perhaps it won't be disappearing any time soon though. I'm also still very curious to see what a1200.net does - if they can come out with something that is completely compatible with the original keyboard including using the same keycaps, and do so at a decent price, it could be compelling to a lot of retro Amiga fans who don't spend all of their time on EAB and AmiBay. :P

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

on 17 Feb 2025, dingo said...

Very awesome, I have a 500 myself, and a working keyboard, but the custom keycaps and backing plate offerred here is a huge deal, this is actually
a very reasonable price ($~250 USD). It's very hard to get replacement keyboards for retrocomputers, even with DIY with PCB and cherry mx switches because of the custom keycap sizes and prints are very
expensive to do and have to be done in large quantity.

Agreed on all counts, though it's only $160. I want to say shipping was 30-40 bucks last time I ordered from there, so definitely a factor, but not insane. Yeah, I'm guessing they were able to get the caps and other custom parts done at a decent quantity, drastically lowering the price.

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

on 17 Feb 2025, dingo said...

Ahh I see from https://amigakb.wordpress.com/how-to-install/ that you
are meant to re-use your original backing plate, anyway that's a great design, the photos look really good, a perfect and flush finish. I have
an Atari 1200XL which would look pretty good if it weren't for the
angled space-age keys at the top all being slightly misaligned from one another.

While that was true with the original version, but the AMIGAstore.eu version does indeed include a new backing plate. It even asks you if you want it to be painted black or left bare metal when you order it. :P

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

I've got rough plans to do this myself and I think I have most if not
all of the parts assembled, but this one is very low on my priority list and I keep changing gears on what I want to use as the actual PC. A Pi would be the easiest, I think, but I was toying with chucking my old
MIST FPGA in there, but there are some other challenges there.

I've seen this done with the Mister.

I'm started to consider just getting a standard mechnical keyboard and getting somebody to 3d print a wedge case that fits around the keyboard.

It's not exactly a Amiga case, but it's the same style of foot print for a 1/4 of the cost. At least I think so anyways.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Clutch BBS * telnet://clutchbbs.com (911:1519/1)

Oh fuck, I forgot about that - I remember you telling me about that now. Man, that sucked. :/ The thing I like most about the Kipper2k one is
that it has a lot of built in options to use it for more than a straight 1:1 Amiga keyboard replacement. For instance, IIRC it has a USB
controller so you could use it in a Pi or FPGA build, and if it was available at a decent price, it would be great for one of those sleeper style builds.

Yeah, I do think that this is true.

I'll go ahead and mention though that I had a black A1200.net Amiga wedge case and though I never plugged the keyboard into the case, the keycaps and case colors were enough of a mismatch to make me think it would look a bit odd.

Then again I believe these computers should be function over form lol. So says the guy with a huge gaming library that he's played less than 1% of.

That all very well might be true, but I guess I personally expect more
out of a $160-$260 keyboard. :P

Fair! I just think if this was easy/cheap it'd be ubiquitous. There's gotta be reasons why these haven't been done yet in mass quantities.

Ugh, I noticed. I went to go find that thread as soon as I left here and the board was completely down.

Yeah, I really hope they get it figured out. I love EAB, it's my preferred message forum in general, let alone in the Amiga world. I donated for them to get new hardware. I can't imagine what this recent spate of bot crawlers would have done to EAB on its old hardware stack.

The layout is a bit different than I originally imagined in that the
space bar of the original keyboard is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay longer. Again, wouldn't bother me, but I could see some OG Amigaheads having legitimate concerns there. I do like that they added another ctrl key, though I'm
not sure if its position is that much more of an improvement to me. :P

100%! It wouldn't bother me at all! But I was reading the EAB thread and one guy basically said he'd never be able to adjust to a different keyboard layout in his A1200. His loss.

I think its weirder that the new key caps are XDA. Just looks odd on a vintage computer keyboard, but that's an extremely minor gripe and being able to easily source your own is a nice enough trade-off.

Considering I have no idea what XDA is, I'll just google it and move on hehe.

Right?! My eyes just about roll back into my head completely when reading comments and discussions about this shit. You'll always have various people that are absolutely against it for some petty reason like "That shade of beige isn't quite the same as the original one... HARD PASS!" :D

Nostalgia is a powerful thing!

Y'know, my wife and I were talking about nostalgia a few days ago. I'm curious, does it have a biological/evolutionary advantage? In other words, why are we so motivated by nostalgia? Does it positively impact our survival?

Oh man, I forgot all about the PiStorm... :D All of the Pi stuff is also similarly mind blowing. Imagine trying to explain that some kids in the 90s? "No, look bro, we have a tiny computer that is in itself hundreds
or thousands of times faster than your actual computer shoved onto its motherboard JUST emulating the processor!"

Right?! It's crazy. A Pi 5 would have been a supercomputer to us back in the day, too. I love the creative renaissance this has created.

I'll have to see it in person, I think, but I'm sure I'd prefer the
little window. Still, despite caps lock being cruise control for cool,
I'm not that cool, so I rarely use it. ;)

Haha. I don't think I've ever intentionally used caps lock :P So maybe my gripe about the damn light window is just me being curmudgeonly.

As usual. A shit ton of speculative shit talk with no real data. Ha!
There is actually an old video from Jan Beta where he installs one of
the original Sergiusz versions though it's not really an in-depth review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAo65CjaCHM

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out.

Okay, fine. Ordered! One of the positives of this being done by AMIGAshop.eu is that perhaps it won't be disappearing any time soon though. I'm also still very curious to see what a1200.net does - if they can come out with something that is completely compatible with the original keyboard including using the same keycaps, and do so at a
decent price, it could be compelling to a lot of retro Amiga fans who don't spend all of their time on EAB and AmiBay. :P

Nice! Let me know what you think! I'd love to do a side by side comparison with the aeberbach keyboard. Man, if I can convince myself to order an AMIGAStore one, I could...meh, not worth it. Hehe.

As for a1200.net, yeah, I'd be curious as well.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/02/26 (Linux/64)
* Origin: m O N T E R E Y b B S . c O M (911:1719/0)

on 18 Feb 2025, esc said...

Yeah, I do think that this is true.

I'll go ahead and mention though that I had a black A1200.net Amiga
wedge case and though I never plugged the keyboard into the case, the keycaps and case colors were enough of a mismatch to make me think it would look a bit odd.

Then again I believe these computers should be function over form lol.
So says the guy with a huge gaming library that he's played less than 1% of.

Ha! I feel your pain. The a1200.net A1200 case in the OG color scheme is *super* white instead of more of a off-white like it should be. Well, I got a fake replacement badge, and it looks more like the OG off-white color so it doesn't quite match the case 1:1 like it should. Usually its the opposite these days - the badge is whiter than most people's yellowed cases. It's such an insanely minor cosmetic gripe, but I can't deny that it annoys me. :P

Fair! I just think if this was easy/cheap it'd be ubiquitous. There's gotta be reasons why these haven't been done yet in mass quantities.

Like Dingo was saying, I think quality key caps are far too expensive unless purchased in huge quantities. That might be true with the switches too, to a lesser degree. I suspect AMIGAstore.eu was simply able to figure out the best places to source them + put a relatively large order together. That's one of the reasons a1200.net's was intriguing, since they already have their own key caps manufactured, so in theory, they've already solved that.

100%! It wouldn't bother me at all! But I was reading the EAB thread and one guy basically said he'd never be able to adjust to a different keyboard layout in his A1200. His loss.

*shrug* I do get it, but these days I feel like keyboard layouts are all over the place, so I'm kind of used to adapting.

Considering I have no idea what XDA is, I'll just google it and move on hehe.

It's just a style of key cap. The two big things are that all keys have
the same profile shape, unlike most other key cap types. This obviously has a lot of advantages when it comes to sourcing them, both for companies and home builders. The disadvantage is that they might be slightly less ergonomic, depending on the keyboard itself - you usually see them on flat keyboards versus those which angle or curve upward. The other thing is their shape - they're lower profile, and they usually have very rounded corners. Google them and you'll definitely see what I mean.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing!

Y'know, my wife and I were talking about nostalgia a few days ago. I'm curious, does it have a biological/evolutionary advantage? In other
words, why are we so motivated by nostalgia? Does it positively impact
our survival?

Man, I can't see how! It seems like it either wouldn't factor in at all, or it would even be an evolutionary *dis*advantage. :P

Right?! It's crazy. A Pi 5 would have been a supercomputer to us back in the day, too. I love the creative renaissance this has created.

Right? They'd think we were blithering idiots for wanting to use them to upgrade these old machines when we could just toss the old machine and use the Pi instead. :P

Haha. I don't think I've ever intentionally used caps lock :P So maybe
my gripe about the damn light window is just me being curmudgeonly.

Way to invalidate your entire criticism! Ha!

Nice! Let me know what you think! I'd love to do a side by side
comparison with the aeberbach keyboard. Man, if I can convince myself to order an AMIGAStore one, I could...meh, not worth it. Hehe.

There was another thing I'd been meaning to order from somewhere - I boot off of the onboard IDE on the TF1260 which apparently can have some weird performance and even stability issues with too long of an IDE cable and these days they also recommend using a buffered interface - in fact, I think if you buy a TF1260 new from the official TF builders they even come with TF designed buffered interface adapters on them now. AMIGAstore.eu just so happened to have a buffered IDE>CF adapter that is angled in such a way that I think it'll fit on the TF1260 properly (which is a challenge with most of them.) Well, we'll see...

As for a1200.net, yeah, I'd be curious as well.

Who knows when the hell that'll ever materialize, but definitely I'm keeping my eyes open.

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)

on 17 Feb 2025, jack phlash said...

As usual. A shit ton of speculative shit talk with no real data. Ha!
There is actually an old video from Jan Beta where he installs one of
the original Sergiusz versions though it's not really an in-depth review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAo65CjaCHM

Funnily enough, Jan Beta just uploaded a review of the new one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKkBesUKZwE

|07j |15A C K |07p |15H L A S H |07!
|08[https://jackphla.sh]

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: d i s t o r t i o n // d1st.org (911:1423/0)