keyboards

Lump

Is it an old or new keyboard, most of the new ones are on what looks like a piece of bubble paper, On bubble for each key, which presses on a contact. I dont think any keyboards have springs in them. Rip it open sure ya'll be grand.


John

SantaHoe

Aye, it can get nasty depending on your keyboard.
With the keyboard I'm on at the moment, it has a large plastic sheet with metal strips and contacts on it...
Easy enough to clean, but be prepared to open up the keyboard again and again until you get the plastic film sitting in the proper alignment with the keys.
And the little rubber squashy things(tm) only add to the headache.

But if you've got a kb from the 386 days, it'll be sweet, large circuit board

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Blitzkrieger

me scared off now I think I'll just fork out 7 squid for a new one and save myself the hassle

Blitzkrieger

anybody ever opened up a keyboard b4?

My right arrow is busted. I'm thinking it's probably just the spring out of position or something but I'm worried that if I open it up I'll end up with a rather irritating jigsaw

SantaHoe

What?
And pass up the opportunity to take your keyboard to bits?!
Madness I tells you, madness.

At least smash the old one with a hammer a few times....
go oooooon <---- *mrs doyle voice*

Cake Fiend

I had a bit of bad luck with meh lovely Cherry k/b there a while back - dirty, thought I'd clean it the night before a LAN, took it apart, cleaned, seemed grand, put it back together, wouldn't work Tried all sorts of fiddling round, didn't know what the hell I'd done to it, best thing I could think of was I broke some tiny connection in the bubbly yoke.
So there I was the next day, smuggling a keyboard back from college in my bag, for use at the LAN.
A few months later, when college finished up, I was bringing the k/b back to college, planning to buy myself a new, cheapy one So I decided it wouldn't do any harm to have one last poke at the Cherry - luckily I poked it right, because I discovered a litte, very unnoticable loose connection which, once put back, rendered the k/b fully operational again! *joy*
Of course I was very, very drunk...

Lump

Just open the thing, if its hassel then fork out the dosh.

John

SantaHoe

Ah don't bother with buying a new keyboard, just take it apart, and throw all the bits in a sink of hot soapy water.
Comes out nice 'n clean after that I tells you.

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Blitzkrieger

lol - I heard about the guy who did that

Lump

Not being smart but thats how I clean my Keyboard, Well I take out all the keys, and throw them into the water, then dry them out, and replace them. I've never had a problem, But then I am |_|8£R |_££+


John

SantaHoe

Yep, me too...
You keep the electric components out of the sink... you just throw in all the manky keys and casing.... clean all the gunk off them, wash off the hair, cigarette ashes, chocolate chips and dried coke off the bits... dry .... reassemble... keyboard is as good as new.

Better than buying a new keyboard every six months, or having to use a manky keyboard.
But then it all depends on how you place your keyboard.

Blitzkrieger

I meant I heard about the guy who threw the whole thing into the bath

3 years on the keyboard is only now starting to show signs of gunk and the first key is going wonky. I reckon 7 squids every three years isn't much to keep my sanity

Void

While we're on the subject of keyboards....
Can anyone explain this?

Do keyboards have different refresh rates? I have a 2 year old wrecked keyboard which we use to play SF2 on MAME. I also have a brand new keyboard that I use normally, seeing as all the buttons work. The problem is that the new keyboard can only detect about 3 buttons being pressed simultaneously (2 player street fighter, each player has 10 keys...). The old one can handle much more. Can anyone explain this?

Blitzkrieger

Sure you only need three keys at any time - ctrl-alt-delete

I used to have a keyboard on a 486 that would only accept 4 keys at a time - it might be something to do with buffer sizes (in the keyboard). Prolly nothing you can do.