Trs80 keyrah

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • I've been looking for an equivalent of the keyrah for the Trs-80 with no luck. I'm wondering if there would be any way to either reprogram an existing keyrah V2b or if there could be like a Tandy/Radio Shack version of it

  • From what I'm reading about the TRS-80 keyboard, it appears to be an 8x8 matrix just like the C64, with the reset key being separate, just like the C64 has it's Restore key separate. So hardware-wise, there's a good chance that you can make a small adapter that connects the TRS-80 matrix to the C64 connector of Keyrah.


    Next step would be to make a key map: I need to know how each key maps to the USB HID keybaord, ideally with the keyboard scan codes. Note that we have space for two mappings, one for "switch up" and another for "switch down", which Keyrah uses for "emulator-friendly" and "everyday-friendly" mappings. I'd suggest to do the exact same for a TRS-80 mapping.


    Last not least, I'd need a good customer base. How many units could you take? Or can you drum up 100-150 customers for this type of product? Are there enough defective TRS-80 computers with working keyboards out there? I mean, I'm pretty serious about the preservation thought: I don't want working computers from the past to be butchered. I'd rather not make this sale and know that the computers will remain in their original state.

  • The one I'm looking at I've verified to be dead. Not quite sure as to what yet, but I also have two other model threes I believe they are (same form factor as the c64 but with the number pad) I plan on making one, hopefully two work, but I don't have enough parts to get all three running

  • As for customer base, I don't know I've seen no mention of anyone attempting to it like this, using ps/2 and usb keyboards for the trs, but not the other way


    Maybe there would be a way to hook up to the Amiga connector and some custom firmware? If there's a way to do it with little modification to one I'd be willing to pay extra for the time and effort 😂

  • The connector is not the problematic part - the custom firmware is, because it's easily 2-3 days spent on communication back&forth, verification of the assigned key mappings. There is no way for the customer to change that mapping once it's fixed; we can do that here, but it's not user-configurable.


    Let's talk numbers: The adapter for connecting the two 8-pin connectors of the keyboard to Keyrah may be as cheap as 10,- EUR each. 150 Keyrah units with this adapter would come down to 6742.50 EUR including 19% VAT (which would be deducted for every shipment that leaves the EU), plus shipping.


    If you can find this amount of customers, I'll also need a sample keyboard, which I'd return after the development is complete.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.