Strange Cherry Amiga keyboard on the 'bay

[hishamk]

Guys, any idea what this is? Is it an official C= product?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cherry-G80-0777-Amiga-1000-Keyboard-/190779241297?pt=US_Vintage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item2c6b543351

[paul1981]

Is it okay for the chap to peel back the sticker and expose the EPROM like that to daylight? Doesn't that erase them?

[Bamiga2002]

Buy-it-now US $777.00? :insane:

[mark_k]

It looks like the seller bought the keyboard from a UK eBay seller; check eBay item 400352921246 for more pictures.

I wonder whether this was a limited-run keyboard supplied with early Amiga development systems, or an actual retail product?

[AltRN8]

Takes a lot more direct uv rays to completely erase an EPROM. Theoretically it could do something if left long enough but for a quick photo I doubt it.

[Plaz]

Is it okay for the chap to peel back the sticker and expose the EPROM like that to daylight? Doesn't that erase them?

Back in the 80's as a test I set an 8k eprom in direct sunlight everyday to see how much it could take. If I recall correctly it took about 5 days before it failed a checksum test. Different eproms will have different sensitivities but I never meet one in all the years that complained about a few hours under room lighting. Just not enough UV there.

I've seen that type keyboard before but not on an Amiga. It would have been possible for some hardware hacker who knew what they were doing to take a standard cherry and mod their own Amiga version. I used to hack eprom code on keyboards and clone pc's back in the day. Wonder if it was some limited third party replacement product.

Plaz

[Lando]

Nice keyboard, though I couldn't see myself paying $777 for the privelege of owning it.  Why's he listed it with such a high buy it now price if he only paid £100 for it himself?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

That's an unfortunate placement for the caps lock key!  :-P

And the BIN price appears to be a reference to the label that says this is keyboard #777, or somesuch.  Wohoo, there's a whole Wiki article on this thing!  

[Pentad]

That is one ugly keyboard....ack!

[Xanxi]

Takes a lot more direct uv rays to completely erase an EPROM. Theoretically it could do something if left long enough but for a quick photo I doubt it.

One year ago, i wanted to take a picture of my A2386 board without the sticker on the EPROM, exactly like this guy, and two flashes trashed the EPROM. The card stopped to work, until i got a brand new EPROM that someone burnt for me.

[TheBilgeRat]

Its a way sexy keyboard with a way unsexy opening bid and buy it now price.

[danbeaver]

It doesn't look like it would fit in the hutch under the case;  and looking more closely I wonder if the case was a mod. Anyways it is rare, but too rare for my wallet.

[JimDrew]

This was an aftermarket keyboard for the A1000.  A couple of guys in Portland, OR had these on the A1000s.

[ChaosLord]

This was an aftermarket keyboard for the A1000.  A couple of guys in Portland, OR had these on the A1000s.

Do u know who made them or sold them?

It really looks like something some guy threw together in his garage using the parts he had on hand.  

What are the advantages of that keyboard over the original A1000 keyboard?

Does it have some keys that are missing on A1000 keyboard?

I gave my A1000 away about 20 years ago so I forgot all about it.

[mark_k]

Back in the 80's as a test I set an 8k eprom in direct sunlight everyday to see how much it could take. If I recall correctly it took about 5 days before it failed a checksum test. Different eproms will have different sensitivities but I never meet one in all the years that complained about a few hours under room lighting. Just not enough UV there.

Sure, but bear in mind the EPROM in the keyboard was probably programmed back in 1986 or so. So over 26+ years the amount of stored charge would have deteriorated, meaning there is more chance of UV/sunlight damaging the stored data now.