Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: danbeaver on December 13, 2012, 04:59:27 PM
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It is the one with the Red "Amiga Keys" and I just saw one go for $61 on *Bay; I had read this in the past:
"The Cherry G80-0879 and G80-0904 were the first generation of keyboards to ship with the Amiga 2000. It features Cherry MX black (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Black) switches, and the standard Amiga layout (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Amiga#Amiga_keyboard_layout). The keycaps are double-shot (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Double-shot) ABS plastic and originally featured a slightly lighter almond and light grey color-scheme than the default Cherry keycap color-scheme. ...
Among Amiga collectors, the keyboard fetches high prices and is highly sought after, due to its rarity. The keyboard was only in production for the first batch of Amiga 2000 computers and was later replaced by a more cost efficient foam and foil variant made by Mitsumi (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Mitsumi)."
and
"Doommaster reckons this keyboard is worth hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately his forum is offline so I can't link you.
[edit: forum back online, actual value $1200: http://www.retrogeekcomputers.com/ph...c.php?f=4&t=28" (http://www.retrogeekcomputers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28)
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I don't know how rare they are but I have one.
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I would say the red key thing is pretty rare if I can't remember it.
I am not saying I never had one with Red key I am just saying I can't remember it if I did.
In any case I am not convinced that ONLY the red key ones had cherry switches.
And in any event I know for sure that other Commodore keyboards had springloaded switches in them. Whether they are cherry or not doesn't really matter.
All that matters to me is:
Does it have a spring?
Does it work?
I have a bunch of keyboard stuff on order. I will have a keypuller soon then I can take apart all my old A2000 keyboards and report my findings.
If u want a quality Amiga keyboard you just want any of them that are NOT rubbber dome over membrane.
Any Amiga with NMB Space Invaders switches or Mitsumi switches or Cherry switches will be a great keyboard.
None of my A3000 keyboards was worth a flip. I mean the keycaps are super high quality, but the switches were just crappy rubberdome over membrane and they broke after some years. So I have 2 beautiful A3000 keyboards sitting here that are useless.
I might rip out the rubber domes out of one and cut them into O-rings which I can use as crash protectors in my brand new keyboard which Rosewill is on sale for $55.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has the super awesome Cherry Red switches. It works on PS/2 and USB. So if u have a PS/2 adapter for your Amiga, which EVERY Amigan should have, then u just buy this $55.00 keyboard and plug it in and go. No need to spend your whole life lurking on Ebay.
The switches in the old A2000 keyboards were the very best you get from any Earth based civilization until 1 year ago when these new Cherry Red switches came out. They don't require as much force to activate. They r kewl.
Commodore keyboards ruled the Earth from 1981-2011.
But now u can get something a bit better if u want.
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"The Cherry G80-0879 and G80-0904 were the first generation of keyboards to ship with the Amiga 2000. It features Cherry MX black (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Black) switches, and the standard Amiga layout (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Amiga#Amiga_keyboard_layout). The keycaps are double-shot (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Double-shot) ABS plastic
I would be very surprised if any of my A2000 keyboards were ABS plastic. They never showed any signs of wear. No matter how much I abused them.
Amiga 2000 keyboards are Doubleshot I believe. Because they are smooooooth feeling and sharp looking. You can't buy a keyboard with doubleshot keys anymore. They keyboard companies will not let you. You must track down doubleshot keys separately or hire a plastics company to build them for u for thousands of $$$$
When u ask for smooth keys everyone acts like u r crazy. They only give u bumpy keys nowadays.
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I have a few A2000 keyboards; one is mechanical and the devil to clean; the others use a carbonized rubber, but none use a membrane. I have 2 A4000 keyboards that are great.
For my PC I have a new 122 key Unicomp keyboard (they supplied IBM for a while, now make replacement keyboards for every old IBM model). I still have an old original IBM AT keyboard -- heavy, clicky, durable as a tank -- but it doesn't match my eyes! Er, I mean my black PC, so I replaced it.
I like the tactile and audible keyboards the best; the Amiga's are fav's with me because of the large return key; the PC-122 from Unicomp also has a large Return key.
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While Cherry switches are good quality, and this keyboard might be slightly rarer, I would never rely on DoomMaster's price estimations.
In kind words (and I don't know the guy)....let's just say he was slightly delusional when it came to estimating the price of Amiga goods. His prices should never be used as a guide for the value of Amiga parts.
He estimated that WICO bat joysticks were worth hundreds of dollars. I have a bin of them downstairs in my basement which I picked up for one or two dollars each.
Just do a search for DOOMMASTER and MIL-SPEC or A2000 on this forum and you will see what I mean (if all of his postings haven't been deleted by now).
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According to EU Law, All old Amigas are milspec because they have lead in their solder.
By decree of the Imperial European Empire, all consumer products must be constructed using self-destructing, defective solder that contains no lead.
Only military hardware and satellites may use solder containing lead, because they don't like it when their $40 million jet or $100 million satellite stops working due to tin whiskers. Tin whiskers grow 10x to 100x slower when u put lead in the solder.
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I've one A500 wich have a rev 7 motherboard, I belive it is also quite rare?
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I have two of those. One is in an absolutely perfect condition and in a working amiga 500 (upgraded to an 8a mobo). The other one is a german keyboard that I used for parts mostly - it is missing some keys and springs unfortunately.
Those are pretty rare and I believe they are made by chery (really old ones) and samsung unlike the mitsumi ones in newer amigas. The keys also have a slightly different shape they are not rounded like the mitsumi ones. They are also a major pain to reassemble but in general they seem better quality than the latest ones.
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It is the one with the Red "Amiga Keys" and I just saw one go for $61 on *Bay; I had read this in the past:
"The Cherry G80-0879 and G80-0904 were the first generation of keyboards to ship with the Amiga 2000. It features Cherry MX black (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Cherry_MX_Black) switches, and the standard Amiga layout (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Amiga#Amiga_keyboard_layout). The keycaps are double-shot (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Double-shot) ABS plastic and originally featured a slightly lighter almond and light grey color-scheme than the default Cherry keycap color-scheme. ...
Among Amiga collectors, the keyboard fetches high prices and is highly sought after, due to its rarity. The keyboard was only in production for the first batch of Amiga 2000 computers and was later replaced by a more cost efficient foam and foil variant made by Mitsumi (http://deskthority.net/wiki/Mitsumi)."
and
"Doommaster reckons this keyboard is worth hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately his forum is offline so I can't link you.
[edit: forum back online, actual value $1200: http://www.retrogeekcomputers.com/ph...c.php?f=4&t=28" (http://www.retrogeekcomputers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28)
This $1200 keyboard info is a bunch of crap. There isn't a single Amiga keyboard worth that much. I've owned a few of them myself, so they can't be too rare. The Amiga 2000 keyboard with the red Amiga keys is simply a keyboard that was made/sold in Finland. They also made the same style keyboard with mechanical switches but without the red Amiga keys. I have owned about 3 of them. Note: The easiest way to spot the better Amiga keyboard is it says "Amiga 2000" without the word "Commodore" above it. Now if this was supposedly a $1200 keyboard, then why didn't the recent auction reach $1200? Because nobody in their right mind would pay that.
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I have a Cherry keyboard myself, it came with my 2000 rev 4.1 when I bought it new.
It has the drawback that you _need_ to follow the RKM guidelines for programming it: It takes a long time to reply unlike 500 or other keyboards.
But it is a nice enough keyboard. Still think I prefer my 4000 one though.
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I wrote that post you quoted VERY tongue in cheek. They are not all that valuable in reality, Doomy's well known for overestimating anything he reckons is good. Maybe I should have sprinkled the text with lots of smileys.
What someone wants to pay for it is its value for the day.
Personally I dislike the A2000 cherry keyboard, since it has a different layout than most other Amiga keyboards. Small function keys + gaps between alt+amiga and space. There are also slight timing differences because they use Philips made keyboard controllers, unlike all other Amiga keyboards, however you probably will never encounter any software that would fail to read the keyboard.
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I hear ya. I wasn't coming after you on that comment. Doomy actually told me the same thing in person and I questioned it then. He told me her owned 3 of them himself. For him to own 3 and me to have owned 2, it can't be that rare.
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How do you identify those Cherry keyboards from the regular keyboards?
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The easiest way to spot the better Amiga keyboard is it says "Amiga 2000" without the word "Commodore" above it.
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I hear ya. I wasn't coming after you on that comment.
I didn't really take it like that.. Just thought I'd clarify my stance. :-)
Doomy actually told me the same thing in person and I questioned it then. He told me her owned 3 of them himself. For him to own 3 and me to have owned 2, it can't be that rare.
Yeh, I have two as well. I'd say the NMB space invader keyboard is more rare, but I have five of those so is it that rare after all, or have I just been patient enough when tracking them down? :-)
The easiest way to spot the better Amiga keyboard is it says "Amiga 2000" without the word "Commodore" above it.
Even easier: the Amiga keys are red. No other Amiga keyboard has them in that colour.
http://jope.fi/amiga/amikbd/cherryfull.jpg
But yeah, just looking at that picture, the Cherry keyboard is very distinctive in its looks. The cover isn't properly closed in that pic, hence it looks a bit wonky around the upper row of keys.
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Not all Space Invader Amiga keyboards have the red Amiga keys. They also made one with regular black keys. The keyboard itself has the same shape.
I sold one on Ebay about 2 months ago.
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however you probably will never encounter any software that would fail to read the keyboard.
A vast number of games and demos fail with it. 95% of hw-banging games and even more among demos. IMHO. (It did get better later on, but it was real shyte for many years.=
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Yeh, I have two as well. I'd say the NMB space invader keyboard is more rare, but I have five of those so is it that rare after all, or have I just been patient enough when tracking them down? :-)
u guys are hardcore Amiga collectors. How many u have proves nothing :)
To a regular guy who wants to buy a specific type of springy keyboard, they are all rare. Especially A1000 keyboards as there were only 100,000 of them made to begin with and most of those are thrown away now.
Even easier: the Amiga keys are red. No other Amiga keyboard has them in that colour.
http://jope.fi/amiga/amikbd/cherryfull.jpg
But yeah, just looking at that picture, the Cherry keyboard is very distinctive in its looks. The cover isn't properly closed in that pic, hence it looks a bit wonky around the upper row of keys.
That keyboard looks like crap :)
I don't know that the problem is the case not being closed. Cherry only makes Cherry Lowrider keycaps. Their keycaps are only 6mm tall. Normal keycaps are 12mm.
I hate Cherry Lowrider keycaps because there is no room to install O-rings or crashpads under there when they are sooo short.
Thanx for posting that pic!
I have never had an Amiga 2000 keyboard that looked like that. That is wack. I guess this means all my A2000 keyboards are using Mitsumi switches?
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A vast number of games and demos fail with it. 95% of hw-banging games and even more among demos.
There is nothing wrong with letting AmigaOS bootup.
There is nothing wrong with using the OS to read the keyboard.
There is nothing wrong with using the OS to read data from a device. (floppy, hard drive, CD, DVD, whatever).
Commodore made them a great OS and gave it away free with every computer.
If the coder refused to use it then its his own dam fault.
You can always let the OS load and then do a Forbid(); Permit(); around your main loop if you want to "disable" the OS temporarily.
You can temporarily disable the Interrupts too.
There is not much reason to throw the whole entire OS in the garbage when writing a game or Demo.
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There is not much reason to throw the whole entire OS in the garbage when writing a game or Demo.
But people did. And they did it wrong too. So I am not the one to argue with.
The Cherry being rare didn't make it easier to knock that into the programmers.
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I guess this means all my A2000 keyboards are using Mitsumi switches?
Are those the ones in A1200 keyboards? The horror :(
There is not much reason to throw the whole entire OS in the garbage when writing a game or Demo.
There is when your game or demo has to work in 512 KB, or worse, 256 KB on the A1000.
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Not all Space Invader Amiga keyboards have the red Amiga keys. They also made one with regular black keys. The keyboard itself has the same shape.
I sold one on Ebay about 2 months ago.
Hmm, none of those have red Amiga keys. I was talking about Cherry kbds when I wrote that. :-)
Space invader keyboards have a Commodore key instead of the left Amiga key and the keyboard layout is identical to the Mitsumi keyboard.
Here is one in case someone else is interested in how they look like. This one is fitted to an A500, but the A2000 one is almost identical. Transistor Q1 (generates kbd reset) and the LEDs are missing if it's fitted to an A2000.
http://jope.fi/amiga/amikbd/nmbtop.jpg