Fuller Keyboard

[RWAP]

A customer has asked me whether the ZXpand would fit inside the Fuller Keyboard - see:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... ID=EBAY-GB

I can't remember what these look like inside at all, or how much room there is - does anyone else have one, or an image of the inside (once ZX81 fitted?)

[Moggy]

Hi Rich.

I have a fuller and whilst the Xpand won't fit at the rear due to the 81 edge connector being flush up to the expansion slot, it should fit on the right hand side in the same manner as the ram pack was meant to, but an extender cable will be needed as well as some method of fixing it to the case lower half..
Also the power supply was sometimes fitted in the housing and might just get in the way and once fitted access wont be available to to the memory card.


Moggy.


EDIT Forgot to mention there was two versions of the keyboard made, standard and extended the extended one was the one that housed boards internally and the zeddy m/board is turned 90 deg to the right to allow fullers own expansion boards to fit end on without any cable needed.
The link below shows both complete with dimensions for the case.
http://www.zx81stuff.org.uk/zx81/showma ... 100042.jpg

[RWAP]

Well it does at least look as though the one the customer wants is the extended version, so the ZXpand may (!) fit in it.

[Moggy]

I would take Mine apart and do the measurements but in the past I buggered up the keyboard cable connectors and ended up soldering the cable direct so badly that any taking apart of the case results in some keys not working, so I would rather not tempt fate.

As I seem to recall Fullers own boards were wider than the Xpand and just as long, so I can't see a problem other than there being no holes in the Xpand to secure it to the lower half of the case.


Moggy.

[gozzo]

This is what they look like inside.... complete with a Fuller 16k memory unit... (mine during 'restoration')

[gozzo]

A ZXpand fits in perfectly.. .... only problem is that you then have no access to the SD card.. ..maybe if the SD socket was mounted on its own little PCB and connected by a ribbon cable, that could then be fitted in the space at the bottom left corner !

[RWAP]

Excellent - although I doubt that ZX81 works at the moment.... it seems to be missing a few components

As for the SD card - you just need a big enough one that you will never fill !!

[gozzo]

Hehe, it does work (if the chips are fitted and the wires re-connected also have a ZX81 in a DKtronics case, as yet untested) ,but I'm still in the process of maybe fitting other 'extras' in.. such as this thing I've come across (have you ever seen one?) , pages out the ROMs 7680-8192 character bitmap area with 1 of its 2 512 byte RAM blocks, a 'kit' design published in a magazine called 'Electronics Digest' from the early 1980's. You remove the ROM and fit it on this board and then plug its DIL header plug into the ZX ROM socket. Easily controlled from a POKE 7679,x command but you supposedly have to alter the I register before POKEing the character data in, or else it gets corrupted..??!?