Is this Spectrum keyboard matrix the answer to Mavis Beacon's dreams? 

i said that the moment i saw one in the shops.

Gah, was hoping this would be a nice solution. Had real problems with my replacement membrane and getting a positive response on the cursor keys. I'll pass on this one, but I appreciate the effort.

You know i won’t be able to resist :)

@@TheRetroShack I wonder if low profile Kailh Choc (V1) would be thin enough to let the keyboard fit inside the case like it does with this PCB?

Spectrum plus key tops fit straight onto Gateron keyswitches... Just saying. :D

But none of the old machines would be reparable 🙃

@@MigueldeLuis :)

No it’s mine! If Theseus can keep his mitts off! :)

To be fair, many off-the-shelf computers come with bottom dollar keyboards - but they classify as bad also. That doesn't make the old keyboards good. Saying that the majority of new computers come with the same mechanism - not sure I'd agree with that. Many are just in-between quality. However, given the huge market for mechanical keyboards it is fair to say few people stick with their original crap keyboards. Laptops typically use Butterfly Switch keys or Scissor Switch keys. I'm not fond of each, but they are far more reliable. Still, I carry a mechanical keyboard in my laptop bag. A lot of us using PCs and some Mac users use mechanical keyboards because we like tactile feedback in the keys. Having said that, even the place in the middle is better than nothing. Rubber membranes wear out fast (though newer formulations last longer), and carbon contact films eventually fail when the carbon is worn off (though at least that's repairable). The big issue with old keyboards is that the contact system cannot be replaced for one key only. Modern mechanical keyboards can replace a single key if necessary (though it may involve soldering). Cheap keyboards of modern cheap computers get stupid problems. However, the modern computer off-the-shelf computer ships with a $5 keyboard. Repairing it wouldn't even be worth your time. At least retro computers are getting options. The "bad" keyboard here is partially improved with a mechanical key. If that key goes bad, that single key can be replaced without changing a single other key.

@@jeffreyphipps1507 Well, every time I unmounted a keyboard in my office, it had the same rubber dome-contacts membrane... I can accept that the quality of the rubber is better today, but the tactile is more or less the same. Also I used a QL for several years for work, and the keyboard was acceptable: you know perfectly when the key was correctly pressed. The problem was only that, in that time, nearly all of the keyboards in the competence were mechanical, which, obviously, were superb, but that doesn't mean that the QL keyboard was so bad as they painted.

@@rastersoft That's nonsense. IBM produced a new, cheaper keyboard right around this time for lower priced machines to use instead of their expensive Model Ms. It was rubber dome, but it was crips, didn't bottom out, gave you great tactile feedback (for what it was) and felt fantastic. It was perfectly possible to produce a good rubber dome keyboard at the time. This is just cheap and bad.

@@paulie-g Are you comparing an IBM-made keyboard with the keyboards that a lot of cheap machines deliver and a lot of people uses day-by-day?

@@rastersoft Yes. IBM stopped making elite-level keyboards after the Model F and M. It's important to note that Model Ms are, in fact, membrane keyboards. What makes their action good is the buckling spring. They even made a rubber dome 'quiet' version that, although inferior to the regular, buckling spring version, is still quite nice by regular people standards. IBM 8923 is an inexpensive keyboard and very nice for rubber domes. Dell QuietKey (the original) is nice. Packard Bell had a nice rubber dome one. A couple old Logitechs are nice. A lot of people liked BTC's early rubber dome with sliders keyboard that they OEM'ed out to PC manufacturers, very inexpensively. Like I said, it was and is perfectly possible to make a good rubber dome, inexpensively. What makes cheap keyboards bad is often lack of rigidity. You can see on the video that this Spectrum has a metal backplate, so given half-decent action, this would've been fine. There's a reason 'mechanical' keyboards are a niche thing nowadays. A lot of current dirt cheap keyboards are 'good enough' for the average joe and much better than these Spectrum disasters, and nothing affecting typing in them requires 21-st century technology.

Hey, you guys voted for mods :) :) :)

@@TheRetroShack No complaints... Fascinating stuff. 👍

Nothing but love for the speccy from me! My first computer and I loved it (and still do)

The Spectrum+ has fold-out legs built into the base for propping it up.

I agree! And in the standard PC keyboard layout!, Not all the keys just in the same layout. Cherry keys are expensive new but i often see 2nd hand keyboards heading for landfil. And as you can get new keycaps quite cheap they would be the best comromise between cost and quality!