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The Keyboard - Part 2

A project log for Rack8 MCM/70 rack machine replica

Goal: Build a replica, using an actual 8008-1 chip, of the "rack" machine used at Micro Computer Machines when developing the MCM/70.

camfarnellcamfarnell 05/02/2023 at 23:200 Comments

I've spent the last few weeks working on I/O but the keyboard is one of the main I/O devices so it kind of fell into the mix. The good news is that the keyboard itself works as intended: no messed up traces on the PCB or the like. The bad news, not that there was much bad news, is that I was short a couple of key switches and had to order more. There is not much more to say about the keyboard beyond that it works and I think it looks great. The keyboard, less the missing Space and Backspace switches, looks like this:

While an actual MCM/70 keyboard looks like this:

Not identical, but close enough.

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