Converting a BBC Micro into a USB mechanical keyboard - the most British keyboard ever

I take an Acorn BBC Model B Microcomputer and modify it into a useful USB mechanical keyboard. 40 year old technology still working today. I believe this version of the BBC has the Futaba linear switches, rather than the later Cherry MY. Keycaps by Signature Plastics (Comptec as they were then).
There are lots of 1980s home computers you can convert into USB keyboards. I'd love to get hold of an Oric Atmos (or even a Stratos) and convert that. A Tatung Einstein would be a heck of a challenge (in terms of the case). Some of the MSX machines still look fresh and modern now!
I'm using a USB conversion board from Tynemouth Software. If you fancy a go, well you're out of luck at the moment. Unfortunately, Tynemouth Software is not accepting any orders at the moment (April 2021). So you'll have to try again another day.
www.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/

[@kodabar]

I think it's difficult to express how loud this is. Although my main keyboards is pretty quiet, this thing is noisy relative to anything. It's louder than my speaking voice. It would take proper lubrication and a small pillow inside the case to get the noise down. And yes, it's really heavy. From a last minute bit of research, it seems it's a Solidisk BBC Micro external case. Solidisk made a lot of addons for Acorn computers (and others), so I'm not surprised.

[@firehandszarb]

I used to really enjoy hearing the sound of the BBC Micro keyboard, one of the best clacks ever.

[@AlastairMontgomery]

I had a case like that metal one, it came with my 2nd hand BBC Micro, it was built like a tank.

[@MrJackSeverity]

Great Video. As a huge fan of retro computing i was stoked you made a vid like this :) keep em coming :) :)

[@kodabar]

The BBC Micro was my first home computer and I learned a lot from playing with it. I've recently been enthralled by a Twitter bot that allows you to send a tweet that will be run on a BBC emulator. Back in the olden days, one of the BBC Micro magazines had a one line programming competition - cram as many commands as possible into one line of code. And it rather reminds me of that. I remember I wrote a fractal generator that took 16 hours to draw a basic Mandelbrot set (and overheated the computer and crashed it). I may well do a video on some of the more interesting pieces of code from this Twitter bot thing. This is the Twitter bot thing: www.bbcmicrobot.com/owlet-test2.html

[@SoulPoetryandOtherWorks]

The only early micros I knew that had a mechanical keyboard were the BBC Micro, the Dragon 32/64, the Oric Atmos, the Acorn Electron and the TRS-80. Some were better than others. The IBM PC Model F was a mechanical keyboard. Commodore Amigas with a big box had a cherry keyboard option in the 2000/3000 era. The Olivetti M20 had a foam and foil mechanical keyboard. The Olivetti M24 had a mechanical keyboard, but unfortunately, the Olivetti M240 had a membrane keyboard. Early Sinclair and low-end micros went with the membrane keyboards as a cheaper option and felt awful to type on. Even the QL business machine had a membrane covered by a rubber dome but you could upgrade to the Schon keyboard. As someone who grew up with budget computers, I longed for the day when I could afford a computer with a proper keyboard, just when mid-range machines started having rubber dome keyboards bundled with them. How disappointing. I finally found Cherry Blue keyboards and never looked back. I found the Model M interesting but it felt pseudo-mechanical in its operation with the membrane beneath, However, the buckling spring was a very impressive compromise. In my opinion, typing on a clicky mechanical keyboard feels far more satisfying than a membrane keyboard.

[@techtinkerin]

Me: Where's the num lock key? BBC keyboard guy : Yes.😄

[@kodabar]

Well, on the BBC Model B, there's no numpad, so there's no numlock. The BBC Master Compact has a numeric keypad, so does it have a numlock key? No. But it does move the cursor keys into an even more insane position. preview.redd.it/3zbsavk8yeox.jpg?auto=webp&s=10ff6b2b9e1a3fb96533e87c0fb19f809469292e

[@kcinplatinumgaming2598]

I miss my old bbc micro.. especially the keyboard.. nice too see a lot of the 8 bit era has not died off like many other industries.. good video.. I spent so much time developing programs on those computers.. The BBC had one of the best keyboards, just when i started back in he 1980s it was spectrums and zx81's as it was only what we could afford but with the power of ebay you could buy the Masters and B at a good price..

[@kodabar]

I lived near the Timex factory where a lot of Spectrums were made. My friend has the first and last one ever made there. My first computer was a BBC Micro and it was just a joy to use. I watched a documentary recently about how rushed it was and how many bodges there are just to make it work, but really I never noticed - it was such a solid machine that was a joy to use. Sadly, the BBC keyboard isn't terribly useful now, but I do bust it out from time to time, just to remember. If I can pick up a Master at some point, I will.

[@outtheredude]

I like the depth of the metallic resonance of the Beeb's keyboard myself, a fond childhood memory from school back in the early '80s. So sound dampening it to make it sound like a more modern quiet keyboard I feel would take something away from that nostalgic metallic sound. (Part of the reason why I like my Filco Majestouch 2 105 key ISO keyboard with Cherry MX Blacks and Filco's own tall ABS spherical doubleshots. Nearest thing to the Beeb's sound and feel from back in the day for me).

[@kodabar]

Ooh, nice choices on the Majestouch 2. I love spherical caps - there's a feeling to them that is very familiar and pleasant that I don't get from anything else. I cannot emphasise how loud this BBC keyboard is - it's easily three or four time louder in the metal case than it is in the original housing. I quite like the noise - but after an hour of typing, my wife is about ready to kill me.

[@IamAW]

Damn, this is insane. It's a shame it's not an easier project to gather up, but that also makes it what it is.

[@kodabar]

Well there are alternatives that would be a lot more manageable. The biggest problem with the BBC Micro is that the case is huge, so you need a replacement - which is the hard bit to find. The little brother successor was the Acorn Electron. It's small enough to not need a new case and still has a mechanical keyboard (low profile versions of the Futaba ML switches) with plenty of room to fit a Tyneside Software circuit or even leave the computer functional. You can get one for about £30 on British ebay if you're patient: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254955420708 A Commodore Vic-20 can be had for about £30 as well and will convert nicely into a USB keyboard with a Tyneside board. The only problem with them is it's a little hard to determine what the keyboard is made of. There were three different versions: one uses rubber domes, another is a conductive foot (bottom of the switch touches the motherboard to conduct electricity) and the other is a mechanical keyboard (it's the oldest one). www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324590139164 There's also an interesting company making PC cases that look like the Vic-20 or Commodore 64 with proper modern mechanical keyboards (with real Cherry MX switches). They're a little pricey, but you can fit a real PC inside and have a beautiful keyboard (with some extra keys added rather cleverly) to make it very easy to live with. I'm very tempted. myretrocomputer.com/shop/

[@skfalpink123]

Another option is to use the original BBC Micro case - but replace the old PCB with a Raspberry PI 4 and 256GB SSD. You also need to swap out the original PSU with a higher power replacement (this will set you back about £10 from RS Components). Another point is the actual BBC keyboards. The early ones were cheap and abysmal, with a squeaky action that was prone to sticking. Thankfully, the later generation ones (with the dark brown PCB) were outstanding with full "soft-click" tactile feedback. You can also rewire the cassette LED directly to the new PSU, so that you have a power indicator as part of the LED cluster, which is really nice!

[@kodabar]

When making a USBBC (USBeeb?) keyboard, it's pretty hard to use the original case just because of its size, though with the rarity of these sectioned cases, it's probably quite viable. You end up with a rather unwieldy 'board on your desk. A Master Compact would be ideal and has a numeric keypad - if ever I find a cheap Master Compact, I'll be doing that. I take your point about sticking a Pi in there - great idea - but I was also keen with this build not to throw away working parts. So I actually started with a very broken Beeb and didn't have to ditch a working PCB.

[@eureka5635]

cool.