apple II - SCORE!

From: Sam Ismail <dastar_at_crl.com>
Date: Tue Jun 24 02:34:09 1997

nOn Tue, 24 Jun 1997, J. Maynard Gelinas wrote:

> My girlfriend is a professional sculptress, I don't know why I
> didn't ask her to begin with. She recommended plain amonia, which I was
> sceptical of. I wanted to use Formula 405 basically because you had
> recommended it. Well, the amonia worked great and the case looks nearly
> brand new - it sure took several hours though. ;-) Never doubt a woman
> competent with Dremel tools - for many reasons....

Yes, Windex works well too.

> brushes. However, as nice as it looks, it seams as though it's toast. A
> few keys stick, several send multiple key bursts, and it doesn't seem as
> though the keys are removeable - at least not like as I remember the old
> TRS-80 Model 1 keyboard. You could remove the keys and actually clean the
> contacts with alchohol. Is this possible, or am I just going to be able
> to get dust bunnies between the keys?

Whatever you do, don't let any alcohol get down into the key mechanism.
This happened to me on my //e keyboard once. No matter what I did, I
couldn't dry it out! It was shorted. I finally had to solder it out.
Since I needed an 'A' key, came up with all sorts of tricks to overcome
the missing key. First I wrote a keyboard driver which would intercept
TAB and translate it into 'A'. That worked OK, but it just didn't feel
right, plus it only worked when I was in BASIAC. So I soldered two wires
into the contact holes and pressed them together whenever I needed 'A'. I
was too lazy to order a new A-key. After I got sick of that, I took one
of my joysticks that I had previously busted apart in some tantrum of
frustration and re-commissioned one of the buttons as an 'A' key. It was
stiff but it worked and I went with this solution for a couple months
until I finally got around to ordering a new key. When it came a few
weeks (and five bucks!) later, it was for the new Apple //gs keyboard!
IDIOTS! Now I had to wait all over again for the key. I sent the wrong
one back, and apparently it got lost in the mail. So now I was out five
bucks as well! I think I used the joystick button for another couple
months until I finally got around to ordering the correct key. So let
this be a lesson to you! Don't try cleaning any of the keys with
alcohol. Perhaps you can disassemble it and run it through the dishwasher?

Sam
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Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Received on Tue Jun 24 1997 - 02:34:09 BST