haitchfiveBrian Swetland's mechanical keyboard for the ZX81
https://github.com/swetland/zx81-keyboard/
Studio 8502 
@haitchfive I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I'd like the ZX-style macro keyboard a lot more if I wasn't forced to use the macro keys, but could use them as an option. Granted, the BASIC on my ZX Spectrum Next doesn't use the macros at all, you type it all out like a normal person, but still.
There are two points of view about this:
1) People who weren't born with a ZX81 or a ZX Spectrum under their arm, and see the ZX input method as abnormal, or subpar.
2) People who actually used it and understand that it's what it made the rest of its success possible. The ZX Spectrum designers created an input method that enabled a completely unskilled programmer without need to remember all commands, one who couldn't type, to assemble PCODE very close to an AST in memory, without a complex parser or syntax checker, allowing BASIC to run reasonably fast and relatively complex software if you compare it to other BASIC-based computers of the era.
It's one of those "you had to be there" things.
The ZX Spectrum is genuinely something else, deceivingly simple, and it doesn't make a lot of sense at first. It's the Pink Floyd of computers.
Bread80@haitchfive @mos_8502 I’ve always assumed part of the reasoning was to make the input parser a lot simpler. Thereby cutting down on the ROM space needed.
Either ways, ISTR my muscle memory learning the keystrokes fairly quickly and getting along well with the system. Although, at 10 years old I didn’t really have a lot to judge it against.
I think that's genius design.
The 128k introduced the more normal code editor, and that occupied another ROM, and the editor ROM is paged on top of the 0x0000 - 0x4000 area of system ROM.
It probably gives a more "professional" feel to people who don't understand the ZX BASIC input system. But really, if you compare the Sinclair editor to what was available on Unix at the time, it wasn't vastly different from vi and ed.
Eric Vitiello@haitchfive man what I would have given to have that when I was 10.
electron.greg@haitchfive I would have given my left spleen for something like this back in the day.
The left spleen only? 😁
@haitchfive Yes! I'm not stupid... 🤔
Silicon Underground (Dave F)@haitchfive I've seen Timex Sinclair 1000s (the US version of the ZX81) with various other keyboards hanging off the side. I always wondered if something like this was feasible.
Very much so. Numerous such projects exist for the ZX Spectrum too, and the membrane keyboard design of the original Spectrum is not vastly different.
I own a couple of Timex Sinclair 2068 units, I'm thinking of doing something of the sort with one of them.
Take for example this project:
https://www.ginger-electronic.com/en/retro-computer/26-46-48p-kdlx-keyboard-for-sinclair-zx-spectrum-plus-128k.html#/31-kit-kit_need_soldering
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OmG91I-cjM
(This is just a project specific to the Spectrum 128 that I'm familiar with, but I'm sure there are many others out there)
48P-KDLX keyboard for Sinclair ZX Spectrum plus (+) / 128k Kit Kit (need soldering)
This pcb keyboard with 58 tactile switches replaces the membrane in the Sinclair Models ZX Spectrum Plus (+) and ZX Spectrum 128k ("toastrack") and gives a comfortable type feeling with perceptible and audible click. Please take note, this keyboard was completely revised with a new form factor and all keys are placed now very properly, which makes it much easier to install this keyboard in your spectrum. The rails from production must be broken with small tongs and the cables need to be soldered to the pcb and the small keyboard adapters, which will fit perfectly in the membrane connectors. This keyboard can be ordered also mounted ready for install with a little extra fee. Assembly kit refers to soldering the cables only and remove the rails.Feedback to 48P-KDLX on sellmyretro
This is the ZX Mechtrum
https://leesmithsworkshop.co.uk/products/the-mechtrum-mechanical-keyboard-zx-spectrum-case
And that's how it emerged this derivative little monster, the MechZX81.
https://www.printables.com/model/439773-mechzx8138-case
But a number of other projects with various degrees of technical involvement exist, with different degrees of originality and cross-breeding with other projects powering each other. It's an exciting time for retrocomputing! Probably the most exciting of times since I remember having used the term.
The ZX81 Keyboard We've all Been Waiting For?
@haitchfive I agree completely, there are great projects out there for very nearly every platform, so we can fix or enhance almost any retro machine.