Keyboards for Amstrad CPC Computers

This folder contains several designs for Amstrad computers, CPC464, CPC664 and CPC6128. Some can be fitted into the case of an existing machine, all can be used without a case as a replacement for, eg, a bare motherboard including recreations of original motherboards of replacement machines which use the same keyboard layout.

All of the above machines, CPC464, CPC664 and CPC6128, used an identical keyboard matrix although they had slight variations in connectors and pinouts. All of the boards here are suitable for using with any original motherboard. Most of the designs include jumpers or links which can be used to configure them to various mnotherboards. See the individual boards for more detail.

Available Boards

Tactile Switch Keyboard

This was intended as a cheaper alternative to a full mechanical board. In practice the switches and keycaps used don't offer a huge saving in cost. However, the PCB is significantly smaller (and therefore cheaper), the design doesn't use diodes, and the keycaps can be home-printed and, therefore, modified to your preference.

This design is not (currently) fully documented.

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CPC464 Mechanical with SMT Diodes

As the heading suggests, this is a board using mechanical keyswitches, and which fits into an original CPC464 case (all variants, as far as we are aware). It includes connector pinouts for both styles of motherboard connector. Solder links allow for use with a CPC6128. See the schematics for how to wire to a CPC664.

The design uses SMT diodes which may present a soldering challenge to some, but the diodes and footprints have been chosen to make soldering as easy as possible.

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CPC6128 Mechanical with SMT Diodes

This board is still at the design stage and NOT suitable for production.

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Licence

All designs are licenced under CERN-OHL-P.

You are welcome you sell items for cost plus reasonable postage fees. This allows you to pass on any overages from your PCB fab's minumum order levels. If you want to sell items for profit please talk to us first.