Reprinted from Commodore World Issue #5
"A 386?" he asked. "No," I replied, "it's a C128D." He walked away, muttering to himself, "No such thing as a hard drive for the C128."
I mustered up some courage and shouted after him, "I even have 4Mb of RAM in the thing, and can hook it up to a PC keyboard if I wanted to."
"No way!" he called over his shoulder, "You're dreaming!"
Now, I'm sure you're all aware of the HD and RAMLink offered by CMD; but I'll bet very few of you have ever heard of GeoKeys, brainchild of G? Meckes, an industrious GEOS user who hails from a Munich suburb.
G? became distressed with the uncomfortable C64 keyboard after long hours of working with geoWrite. Rebuilding the C128D keyboard for use with his C64 seemed to be the logical solution; but being a hardware specialist, he decided to really go for it. Thinking of the possibilities an entire PC keyboard could offer a GEOS user, G? went to work. After about ten months of design and testing, he introduced his invention to the German market.
The GeoKeys interface is a shade larger than CMD's HD power supply (14 x 10 x 5 cm). A ribbon cable connects the interface to the Commodore user port, and a connector is provided on the interface for hookup of any IBM-compatible AT-style keyboard. There's also a 25-pin centronics connector on the interface for use with a printer.
The keyboard driver required to use GeoKeys is installed with the included "TestKeys" program. This program also has a dialogue box that lets you test the keyboard. You also get "InstallKeys", an autoexec file that must be copied onto your GEOS boot disk. Once everything is correctly installed, your new keyboard will automatically activate every time you boot GEOS.
The default key settings themselves offer quite a bit of comfort. The TAB key replaces CTRL-I, Shift-Lock is really a shift lock, the four cursor keys move the cursor on screen, and the special keys are all defined with geoWrite shortcuts.
GeoKeys also comes with "EditKeys", a program that lets you view and change the keyboard settings via a graphic display of the keyboard on the screen. Just click on any key you wish to edit, redefine it and save the new layout.
Other utilities provided include "ChangeKeys", a desk accessory included in the software with which you can change the layouts, and "ResetKeys" which restores the default settings.
Recent test reports in German Commodore magazines (64'er 8/94, GUP #34) gave GeoKeys excellent marks. There are, however, a few "glitches" that should be mentioned. First, GeoKeys works only with GEOS--you can't use it with any other commercial programs. The ribbon cable (for the user port) should be longer--some users may not have the space required for the interface. There have also been reports of printing problems with the C128, which are currently being worked on.
The utilities only work in 40-column mode. Not all of the PC keys can be defined, but that's due to GEOS memory limitations. These include "Print", "Scroll", "Pause", and "NumLock".
The German CLI (Command Line Interface), which is very similar to geoShell, does have some problems with the PC keyboard. At this time we cannot report of any compatibility problems with U.S. GEOS applications--we'll have to wait until GeoKeys has been tested with the U.S. version of GEOS and its applications.
European distribution of GeoKeys has been turned over to the Geos User Club in Germany, which is selling the hardware for DM130.00 (about $85.00). The interface comes with utility software and a thirty-page German manual, which will be translated as soon as an American distributor can be found.
Most of the above mentioned glitches should be taken care of before the product hits the U.S. market. If you simply cannot wait for an American distributor, write the Geos User Club and ask for information about shipping and payment. I saw a demonstration this past summer, and was very impressed--GeoKeys worked flawlessly and it gave those of us who have envied the PC keyboard the best of both worlds!