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By Domhnall Dods

Unless you are one of those fortunate enough to own a Mega ST or a TT then there is probably one "feature" of Atari Computers which annoys you more than any other. I refer of course to the keyboard which, although it might have been acceptable in 1985 when the ST was first launched, is hardly state of the art in 1996. Not only is it fairly unresponsive in use but being firmly attached to the main computer itself it restricts the users typing position and choice of desk layout. Of course the norm on other platforms these days is for separate keyboards linked by a cable to the computer. Atari did flirt briefly with this idea when they produced the Mega and TT ranges but with the arrival of the Falcon unbelievably they reverted to the old style ST keyboard. So most Atari owners just have to accept second best don't they? Wrong! Thanks to System Solutions this is no longer the case. They can supply you with a clever little piece of kit snappily entitled "The AT Key Interface" which, as the name suggests, allows you to plug in a standard PC keyboard to your trusty Atari.

So what do you get for your œ49.95? Well forget any thoughts of glossy packaging and extensive instructions, the unit, a printed circuit board measuring approximately 6 x 9 cm, comes snugly wrapped in bubble wrap and is accompanied by a single sided sheet of instructions. To be fair though, little else is required. The sheet clearly illustrates the unit, describes how to connect it and details exactly how the board should be wired for each model of Atari available. Yes, you will have to solder a keyboard connector lead to the board yourself, although System Solutions can do this for you (for a small fee of course). One other thing you will have to do before installing the unit is to remove the keyboard controller chip from the underside of your Atari keyboard and plug it into the empty slot in the middle of the AT Key interface. If you have any doubts whatsoever about either soldering or removing and re-inserting chips from inside your machine, contact System Solutions or any other reputable Atari suppliers. The small cost involved is far preferable to causing damage to your machine. If you are familiar with the inside of your machine and have for example, upgraded your memory then moving your keyboard processor should present no great problems. The keyboard processor in Atari machines also controls the mouse and joystick ports and connectors for these devices are also provided on the interface.

As supplied, the interface is simply a bare circuit board and is designed to fit inside a replacement case such as a Lighthouse Tower or a Desktopper. For the purposes of this review the the unit was fitted to a Falcon in a Lighthouse Tower. The Tower is of an all metal construction and it is therefore vital that you ensure the board is totally insulated from the metal case. Some sort of project box from an electronics shop such as Tandy or Maplin would be ideal for the purpose. In my case a simpler solution was found by glueing a cork sanding block (œ0.99 from B&Q) into the tower and then fastening the interface to the block. The cable from the interface then simply plugs into the keyboard connector inside the Atari. Close up the case, plug in a standard PC keyboard and away you go. Virtually any standard PC keyboard should work with the unit although I did have problems with the first keyboard supplied by my local Escom. Although the keyboard worked perfectly on a friends PC it steadfastly refused to speak to the Atari. One change of keyboard later and all was well. So the moral is, if you are buying a keyboard from a non Atari retailer make sure you tell them it's for use on an Atari, that way if there are any problems you can take it back and exchange it for another model. Better still , buy the keyboard from System Solutions, they have a wide range in stock and should have something to suit your taste.

Conclusions:

I have had the interface installed and in regular use for the last year and it has never let me down. It was returned to System Solutions on a number of occasions because of a suspected keyboard failure. Each time a very puzzled Karl Brandt reported that no problems could be found but agreed to supply a replacement free of charge. In the end the problem was traced to a loose connection on the Falcon's motherboard rather than the AT interface. Full marks to the interface for reliability and more so to System Solutions for customer service.

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