On Sun, 10 Mar 2002 09:03:21 +0000 Tony Firshman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
<snip> > We tried to get the manufacturers to change the spec, but they said > they > would only work to the specs they had. I wonder who made the good > ones. > > > >Regardless, "pure" vinyl, or materials approaching same [as the > standard > >QL membranes APPEAR to be] are by their nature more likely to > degrade > >than a polyvinyl -- yup, that's why chemists came up with them. > ... but the ones I have are approaching 20 years old, and show no > signs > of any problems. How long do you want (8-)# Well, a 20 year lifespan WOULD certainly have been nice ... I presume by "clear" you mean window glass clear -- your "clear" membranes are _not_ a "pure" vinyl ... count your blessings! BTW. The "color" in polyvinyls adds [more] stability to the compound ... that is, the compounds which are added to increase stability add color to an otherwise colorless (and, naturally [bio-?-]degradable) material. After swapping out my fourth [!?!] membrane, I was more than happy to pony up the funds for the maligned-by-others Falkenberg keyboard interface [the earlier Scho(e)n & ABC keyboards with proprietary interfaces did not seem like a wise choice]. So, while the original size was certainly a selling point -- after all, there WAS something enchanting about having a complete computer that wasn't much larger or heavier than the original IBM PC/XT keyboard -- the numerous "wires" out the back and add-on peripherals certainly gave an early (pre-786k Trump Card) a rather ungainly appearance to an operational unit ... I was a candidate for an aftermarket keyboard/interface within 5-minutes of pulling my QL out of its box BECAUSE I find the stylized key tiles to have been the design effort of someone who did not type. BTW. The perceived "problem" of the key caps was mitigated by gluing/piggy-backing REAL key caps on top of the original key tiles. Al ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
