WANTED: Cheap Famiclone keyboard unit

[MS-DOS4]

Darn. Hopefully these units turn out to be NTSC.

[Trenton_net]

Well we can still play, right? It'll just be black and white.

No. It will not be playable. With a cheap PAL to NTSC converter you'll get a scrolling color picture. Without one, you only get sound and a scrambled image.

Actually, thats not entirely true. For me, I got a black and white image which was only slightly off, but still playable when hooked up to an NTSC TV (Your mileage may vary). If connected to the input of a DVD player/recorder which can accept and playback both NTSC and PAL signals, it worked fine. But the later setup I didn't personally do as my cousin in China did it.

Anyway, some good news: The Famiclone keyboards arrived and everything is in good working order. Aside from a little box ware from shipping, everything is brand new. The unit looks exactly as I pictured before and I can confirm that it comes with the software also pictured. On the main OS cartridge, you get Subor's version of Windows 2000, complete with working DOS prompt as well as built in software on the virtual HD's. On the other cartridges, you get several multi-carts which include Chinese original games (or very heavily modified hacks - I couldn't tell), of titles like Contra, etc.

All in all, it looks like the most complete Famiclone keyboard package around. Programming basic on it is hilarious as well as using the DOS prompt to launch applications (instead of the GUI). The down side? As mentioned above, it was tested for NTSC/PAL and it seems the keyboard natively outputs PAL. The image shows up fine for me in Black and White, but if you want color and a more properly aligned image, I'll Need to invest in a small converter box or find a DVD player which can do the conversion for you.

I'll make a formal post about it in the upcoming days. Given the massive size, shipping from China, and all the accessories and games that come with it, pricing is estimated at $59 per unit. Shipping to your location will vary depending on where you are. I only have 3 consoles available (actually I have 4, but I decided to keep one since the bundled software is so interesting and probably rare as heck to obtain sans keyboard), so be prepared to speak up if your interested in one.  (^_^);

[ericj]

For me, I got a black and white image which was only slightly off, but still playable when hooked up to an NTSC TV (Your mileage may vary).

Interesting. My PAL keyboard famiclone won't display a viewable picture, but I'm trying to use it on CRT televisions. What type of display are you hooking it up to?

[Trenton_net]

I tried it on a CRT. Haven't tried it on an LCD yet, but each manufacture would have different specs for how they handle signal formats (So your mileage will vary).

[MS-DOS4]

I think I'll be happy considering the software, quality, and the fact I'm sure converters exist to go from PAL --> NTSC.

The cheap PAL-->NTSC converters require a TV that has a vertical hold adjustment.

How do you tell if your TV has a vertical hold adjustment? Is there a knob somewhere?

[ericj]

It will probably be a knob on the back of the set from my experience. However, if you get a black & white picture, maybe this wouldn't matter. None of my 3 CRT TVs will display like Trenton's.

[MS-DOS4]

Well, I just checked an unused TV at school and it had the V HOLD knob on it's back, but it's really old. I guess my modern TVs at home won't have this feature.

[ericj]

Probably not. I've only seen them on older TVs, especially the kind with the channel selection knob.

[MS-DOS4]

By the way, I had one more question. Have you fully tested the keyboard on the one you took for yourself? If so, how's it's quality? I hear these famiclone keyboards often have bad keys.

[Trenton_net]

I checked it over briefly before putting it away and it seemed to be in working order. I wrote a small Basic program and I noted no issues. The keyboard itself is actually quite sensitive, which was a surprise. I thought I would have to mash hard to get any input on them. The mouse works pretty well too. But by no means am I saying I would abuse the keyboard. While it does work fine I bet it's a lot easier to, say, rip off a key when compared to a real PC keyboard. But that's just par for the course with Chinese goods.