Flexi Key

[doug_in_nc]

I just purchased an untested VIC 20 on fleabay which came with a couple of interesting peripherals, one of which wasn't even pictured in the auction, and I can't find any reference to it anywhere. Can anyone help me? It's a numeric keypad that appears to plug into the user port with the words "Flexi Key System Gosub International". I get literally zero hits when I google that text. It comes with a cassette that has what I assume to be VIC 20 software on one side and C64 software on the other, but I haven't tested if I can load it yet.

[doug_in_nc]

Ok, quick update. The tape works and I can load it into a VIC. It needs RAM expansion though. I loaded it with a 16K cartridge, but judging by the load time, 8K is enough. The software allows the blank keys to be programmed, and the programming can be saved to tape and reloaded at a later date. The keyboard works, but isn't debounced at all, so you can only make quick jabs at the keys if you want to avoid one registering 2 or 3 times. I have enclosed a screenshot of the configuration software startup page in the hope that someone recognizes it.

[Noizer]

Interesting found. Maybe rare piece, never seen before. Seems US stuff only. I could't find anything too either https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... 1tK7os_VgN
BR

[doug_in_nc]

I went through some magazines from 1983 last night and eventually found a couple of ads and a very short review for it

[doug_in_nc]

Just in case anyone else picks up one of these keyboards, I finally found a photograph that I have included here, as well as the driver software on a .d64 file on http://bithunter.siz.hu/letoltesek.htm (Thanks to Google Translate for translating the site from Hungarian ) that includes both a VIC20 and a C64 driver just like the tape I have does, as well as a file called MLX FLEX LOAD that I haven't looked at yet. I have included the d64 as a compressed as RAR, which is how I found it, in case someone else needs it in the future.

The photograph showed that the author had a copy of the manual too. Unfortunately my attempt to contact the author via the email address on the website (e-mail address removed - mod) failed as my mail bounced back. Should anyone know how to contact him, I would greatly appreciate it if they could put us in touch so I could request a scan of the manual.

[ral-clan]

Interesting. Can the user define functions for all those blank keys?

[doug_in_nc]

There are three default keyboards you can cycle through with different uses of the blanks. One is the usual +,-,* etc and one is hexadecimal. I don't remember what the other one is off the top of my head, and there is an option when you load the driver to create and store/load user-defined definitions for those blank keys. My best guess is that the MLX FLEX LOAD file on the d64 is a custom keyboard definition specifically of entering MLX data, but I haven't verified that yet. When I get the time, unless I find a manual in the mean time, I will document the functionality as best I can and upload it here.