---
title: "DIY Keyboards for the ZX81 and TS 1000"
id: "36479"
type: "post"
slug: "diy-keyboards-for-the-zx81-and-ts-1000"
published_at: "2021-05-16T19:32:28+00:00"
modified_at: "2023-01-18T17:32:58+00:00"
url: "http://localhost/hardware/keyboard/diy-keyboards-for-the-zx81-and-ts-1000/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/hardware/keyboard/diy-keyboards-for-the-zx81-and-ts-1000.md"
excerpt: "The Sinclair ZX81/TS1000 keyboard was widely acknowledged as one of the more challenging aspects of using the computer. As a result, many commercial keyboard replacements were available in the UK and US. A number of the replacements available in the..."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Blog"
  - "Keyboard"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "TS 1000"
---

The Sinclair ZX81/TS1000 keyboard was widely acknowledged as one of the more challenging aspects of using the computer. As a result, many commercial keyboard replacements were available in the UK and US. A number of the replacements available in the US were imported from the UK, like the [dk’Tronics](/company/dktronics/)
 keyboard.

The [E-Z Key](/company/e-z-key/)
 and [Suntronics](/company/suntronics/)
 keyboards were two notable US-based replacements.

And then there were the many do-it-yourself solutions. Because the computer, and its keyboard, were so simple, it was easy to adapt many other keyboards to work with the ZX81/TS1000. The [TI 99/4A keyboard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A)
, which was available at Radio Shack, was very popular because it was similar in size and had exposed solder pins. Radio Shack also sold an [Oric Atmos keyboard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oric)
 for a brief time, which at least one enterprising user stuffed in the TS 1050 carrying case.

- TS 1500 with TI 99/4A keyboard
- 
- 
- 
- 
- TS 1050 with Oric keyboard

### Tags

[Blog](/category/blog/)
[Keyboard](/category/hardware/keyboard/)
[TS 1000](/tag/ts1000/)

### People

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### About The Author

[David Anderson](/author/david/)
I'm a big fan of the Timex/Sinclair computers: my first was the TS 1000. I love building things for my TS 2068 and sharing them with others on this site and andertone.com.