Apollo Guidance Computer kit

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello again,

I finally had some time to look into this kit a bit further and my initial euphoria is a little diminished now...

In order to get their specially designed parts, namely the custom "+/-" LED digits and the laser engraved keycaps one has to buy the complete kit for 500 Dollars. They are not sold separately and the basic kit (starting at 250$ and containing just standard parts which one can buy oneself for maybe 50$) does not contain them. Their wiring diagrams are so small that they are almost unreadable and in the files supplied for 3D printing once again the difficult bits are missing...

It is really a commercial product rather than a "makers" project as their instructable would suggest. And for a commercial product it is not close enough to the original piece, especially the keyboard and the LED display are way off. I also wonder why they chose an Arduino nano which is just barely capable of running the thing with no further enhancements possible. Other projects found on the internet are either more faithful to the original, e.g. by using a 4,2" TFT screen as display which can far better represent the unique slanted digits and their distinctive green/yellow color, or have some extra processing capability.

And there is Fran Blanche who was allowed to disassemble, photograph and measure out an original DSKY at the Smithsonian and who is now seeking financial support to get true electroluminescent displays like the original made (https://www.gofundme.com/apollo-dsky-display-project - it is really worth following the links and watching her videos on the subject).

Regards
Max