This project is shared from the original open-source repository at https://github.com/ivop/project-helena, created by Ivo van Poorten. All design credit belongs to the original author — this is a redistribution that reorganises the upstream files into a fabrication-ready structure and adds a bill of materials, centroid files and an assembly drawing.

Project Helena is a full-size, single-piece replacement keyboard PCB for the Atari XL and XE home computers. It reproduces the complete stock key matrix — 64 keys including the BREAK, CONTROL and SHIFT group, the RESET, OPTION, SELECT and START console column, HELP, and the power LED — and terminates in the standard 24-pin keyboard header, so it plugs straight into the machine's existing connector.

The design is entirely passive. There is no microcontroller, no encoder and no firmware: key scanning is still handled by the host machine's POKEY hardware and stock OS ROM, exactly as with the original membrane keyboard. This makes it a true drop-in replacement rather than a converter.

The board measures 346 × 111 mm on two layers and uses MX-style plate-mount keyswitches, letting you choose your own switch feel and keycaps. Note that the original author states the board is untested, so prototype one before committing to a batch.