NMB Hi-Tek those pesky RJ connectors

[fohat]

Here are some shots of my Televideo internals. My best guess for the 4 connections that I noted is the based on the fact that after hooking it up to a Teensy and using Soarer's WYSE converter firmware, any configuration yields only an "AT/XT" report under hid_listen, without reporting any keystrokes, while this particular arrangement also adds a single R05 error afterwards.

[XMIT]

Oh, that's different from my board, where the pins are labeled really clearly on the board.

I might try using a regular Soarer's Converter as there is a chance this one outputs PS/2 codes and not Wyse codes? It's hard to know without a logic analyzer.

[fohat]

I might try using a regular Soarer's Converter as there is a chance this one outputs PS/2 codes and not Wyse codes? It's hard to know without a logic analyzer.

I have tried every permutation of Soarer's firmwares that I can think of. This is an RJ14/RJ11/whatever with 4 connections only.

[Engicoder]

I think this puts out ASCII codes, i.e, pressing 'A' outputs a serial 'A'.Pressing mods outputs two bytes. There are no press and release events.

EDIT oops, thought this was one of the Televideo boards...

Is this one of the ADDS boards?

[XMIT]

Just ASCII?! Oh yuck, that's even worse! Replace the controller!

[fohat]

Just ASCII?! Oh yuck, that's even worse! Replace the controller!

I think this puts out ASCII codes, i.e, pressing 'A' outputs a serial 'A'.Pressing mods outputs two bytes. There are no press and release events.

EDIT oops, thought this was one of the Televideo boards...

Is this one of the ADDS boards?

It is a Televideo. But not like the ancient Televideo that I used to have, probably from the 1980s and huge and beautiful but weird. But that one did have the odd "telephone" connector, so maybe you are right.

This one is pristine and straight-ANSI. That's why I want to get it working so badly.

I know nothing about replacing controllers.

[Engicoder]

Spoiler:

Just ASCII?! Oh yuck, that's even worse! Replace the controller!

I think this puts out ASCII codes, i.e, pressing 'A' outputs a serial 'A'.Pressing mods outputs two bytes. There are no press and release events.

EDIT oops, thought this was one of the Televideo boards...

Is this one of the ADDS boards?

It is a Televideo. But not like the ancient Televideo that I used to have, probably from the 1980s and huge and beautiful but weird. But that one did have the odd "telephone" connector, so maybe you are right.

This one is pristine and straight-ANSI. That's why I want to get it working so badly.

I know nothing about replacing controllers.

I have long had a project on my list to create a generic 40 pin Intel MCS-48 series (i.e. 8048, 8049, etc) replacement controller board that could be used for difficult keyboards like this. The board would be essentially a 40 pin teensy matching the MCS-48 pinout. Firmware config would identify row, column,lock light pins, etc. Desolder the original IC, solder in socket and it would be possible to swap back and forth between converted and original.

[andrewjoy]

Oh, that's different from my board, where the pins are labeled really clearly on the board.

I might try using a regular Soarer's Converter as there is a chance this one outputs PS/2 codes and not Wyse codes? It's hard to know without a logic analyzer.

You have the same one as me right ? Works right out of the box with a converter.

[fohat]

I have long had a project on my list to create a generic 40 pin Intel MCS-48 series (i.e. 8048, 8049, etc) replacement controller board that could be used for difficult keyboards like this. The board would be essentially a 40 pin teensy matching the MCS-48 pinout. Firmware config would identify row, column,lock light pins, etc. Desolder the original IC, solder in socket and it would be possible to swap back and forth between converted and original.

That would be peachy. Personally, I am really only concerned with keyboards that I can actually use, but this one is just so very nice that I would love to get it running.

[XMIT]

Oh, that's different from my board, where the pins are labeled really clearly on the board.

I might try using a regular Soarer's Converter as there is a chance this one outputs PS/2 codes and not Wyse codes? It's hard to know without a logic analyzer.

You have the same one as me right ? Works right out of the box with a converter.

Don't think he does.

fohat, can you please post a photo of the full keyboard in the case?

[XMIT]

I have long had a project on my list to create a generic 40 pin Intel MCS-48 series (i.e. 8048, 8049, etc) replacement controller board that could be used for difficult keyboards like this. The board would be essentially a 40 pin teensy matching the MCS-48 pinout. Firmware config would identify row, column,lock light pins, etc. Desolder the original IC, solder in socket and it would be possible to swap back and forth between converted and original.

Do you even need to do that much for this board? You can figure out the rows, columns, and LEDs with a little work, and shoehorn in a Teensy if it has enough pins.

fohat, which model of Teensy do you have handy? Maybe we can work on some instructions for you, along the lines of "flash this file" and "connect these pins on the Teensy to these outputs".

Unfortunately a lot of these MCS-48 series ICs have ROM for the keyboard firmware that you can't modify after the fact.

[Engicoder]

Just ordered one of the ADDS versions from ElecPlus. When it arrives, I will see what I can figure out. Hopefully it will be similar.

[andrewjoy]

if its the ADDS ansi version like xmit and myself have it should just work

Don't think he does.

no i mean the one you have