[Restoration] IBM 4704 F77 FINISHED

[SneakyRobb]

Hello everyone, my name is Carlos and I'm new in this amazing forum.
I want to show you my new find and of course, ask for advices.

The keyboard is an IBM 4704 F77, I got it from a Bank that threw all the IBM stuff to the street. I only got this keyboard.



Gallery of photos: https://imgur.com/gallery/dizvviC

I was searching in the web and in this forum and I found that I can use an Arduino Pro Micro with the Hosu's firmware to make this keyboard work with usb interface.

Questions:
1) Is my idea of using an Arduino Pro Micro a good idea? In my country I can't get the teensy. And in the past, I made with the soarer's firmware a conversion to an IBM Bigfoot with an Arduino Pro Micro and the result was sucessful.

2) How rarer this keyboard is?

3) Can I get the buzzer work?

Regards

That is certainly a great to start with. What a find, awesome.

[JP!]

Wow this is lovely. So do you need a partner for the next bank heist?

[depletedvespene]

Wow this is lovely. So do you need a partner for the next bank heist?

No skippin' the line, Mister!

[karlmartin95]

Wow this is lovely. So do you need a partner for the next bank heist?

No skippin' the line, Mister!

Yes! I need 1 partner more and we'll make a heist!

[depletedvespene]

I count as two — soy un hombre prevenido.

[Wazrach]

I don't know if you just want to convert it completely to USB, but I don't see why you can't use Hasu's external converter for 4704 keyboards and keep that amazing cable!

Correct me if I'm wrong here: the adapter for the Pingmaster is also good for the F62, F77 and F107 keyboards, right?

Same connector! Don't see why not! I really do not like wimpy USB cables attached to old keyboards.

[Myoth]

[snip]

WEW HOLY SHIT, NICE FIND

[User101]

I don't know if you just want to convert it completely to USB, but I don't see why you can't use Hasu's external converter for 4704 keyboards and keep that amazing cable!

Correct me if I'm wrong here: the adapter for the Pingmaster is also good for the F62, F77 and F107 keyboards, right?

I think that's the case here. The pingmaster is also of the 4704 series(at least that's what I heard a lotta people say)

[karlmartin95]

It works!!! I'm using an Arduino Pro Micro. When the keyboard starts I can hear a beep from the buzzer and all works good. The only thing is that I can't hear the buzzer every time I hit a key. Can somebody help me? Perhaps, only with other mods the beeper works

[Chyros]

It works!!! I'm using an Arduino Pro Micro. When the keyboard starts I can hear a beep from the buzzer and all works good. The only thing is that I can't hear the buzzer every time I hit a key. Can somebody help me? Perhaps, only with other mods the beeper works

There should be a volume knob under the keyboard. It may be all the way out. Try twistingit in the other direction and see what happens!

[karlmartin95]

It works!!! I'm using an Arduino Pro Micro. When the keyboard starts I can hear a beep from the buzzer and all works good. The only thing is that I can't hear the buzzer every time I hit a key. Can somebody help me? Perhaps, only with other mods the beeper works

There should be a volume knob under the keyboard. It may be all the way out. Try twistingit in the other direction and see what happens!

I moved the knob under the keyboard but nothing happens. I only hear a beep when I connect the keyboard to the computer.

[depletedvespene]

One thing at a time, then. Please make sure that it does respond to keys being pressed with scan codes and whatnot. Later we can all help you figure out the rest.

Did I say "ENVYYYYYY"?

[karlmartin95]

One thing at a time, then. Please make sure that it does respond to keys being pressed with scan codes and whatnot. Later we can all help you figure out the rest.

Did I say "ENVYYYYYY"?

Yes, I have some problems with some keys..

Here I show you my keyboard configuration, I used this: http://www.tmk-kbd.com/tmk_keyboard/edi ... 4_usb_rev1
from the Hosu's official page.



In the keyboard, I added new caps from a rare Ibm Model M terminal keyboard to the right extended pad. When I press the key "Enter" (The one in the bottom) I activate the numpad. And in the numpad, the keys 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and the left and right arrows don't do the correct key function configured before.


Here you can see the Arduino Pro Micro connected to the original circuit, and in the back the solenoid for the beeper.


I don't know why those keys aren't mapping correctly and why the beeper only beeps the first time when I connect the keyboard to the pc and when I press a key doesn't beep. I was searching and I found that the arduino must send a especial command 'FD' to the logic board in order to get a beep, but I'm having troubles getting in the source code because I don't know exactly where the source code is.

[depletedvespene]

First let's see what the mappings ARE and then we go about determining what to map each thing to. You got Switch Hitter installed? Start with annotating the scan codes that are produced by each key and go from there. It may well be that this keyboard speaks a set different from what we expect and therefore the TMK conversion mapping should look different from the image you posted.

[sh1]

What does restoration mean in the case of such a rare board? Should it be left as original as possible as opposed to changes one might otherwise make for it to be a better daily driver?

[orihalcon]

Great find indeed!

My understanding is not that the F77 was particularly rare to begin with as there were no doubt thousands if not tens of thousands made, it’s just that all 4704’s were supposed to have been destroyed per bank IT policy when they stopped being used. I guess banks worry about banking data being left on any equipment, so they just destroy it all. We kind of got lucky that there were a couple of decent sized batches of F107s and F62s found that somehow didn’t get to be recycled, but it’s likely that those same keyboards were being used alongside F77’s back in the day in the same buildings. Cindy knows more as far as what sort of banking position would use each layout.

[karlmartin95]

Ladies and gentlemen, the keyboard is finished! I'm writing from it right now.
There's one problem left, I have to make the buzzer work while I write. The buzzer only make a beep when I connect the keyboard to the computer.

Here is the final result:



I preserve the original IBM cable of course, suggestions are welcome.
I'll make a tutorial step by step to convert any 4704 F77 keyboard to usb with the chepeast Arduino, I used the Pro Micro.

Thanks to depletedvespene for helping me to configure the keyboard pad!

Greets!

[Coco]

This is amazing. Great find and nice restoration!

[Polecat]

Very nice work, thanks for sharing!

[andrewjoy]

That is just amazing. What are there like less than 10 of them ? And you just found it lying around.

Honestly you should give up now as unless you find a space cadet in the street you aint' topping that !

[purdobol]

Looks great. Nice work.

[Wazrach]

That's gorgeous. Would love to hear a typing demo if you have the time.

[Chyros]

Lovely! Such a nice keyboard, really looking forward to my own when Ellipse finishes his project .

[Wazrach]

Lovely! Such a nice keyboard, really looking forward to my own when Ellipse finishes his project .

Did you buy one outright? Or is he giving one to you for free?

I'm getting a black F-77 with black keycaps.

[Weezer]

One of these just came up on ebay and instantly sold for almost $4000

[karlmartin95]

One of these just came up on ebay and instantly sold for almost $4000

Really??? When?

[User101]

One of these just came up on ebay and instantly sold for almost $4000

That's scary lol

[//gainsborough]

One of these just came up on ebay and instantly sold for almost $4000

Really??? When?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/163771082226/

uh..... f77!?

around 15:20 PST, hahaha

[Redmaus]

One of these just came up on ebay and instantly sold for almost $4000

Where? The only one I saw is still sitting at $5000 unsold.

[User101]

Anyone wants to see the sale here it is.