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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

2899.0. "Can an LK250 be used on an A2000?" by UFP::LARUE (Jeff LaRue - MAA Senior Network Consultant) Thu Sep 07 1989 01:19

    There have been several notes over the past few years having to
    do with replacing the standard keyboard on either the A1000 or
    A2000 with various "other" full-size keyboards. (e.g. #557 and
    #2017)
    
    Can anyone provide an update and/or some further information on what
    can be done?  In particular, does anyone have any thoughts on
    connecting the LK250 keyboard to the A2000?  Since the LK250 is
    our LK201 for the IBM PC.....might that make it a simple plug-in
    replacement?
    
    -tnx,
    	  Jeff
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2899.1UFP::LARUEJeff LaRue - MAA Senior Network ConsultantFri Sep 08 1989 20:4022
Well, I went and tried connecting an IBM PC keyboard
to the Amiga..and vice-versa.

They are plug compatible and apparently the voltage
and current levels are within limits......nothing
was damaged by this little exercise.

However, it didn't work.  The Amiga just sat there
and nothing happens when the keyboard is used.  In
the case of the PC, something like "bad key codes"
were gotten when using the Amiga's keyboard.

So.

Perhaps it is now a matter of trying to replace
the Amiga's keyboard routine with a custom
routine for the PC keyboard (or the LK250).  Can
anyone provide any help/guidance as to how one
might do such a thing?

-thanks,
	 Jeff
2899.2keymap?WJG::GUINEAUImpossible ConcentrationSat Sep 09 1989 13:159
Maybe you just need to set up the proper keymap. There is a SetMap AmigaDOS
command (startup-sequence usually has a "SetMap USA1" in it) and also
I've seen keymap editors.

You also might want to look into the KeyToy2000 tool on your extras disk.


John
2899.3UFP::LARUEJeff LaRue - MAA Senior Network ConsultantThu Nov 02 1989 16:5310
Re: .-1

Unfortunately.....nope.  Neither of those suggestions appear to offer
a way to actually define the key encodings.

...any other ideas?

[does anyone know which system file the keyboard driver is located in?]

-Jeff
2899.4Not exactly a fileTLE::RMEYERSRandy MeyersThu Nov 02 1989 20:325
Re: .3

>[does anyone know which system file the keyboard driver is located in?]

ROM.
2899.52000 keyboard on 500WJG::GUINEAUFri Nov 03 1989 01:23101

From USENET:

Article 8076 of comp.sys.amiga.tech
Path: shlump.nac.dec.com!decuac!haven!purdue!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!luth!sunic!liuida!slaka!micke
From: micke@slaka.sirius.se (Mikael Karlsson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: 2000 kbd to 500
Message-ID: <3604.AA3604@slaka.sirius.se>
Date: 25 Oct 89 09:32:32 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Lines: 84

In article <4178@blake.acs.washington.edu> Dale Larson writes:
>I do not recommend replacing your A500 keyboard with an A2000 keyboard.

I don't share Dale's opinion. I certainly recommend replacing the keyboard.

This is an article that I wrote two months ago but never got
around to posting:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Some time ago somebody asked if it was possible to connect an
A2000 keyboard to an A500. Well, it is, sort of...

Here's the story.

Ins and outs (from the TECHREF manual):
A2000
                           2          1 KCLK     Keyboard clock
      __ _____          5     4       2 KDAT     Keyboard data
     |  |     \____                   3 NC
---> |  |     |____    3       1      4 GND
     |__|_____/                       5 +5
                                      6 SHIELD
                           6


A500 - from left to right when facing the machine (bus side to floppy side)

   1 KDAT    Keyboard data
   2 KCLK    Keyboard clock
   3 RESET   Reset signal (Hard wired)
   4 +5
   5 KEY     Beats me
   6 GND
   7 STATW   Power LED
   8 INUSE   Floppy LED

Using this information I connected 2000 to 500; 1-2, 2-1, 4-6, 5-4.
When I switched on I got a stream of (not acrid smoke :-) quotes.
According to an earlier posting by George Robbins at CATS this meant
that KDAT and KCLK were swapped. I changed my connections to:
1-1, 2-2, 4-6, 5-4. This time, no smoke, no quotes. So, I try to type
something. Things look strange and after a couple of characters I
get no output. Since I use conman (and VT100s) I try a Ctrl-Q.
Ok, back in business. By now I can type almost anything, except "m",
"n" and cursor keys. After a while I realise that these keys have
some special meaning when used together with left and right amiga keys.
I press and release left amiga and right amiga and finally everything
works. So it seems like the A500 believes that the reset-keys are down.
By pressing and releasing them one at a time I tell the A500 that
they're up. The same thing happens if you try to reboot the A500 by
pressing ctrl-amiga-amiga. What happens is that the A500 registers
that the keys are pressed and then the keyboard resets itself leaving
the A500 believing that the reset-keys are still down. Question: How
does the A2000 detect a reset? Is there any HW involved? Is there a
difference in the ROMs between the A500 and the A2000?

Disclaimer:
I take no responsibility at all for any damage made to your Amiga.
Neither because of this fix or any other reason, such as earth quakes,
tornados etc.

Problems:
You can't do a 3-finger reset. It doesn't matter much to me since I
don't reboot often (twice a week maybe).

Questions:
Why did I have to swap KDAT and KCLK? Have I done anything wrong?
Would it be possible to connect both keyboards at the same time?
Would it be possible to connect a keyboard via the serial port?
Where can I find a specification of the data sent from the keyboard?
Comments? George? Dave?

Last recommendation:

     I would feel much safer if you wait for somebody who knows what
     he's talking to acknowledge this before you start mutilating
     your Amiga 500 (and your friend's A2000 ;-).
----------------------------------------------------------------

Have fun.

Mikael Karlsson, Lovsattersvagen 10, S-585 98  LINKOPING, SWEDEN
micke@slaka.UUCP, micke@slaka.sirius.se
{mcvax,munnari,seismo}!enea!liuida!slaka!micke
C86.M-KARLSSON@LINUS.liu.se