PS/2 or AT/XT keyboard mod for the 400?

[nathanallan]

Title pretty much says it all. Someone on the Antique Radio Forums has gotten themselves their very first Atari 400 and wants to mod the keyboard. Is there a way to use a different non-membrane keyboard so he can use it that way?

 

Having a separate keyboard would be better and just bypass and cover up the membrane. I'm going to try to do a mod like this myself for him, with only adding a port or cable to keep the 400 as original as possible.

 

For parts, I have a non-working 800XL, plenty of AT/XT keyboards, might even be able to get a cash register keyboard that's totally programmable (more of a chicklet type, like at grocery stores checkouts). PS/2 keyboards galore, of course.

 

I refuse to use my clicky keyboards, those are for special occasions

 

Any ideas?

Edited November 15, 2009 by nathanallan

[Rybags]

I remember decades ago seeing such a project that used a generic keyboard in a seperate housing which allowed using both in parallel.

No idea whether any translational hardware was needed, and have never seen the article since.

[UNIXcoffee928]

I remember decades ago seeing such a project that used a generic keyboard in a seperate housing which allowed using both in parallel.

No idea whether any translational hardware was needed, and have never seen the article since.

Ah, got it right here... It was published in the book entitled: The Creative Atari. The Article was written by Robert Noskowicz, and is entitled, "Standard Keyboard for the Atari 400".

 

 

It was released in 1983, by Creative Computing Press. The ISBN is: 0-916688-34-8.

 

Lots of great stuff in that book!

[+kheller2]

http://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/12/02/0106.php

 

That of course doesn't exist anymore, but I thought there were a few home brew designs too.

 

I have a transkey, I wonder if it still works. There were a few limitations to it, like not being able to do three key combinations because of the way PC keyboards worked or something.

[nathanallan]

Still looking around, but the Transkey seems like it was really interesting to do. Seems there were lots of kits out there at the time when it came out, none of them available anymore except when somebody cleans out a closet.

 

I found this interesting, something I didn't know:

 

On an XL or XE series machine Control F1 - F5 will provide the

following special functions:

 

Control F1 Disables the keyboard (both stock an

external) and until pressed again, all

keys will be ignored by the computer.

 

Control F2 Disables DMA. Pressing this will cause

the screen to go black until any other

key is pressed. While the screen is

black, processing time is accelerated

by 30%.

 

Control F3 Disables the audible keyboard click

when a key is pressed, pressing it

again will re-enable the click sound.

 

Control F4 Toggles between International symbols

and standard graphics symbols on the

screen.

 

Control F5 This acts as the HELP key, since there

isn't one on most IBM keyboards.

Neat stuff. But still looking for a solution for this person so I can do it myself, too.

[atariksi]

Still looking around, but the Transkey seems like it was really interesting to do. Seems there were lots of kits out there at the time when it came out, none of them available anymore except when somebody cleans out a closet.

 

I found this interesting, something I didn't know:

 

On an XL or XE series machine Control F1 - F5 will provide the

following special functions:

 

Control F1 Disables the keyboard (both stock an

external) and until pressed again, all

keys will be ignored by the computer.

 

Control F2 Disables DMA. Pressing this will cause

the screen to go black until any other

key is pressed. While the screen is

black, processing time is accelerated

by 30%.

 

Control F3 Disables the audible keyboard click

when a key is pressed, pressing it

again will re-enable the click sound.

 

Control F4 Toggles between International symbols

and standard graphics symbols on the

screen.

 

Control F5 This acts as the HELP key, since there

isn't one on most IBM keyboards.

Neat stuff. But still looking for a solution for this person so I can do it myself, too.

 

If he's typing in BASIC, ASM, or similar editor, you can use a software keyboard simulation:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320446830146

 

It won't work if you go directly to the hardware register 53769 to read the keystrokes.

[nathanallan]

Still looking around, but the Transkey seems like it was really interesting to do. Seems there were lots of kits out there at the time when it came out, none of them available anymore except when somebody cleans out a closet.

 

I found this interesting, something I didn't know:

 

On an XL or XE series machine Control F1 - F5 will provide the

following special functions:

 

Control F1 Disables the keyboard (both stock an

external) and until pressed again, all

keys will be ignored by the computer.

 

Control F2 Disables DMA. Pressing this will cause

the screen to go black until any other

key is pressed. While the screen is

black, processing time is accelerated

by 30%.

 

Control F3 Disables the audible keyboard click

when a key is pressed, pressing it

again will re-enable the click sound.

 

Control F4 Toggles between International symbols

and standard graphics symbols on the

screen.

 

Control F5 This acts as the HELP key, since there

isn't one on most IBM keyboards.

Neat stuff. But still looking for a solution for this person so I can do it myself, too.

 

If he's typing in BASIC, ASM, or similar editor, you can use a software keyboard simulation:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320446830146

 

It won't work if you go directly to the hardware register 53769 to read the keystrokes.

I remember when that thing was first developed, that's a great idea! I'll have to pass it along. This is a great method, too. The 400 is a perfect example of making this useful. Thanks!! I had totally forgotten about this MPDOS thing.

[mimo]

I may be barking up the wrong tree, but our friend candle makes these http://spiflash.org/block/12.html

 

there is also the A.K.I (Atari Keyboard Interface), but I can't remember who does that one, maybe loathertec?

[mimo]

http://aim.pelech.net/aki.htm