Weird Keyboard Compaq 386, Buy or Borrow

[eric_ruck]

I have a friend looking for a wierd keyboard for a Compaq 386. From the outside the plug looks like the old XT style, fat round thing, but instead of five pins arranged in an arc, this one has only four pins arranged in a square.

 

He's trying to decommission an old machine but needs the keyboard to get some old things off of it. He's willing to buy the keyboard off someone, or just rent it for a week if someone doesn't want to part with it permanently.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[vintagegamer89]

I think I might know of where one is... A freind and I found two keyboards like you described in a dumpster about 6 months ago. We threw them behind these apartment garages, and they were still there when I walked by them about three weeks ago. Theyre both missing alot of keys, and I'm not positive if they still work due to them being exposed to the elements for so long. I'll check back and see if they are still there. If they are he can have them for the price of shipping. - Sean

[eric_ruck]

Eh, who knows, it's probably worth it if they're still there. I don't suppose you have a digital camera to take a picture of the plug?

 

Missing keys often isn't a problem if the keyboard switches were well made, usually they're just missing key caps.

 

If you can find them I'll report back to my friend.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[Carey85]

He can probably get by with just the cable if he has any soldering skills. The four pins are going to be +5v, GND, Clock, and Data. It's just a matter of finding a pinout of the four pin jack to find out what's what, or hit them with a multimeter.