No subject

Unfortunately, the other end of the cable did not match any standard PC
keyboard connector.  It most resembled the AT keyboard connector, but the
pins were spread around a slightly greater arc of the circle than is
normal, something like:


      *               *
                   *      *
  *       *                 
                  *        *
   *     *                

    _____           _____
      |               |
 Terminal Kbd       PC Kbd


I have an old 10-function-key model M IBM keyboard with an almost identical-
looking internal connector, so I tried swapping its AT keyboard cable into
the terminal keybaord, and hooking the terminal keyboard up to an old 486.

It _sorta_ worked.  I just booted up to MS-DOS and tried typing junk and
running programs.  Some of the keys did not generate anything visible, but
that was to be expected.  The alphanumeric keys seemed to work ok, but 
sometimes they would "stick", and repeat until some other key got filled,
causing the computer to beep continuously when its buffer got filled up.

Obviously it wasn't working quite perfectly.  I then tried connecting it
to my main system with an AT->PS/2 adapter.  My system wouldn't boot with it
connected, no matter what I tried.  It's possible this was a weakness of
my motherboard.  Apparently some Abit keyboards from this era are very
finicky about which keyboards they'll handle.

At this point I gave up.  I'd still like to get the keyboard working, so
I recently bought a PS/2 extension cable and an internal connector that'll
fit the keyboard, and intend to try hooking it up again.  All those
extra function keys would be great for near-mouse-free use under fvwm.

Let me know if you have any thoughts.


Justin Thiessen
thiessen at sonic.net