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Atari keyboard to USB


candle

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Hi all!

 

this is day one of my usb keyboard development - currently only the basics are covered, but at least it works ;)

 

project was based on C64 USB Keyboard, so only actuall keyboard scanning function needed to be modified, rest of it is v-usb core from Objective Development

 

 

whole setup:

DSC01683.JPG

 

proto-board closeup:

DSC01685.JPG

 

schematics

hex file for ATMEGA8

Edited by candle
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well, i don't suppose this would be any usefully to most of us, but somebody asked me if this would be possible, so here it is

I would love to have one of these, especially if it was hooked up to standard 800 (not XL) keyboard. Have you tried using it while your regular PC keyboard is plugged in? (You can have more than one keyboard plugged in & working via USB). Does it work ok, any gotchas?

 

Thanks for doing this!

 

 

 

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THe 1200XL keyboard is exactly the same as the Mitsumi 800 keyboard.. (except for the function keys, of course).. But its mechanically identicle.. The keys, plungers, springs, etc. all interchange.. Made by the same company, based on the same design.

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they should be?

project has to be open-source since its using v-usb software usb stack

i guess i can make some boards if there will be any demand for them

 

any gotchas? it seems so - when booting up my computer with this keyboard plugged in it took almost forever - disconnecting it prevented me pulling my last hairs out and bursting into tears

it works with another keyboard plugged in under windows without any issues, so i need to dig deeper

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Awesome, I will take a few. I have a couple of dead 600xl and 800xl will it work these units too? I have a 1200xl but its in pretty good shape so don't want to mess with it.

 

now all I need is a way to convert Atari DB9 joystick ports to USB(I know they have converted to Atari joysticks over for use on USB so it shouldn't be too difficult).

 

And we already have usb2sio,

 

Then I can convert one of my DEAD 600/800xl into a PC running an Atari Emulator, Sort of like the new Commodore PC, but still able to use some of my old peripherals. Kinda useless I know, but I thought it would be cool to the pc with all my Atari files also look like an Atari. Be able to connect a 1050 and Atari joysticks to it.

 

Before I get lambasted for tearing apart these dead atari's, The 800xl has a broken main-board, I have removed and used some of the chips to get other Atari's back to working, the 600xl I haven't spent a lot of time on, but I think it had gotten wet and had been hooked up to a bad Ingot power supply.

 

Robert Miller

Edited by venom4728a
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THe 1200XL keyboard is exactly the same as the Mitsumi 800 keyboard.. (except for the function keys, of course).. But its mechanically identicle.. The keys, plungers, springs, etc. all interchange.. Made by the same company, based on the same design.

 

They're both great! But why does the 800 Keyboard not fail as often? (other than "Defender" hyperspace killing its fair share of 800 spacebars)

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i've run into small problem

 

i can't get shift to work - i'm able to use control key as shift key, but shift key - non of them will work

i've already tryed two 1200xl keyboards with the same result

 

have anyone confirmed schematics of such keyboard so i could check it agains the one i'm using?

 

 

keyboard works well enought i could write this text on it :)

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they should be?

project has to be open-source since its using v-usb software usb stack

i guess i can make some boards if there will be any demand for them

 

any gotchas? it seems so - when booting up my computer with this keyboard plugged in it took almost forever - disconnecting it prevented me pulling my last hairs out and bursting into tears

it works with another keyboard plugged in under windows without any issues, so i need to dig deeper

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I've been using my 1200xl as my primary pc keyboard for over a year using a programmable keyboard controller via ps2. But my system can't have both atari and pc connected at the same time. Does your USB method have this same limitation?

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fox-1 - i'm using it ;) but shift still doesn't work

 

I'mGladYourSpaceBarWorksAsItShould. (I was "lost-in-space" a while ago. Gives irc a whole new dimension :-) )

 

 

I'm short of Atari keyboards so a question that arose was: is it possible to use this interface while the Atari keyboard is still connected to the XL/XE?

 

In other words: use 1 keyboard on both systems with a switch to select to what system the key codes will go. Just the key signals so that the interface itself stays visible by the PC system.

 

And another one... does it support combined key presses? Will a combination like control-shift-help-start-select-R actually work? Devices like TransKey and A.K.I. don't.

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The multi keypress thing is a limitation imposed by the device performing the keyscan + transmit.

 

That's the problem with Pokey - the process is all but totally automated with little programmer control other than the Init/Scan/Debounce states.

 

With a different controller that limitation can easily be overcome - in theory you should be able to do individual keyscans, keydown, keyup etc.

I would imagine though that we'd probably get the similar "lockout and ghosting" effects that most PC keyboards experience, ie hold down too many keys and you can get some keys not registering or incorrect keycodes recognised.

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But can you use the Atari keyboard with the Atari and the PC at the same time? That's what I've not been able to do with the programmable controller. For example, right now I'm typing this on my Atari but the ribbon cable has to be disconnected from my 1200's main pcb. If I connect it and turn on the Atari, POKEY gets messed up and the system won't boot. On the pc side, having the ribbon cable connected to the main pcb causes all sorts of ghosting issues. If your device can serve both systems without having to plug/unplug things, I'd gladly buy one.

 

EDIT: sorry, I missed the schematic you posted and the fact that this is open source. I'm going to try building one of these to play with.

Edited by yorgle
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doing like so would require to rewrite matrix scanning function from active one, driving 4051 chips into a passive one, reacting on certain value on pokey lines and then syncing its row and col counters with it

 

currently there is an active scanning function implemented as i didn't see a point of doing the other one

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ok, shift/control issues fixed

 

todo: remap cursor keys as they behave on real atari, remap some shifted keys to their positions (ie shift+2 or shift+7)

 

if anyone could test it it would be great - yes - that requires building it - not that complicated though - just 4 resistors, few caps, crystal and 2 diodes

so - anyone?

 

(ps. hex file is constantly updated as i'm working on it)

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