MEGA4 Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 I dug out all of my old Atari ST and 8 bit stiff and set it up and an trying to get re-acquainted with it. Bringing back alot of fond memories from my childhood. But I can't for the life of me figire out what this device is. I got it in a lot of Atari stuff I bought off of e-Bay. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks! T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 Do you have a photo of the insides? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEGA4 Posted May 27, 2007 Author Share Posted May 27, 2007 Ask and ye shall recieve. Really curious as to what this is... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 I haven't see that before. Just guessing, but I would say it might be a printer interface. The header looks similar to those used to go from a PC parallel port card to the DB-25 connector. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snorlaxnut Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 It's what classics said, it's a printer interface. When I got my 800 XL at a garage sale, I also got a printer and it came with that interface. The interface came in a box, which I lost, that had a list of computers printed on it (Commodore 64, Vic 20, IBM), and a check next to Atari. I guess the company that made the printer also made the interface. Here's the info that was on the printer: Big Blue Protecto 312/382-5244 22292 N. Pepper Rd., Barrington, Ill. 60010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 It's definately a Big Blue printer interface from Protecto (i.e. product liquidator). I've still got the interface from mine. It was a thermal printer. Piece of junk. Dunno why I saved the interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
re-atari Posted May 28, 2007 Share Posted May 28, 2007 Ask and ye shall recieve. Really curious as to what this is... Thanks! If I'm not mistaken, the board contains a Motorola 6805 microcontroller. The same type was used in the old sturdy (and hence heavy) IBM MF2 keyboards. Every single one I have seen (and opened) contained a version with a masked ROM onboard instead of an eprom, though. IBM used these keyboards on their RS6000's and mainframes as well, but the ROM was then specially adapted for the specific keyboard layout. The serial protocol for transferring data to and fro looked to be identical to the PC version of the MF2. re-atari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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