dphirschler Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 I am very interested in modding my TI to use a standard PS2 keyboard. I never really got along with my TI keyboard. I was always fat-fingering keys because it was just a size smaller than standard keyboards. The standard 101 keyboard looks ideal to me. In my ideal world, I would map the F1-F11 keys to TI function keys (1-9, '0', '='). The arrow keys mapped to FCTN+ESDX (perhaps after hitting Scroll Lock it maps straight to ESDX without FCTN). Maybe even ALT to TI FCTN key (so you could still hit ALT+8 to "Redo", or just hit F8... or ALT+ESDX for arrow keys). Both F2 and “Insert”) could be mapped to TI FCTN+2 "Insert"). Who knows what to do with PGUP, PGDN, Home, and End? Anyways, I have no idea how to make this work. I would imagine a PS2 keyboard decoder would have to be hardwired in. I've seen pictures of the Rave99 Keyboard Enhancement, and that looks like exactly what I want! So my questions are: Is it (still or was it ever) available for sale? Has any further development been done on this? And if not, is there any interest here to continue/revive this project? Darryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Believe it or not, the TI-99/4A keyboard is a standard layout. All the basic typewriter keys are in exactly the same positions and are the same distances apart as any other standard typewriter keyboard. The differences are the wider, variable-width (and shape, especially of the ENTER key) keys and the variable use keys, the placement of which computer manufacturers, over the years, never could make up their minds. That said, I believe @Tursi has done such a project. He may have shared the details somewhere on this forum. I'm sure he'll chime in. ...lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Here's the mod on @Tursi's website: http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/onesoft.cgi?100 ...lee 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dphirschler Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 OK, I've read his page and examined his PCB. I have some minor improvements I want to make to the PCB. I'd like to make room for mounting holes, then spread out some of the traces a little. And possibly put a standard header for the PS2 connection. (or is that a standard header there?) Is anybody else interested in doing this mod? It might be cheaper to get multiple boards done at the same time. Darryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 OK, I've read his page and examined his PCB. I have some minor improvements I want to make to the PCB. I'd like to make room for mounting holes, then spread out some of the traces a little. And possibly put a standard header for the PS2 connection. (or is that a standard header there?) Is anybody else interested in doing this mod? It might be cheaper to get multiple boards done at the same time. Darryl I'd do at least 1, more depending on price. There are some super cheap asian board makers out there, I've used futurlec.com for my boards with good results. Jim uses another company that may be even cheaper.. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 I believe Jim is already planning to do a run of the PCBs, I've just asked him to hold off till I port the code to a smaller AVR, since that Mega16 is both overkill and getting harder to find. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dphirschler Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 Yay! This is good news indeed! Please keep us posted here on the progress of this. I will be wanting one of those boards. Darryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Omce Tursi is done with his code/AVR changes, I will definitely be doing a run of these. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Well, the keyboard arrived today, now I just need to install the interface once it's ready. By then I'll have figured out what to do with the HP logo on the keyboard. It looks like a better match than in the photo below. I'm also REALLY looking forward to getting that speech synthesizer into the PEB. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firepod Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I would be interested in the Keyboard Mod too, man so many great mods for the TI!!!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
am1933 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 The keyboard mod is not one that I am crazy about (hear me out folks), As I had the relative freedom of no wife or kids for three days, I went a bit crazy and set up a load of my machines and had a pretty good session on each. as I was using the various machines-the quality and feel of the keyboards was apparent, some of the bad ones included ZX spectrum(Amstrad version), Atari 130XE, CBM VIC20 and CBM 64, some good ones included Dragon 32, Tandy CoCo2 and CBM plus 4, amongst the excellent were the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro, the early edition Atari 800XL, Toshiba MSX and the TI99/4a. Whilst the layout of the 4a keyboard has put people off, I personally like the feel and quality of the 4a keyboard above all others (feels sturdy, no wobble and nicely sprung). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I dunno 'bout you, but I'm REALLY looking forward to getting that little gadget installed. The beauty about this modification is that you can still use the TI keyboard (if you want), but being able to put it on my lap or have it closer or in a more comfortable position during game play or an extended typing session is a big plus. With Matthew's F18A, and the 80 columns that it provides, I'm finding that I'm using the TI for notes, scheduling, simple spreadsheets and 90% of my game play now. I also use the TI to call the BBS and before long, I just might be doing some surfing on the future TI-WEB Who knows, maybe later I'll add mouse support on one of my comports too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I would be interested in the Keyboard Mod too, man so many great mods for the TI!!!!! Truer words were NEVER spoken. You could probably get 10 TI users in a room, and have 15 different configurations! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 The BLACK keyboards, yes. But the beige ones feel cheap as hell to me. I am partial to the Amiga keyboards. In particular the 4000 or 2000 (in that order.) The latter is pretty much the same as the 500 in a separated unit. Although, the Commodore SX-64 keyboard is pretty slick, too. I cannot say that I dislike very many system keyboards I have used: Atari 800XL and 1200XL, Apple //e (the //c is crap, IMNSHO,) Mac keyboards starting in the PPC era, Commodore 64 (the 128D keyboard is superior, though,) Atari ST, and what-all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAB54 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 This is my first attempt at posting a message on these forums so if I'm inappropriate I apologize. Is this board available and if so I am extremely interested in acquiring one. Or to get on a waiting list. Any info would be greatly appreciated as it looks like a great gadget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 In another message Tursi said he's planning on coming out with a new version of the device in a few months. However if you don't want to wait.. I was able to find << THIS LINK >> on installation of the unit. << HERE >> is where you can download the PCB files and parts list and stuff for the current unit. I have a friend that started the ball rolling using the old design before Tursi made his announcement, but from what I understand they'll operate the same. So I'm just anxiously waiting to get it, install it and play with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astharot Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 If the news of OMEGA are correct, also i purchase this pcb.. if after this project is good also for another retro-computer like msx, sega sc3000, svi328 sure purchase more Then at moment wait mode .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 The only difference to the "new" one is I want to use a smaller AVR (cheaper, newer, lower power), and if I can get the time, I want to include a serial input (equivalent of Classic99's "edit-paste", you'll be able to type via terminal, hopefully). Ideally I should ditch the AVRs and put all the powerups in a single ARM chip, but I probably won't get around to that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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