USB Keyboard adapter- anyone tried it?

[Kchula-Rrit]

While looking at Fred Kaal's Web site I ran across a gadget that purports to connect a USB keyboard to a TI:

 

http://www.ti99-geek.nl/Projects/kbti994a/kbti994a.html

 

It looks intriguing.  Anyone tried one?  If it would work in parallel with the original keyboard, that would be great!

K-R.

[+arcadeshopper]

no but I have built and installed quite a few of jedimatt42's model which is wired in parallel with the original keyboard https://github.com/jedimatt42/TI-99-usb-keys

 

 

[Omega-TI]

If you prefer to save some time and effort, the "easy way" is to go directly << HERE >> and buy the completed and assembled unit.

[Shift838]

10 hours ago, Kchula-Rrit said:

While looking at Fred Kaal's Web site I ran across a gadget that purports to connect a USB keyboard to a TI:

 

http://www.ti99-geek.nl/Projects/kbti994a/kbti994a.html

 

It looks intriguing.  Anyone tried one?  If it would work in parallel with the original keyboard, that would be great!

K-R.

i have built one of Fred's units for the Geneve and it works well. I decided to not use headers and hack a cable.  I put in a 5 pin DIN so I could connect between the keyboard for the Geneve.  For the 4A that would not be needed, just stick to Fred's design.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Shift838

[Kchula-Rrit]

8 hours ago, INVISIBLE said:

If you prefer to save some time and effort, the "easy way" is to go directly << HERE >> and buy the completed and assembled unit.

It sounds intriguing, but arcadeshopper.com won't let me see it.

 

K-R.

 

[+arcadeshopper]

On 4/9/2020 at 3:33 PM, Kchula-Rrit said:

It sounds intriguing, but arcadeshopper.com won't let me see it.

 

K-R.

 

please pm me with details and maybe a screen capture of the issue and we can figure it out.. you can also try https://arcadeshopper.ecwid.com/#!/JEDIMatt-USB-Keyboard-interface-ASSEMBLED/p/112064068/category=23836460 or if you are on the facebook go to facebook.com/arcadeshopperdotcom and click on store

 

 

[Omega-TI]

On 4/9/2020 at 3:33 PM, Kchula-Rrit said:

It sounds intriguing, but arcadeshopper.com won't let me see it.

 

K-R.

 

Here is a cut & paste from his site...

 

 

 

 

 

JEDIMatt USB Keyboard interface ASSEMBLED

Store/TI-99/4A/Hardware/Keyboards and adapters

SKU jediusbkeyassy

 

$55.00

 

In stock: 2 available

Quantity:

1

Add to Bag

 

Save this product for later

Favorite

Share this product with your friends

ShareTweetPin it

I will build these when ordered so there may be a small delay while I assemble it before shipping it out.

This is an assembled board that will need to be connected to the TI keyboard per this instruction:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNBCeBHUqFHEI...

Also works great with our replacement keyboard cable connector..

This was inspired by Tursi's PS/2 keyboard adapter, the key mapping available in Classic99, and the Rave99 XT keyboard adapter from JEDIMatt's youth.

The project has been discussed in this thread on Atariage.

All of the necessary Arduino SDK source and circuit board design are available at Github jedimatt42/TI-99-usb-keys.

Here are some of the prototype pictures

He has tested the board with Logitech Nano Receiver wireless USB keyboard model K750. Also, he has tested with a cheap USB wired keyboard from Insignia.

This supports the 101-key keyboards in USB 'boot' protocol. That does place a restriction, preventing it from supporting special media keys and internet shortcut keys available on many 'multimedia' keyboards.

In general, it works like a TI keyboard, press ALT-P will produce a doublequote character. But so will pressing the now standard shift-quote key sequence. The mapping is copied from Tursi where the 'boot' protocol supports reading the key.

The internal keyboard remains operational.

Mapping:

• Caps-lock & Num-lock on at power up.
• Scroll-lock off at power up.
• Alt -> Fctn
• F1-F9 -> Fctn 1-9
• F10 -> Fctn 0
• F11 -> Ctrl 1
• F12 -> Ctrl 2
• Esc -> Fctn 9
• Arrow keys -> Fctn S,D,E,X
  • with scroll-lock on, arrow keys are just S,D,E,X without Fctn
• Backspace -> Fctn S
• Home -> Ctrl U
• End -> Ctrl V
• Del -> Fctn 1
• Ins -> Fctn 2
• Pgup -> Fctn 6
• Pgdn -> Fctn 4
• Break -> Fctn 4
• Tab -> Fctn 7
• Num-lock does the logical thing to the number pad.
• Ctrl-Alt-Delete will reboot/reset the keyboard adapter.

Notes

While you can hold modifiers down, during power up, the adapter board may not be ready yet, and the TI may miss them.

Fctn-Equals has special release handling. I think the TI polls for Fctn-Equals too fast 'boot looping' if you will, interrupting the teensy too frequently for it to process the key release.

It works quite well with Micro-Pinball which is known to have trouble holding the flippers on the Rave99 adapter. I have however observed that sometimes it has issues with the tight polling loop in this game. Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete
( I swear this doesn't run windows ) has proven to sync things up (my Teensy software is very interrupt driven), making gameplay reliable afterwards. I haven't seen the same issue in any other software.

G1,G2,G3

There are 3 GPIO pins on the adapter board, that can be used to control other circuits. The latest firmware has them each mapped to Ctrl-Alt sequences:

• G1 -> Ctrl-Alt-F10
• G2 -> Ctrl-Alt-F11
• G3 -> Ctrl-Alt-F12

The firmware is configured so that when the key sequence is released, the pin is connected to ground for 25 milliseconds. At other times, they are 'floating'. This is handy for connecting the to TMS9900 CPU pin 6 to create a hard reset button. It should also work for the load-interrupt on the CPU pin 4, although the duration may need to be adjusted for the load-interrupt. The reset has been tested, but the interrupt has not as of yet.

And if you have an imaginative use for the 3rd GPIO pin, please share.

 

http://ti994a.cwfk.net/TiUsbKeys.html for more info

[Kchula-Rrit]

"Solved" the problem with arcadeshopper.com.  Seems the thing hated my browser.  I used Firefox v75(!)  and it worked.  Placed an order for one.  Looking at all the toys there, I could drain my bank account.

 

K-R.

 

[Kchula-Rrit]

On 4/10/2020 at 6:52 PM, arcadeshopper said:

please pm me with details and maybe a screen capture of the issue and we can figure it out.. you can also try https://arcadeshopper.ecwid.com/#!/JEDIMatt-USB-Keyboard-interface-ASSEMBLED/p/112064068/category=23836460 or if you are on the facebook go to facebook.com/arcadeshopperdotcom and click on store

 

 

I'm not sure how ("pm me") but Firefox v75 solved the "problem".  Seems the thing is touchy about my browser.

 

K-R.

 

[+arcadeshopper]

I'm not sure how ("pm me") but Firefox v75 solved the "problem".  Seems the thing is touchy about my browser.
 
K-R.
 

Yes always make sure you're running the latest version of a browser there's a lot of security things happening in the browser space these days and it wouldn't surprise me if an older version didn't work

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

[+9640News]

On 4/9/2020 at 12:51 AM, arcadeshopper said:

no but I have built and installed quite a few of jedimatt42's model which is wired in parallel with the original keyboard https://github.com/jedimatt42/TI-99-usb-keys

 

 

I bought from ArcadeShopper Matt's USB keyboard adapter.  My first attempt to get things running I had an issue.  Turns out I had two solder joints connected causing some erroneous results after I started testing for shorts and continuity.  In the process of removing some solder, discovered some of the wires under the keyboard connector were fragile and failed.  At this point, I debated whether to pull the keyboard from another computer, or another option.

 

I ended up pulling out the keyboard, and wired the Arduino directly to the pins with some connectors.

 

Everything looks good.  I now have a wireless USB keyboard for the TI-99/4A.  Happy!

 

Beery