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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: pikapika on Mon, 14 June 2010, 16:11:02

Title: Two "new" vintage keyboards
Post by: pikapika on Mon, 14 June 2010, 16:11:02
someone gave me this one : a mitac (never heard before) , seems it has been used in medical services, very clicky, good typing feeling, ps2 and works well

(http://yakumi.free.fr/okaz/mitac1.jpg)
(http://yakumi.free.fr/okaz/mitac2.jpg)
(http://yakumi.free.fr/okaz/mitac3.jpg)
(http://yakumi.free.fr/okaz/mitac4.jpg)

an old ibm, seems a 5150, found in a trash can in the street, at port, tried an at to ps2 and ps2 to usb and it didn't work, maybe broken or bad adapters

(http://yakumi.free.fr/okaz/51501.jpg)
(http://yakumi.free.fr/okaz/51502.jpg)
Title: Two "new" vintage keyboards
Post by: pikapika on Mon, 14 June 2010, 16:35:41
well the second has something that really looks like an AT port, i understand better why it doesn't work :-)
tahnsk for the info
Title: Two "new" vintage keyboards
Post by: kishy on Mon, 14 June 2010, 16:42:44
PC, PC/XT, PC/AT all use the same keyboard plug - this so-called "AT" 5 pin DIN.

PC (5150 and variants) and PC/XT (5160 and variants) use the "XT" protocol as we call it with that particular plug.

PC/AT and equivalent use the "AT" protocol as we call it with that same plug.

PS/2 is essentially AT with a smaller plug [strike]that is capable of being combined with the mouse on the same physical plug (there are enough pins and the pinout allows for it).[/strike] Oops, not quite right.
Title: Two "new" vintage keyboards
Post by: Henry on Mon, 14 June 2010, 17:48:01
My ancient Mitac PC clone has an unlabeled Chicony keyboard, and this one looks a lot like a Chicony keyboard too.
Title: Two "new" vintage keyboards
Post by: pikapika on Tue, 15 June 2010, 07:20:19
never had a chicony, so maybe :-)
Title: Two "new" vintage keyboards
Post by: keyb_gr on Wed, 16 June 2010, 15:24:17
It most definitely is a Chicony, model number and FCC ID match. One of the models with plate-mounted switches. You mostly see the KB-518x variations of these (with at least 3 or 4 different switch types), more rarely the older KB-516x, and KB-520x seems to be the least common.

Using the XT model F would require a protocol translator usually built around a microcontroller, see e.g. kbdbabel.
Title: Two "new" vintage keyboards
Post by: DryDry on Thu, 17 June 2010, 03:17:51
the links have broken