So I Impluse Bought Two Terminal Keyboards...

[Noodle]

Up until recently I've been using some Razer chiclet-key piece of crap until I switched to an old Dell QuietKey I had sitting around and realized how much nicer life is with a half-decent keyboard (I'm still impressed with how good this is for a rubber-dome keyboard).  With that in mind, I wanted to pick up a "new" keyboard with mechanical switches, but with the heavy, robust construction of an older keyboard.  At first I was going to get a Unicomp, but then I discovered recycledgoods.com and all the old, eclectic computer parts they had for sale.  I found a couple of terminal keyboards, which I ended up impulse buying along with a converter cable:
http://www.recycledgoods.com/universal-computer-systems-ansi-terminal-keyboard-dcs-948.html
http://www.recycledgoods.com/altos-keyboard-540-17700-001.html
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-RJ45-to-USB-Soarers-Converter-Model-M-Terminal-Keyboard-Remapping-Macros-/281476431381?hash=item41894d7e15:g:wwYAAOSwF1dUSZVm

I was kind of hoping I could fudge something that cable since I'm pretty bad with splicing and soldering.  Unfortunately the Altos one doesn't even fit, and the other one can plug in but throws me an R05 in hid_listen (its also a 6P6C RJ12 which I'm plugging into an RJ45 so...).

Before I do anything else stupid and potentially waste more of my money, I figured I'd drop in and consult the experts.  Can I even get either of these keyboards to work, and if so is there any way to do it without having to wire up a teensy (although I'll go ahead and try to if I have to)?


Also, apologies if I've posted this in the wrong section or something of that nature.  I'm relatively new to the site and this looked like the appropriate place to post this to.

[fohat.digs]

Orihalcon's cable is listed as "Model M" for a reason - it works great with Model M terminals but perhaps not much else.

Soarer wrote a Teensy-based project (search "Soarer's WYSE converter") that works with some/most WYSE terminals, but there are a lot of those RJ* terminals that nobody has yet gotten to work on a modern computer.

[jdcarpe]

While the Altos is definitely a rebranded WYSE, and you could probably get it working by building a Soarer's WYSE converter for it, it's going to be a bit of work to get it going, for a keyboard with a non-standard layout, and MX black switches.

My recommendation would be to buy a new Filco TKL, and if you want a really robust keyboard, swap it into an aluminum housing. It will be standard ANSI 87-key layout, so you can use almost any aftermarket keycap set there is.

Filco TKL
TEX alu case
Double shot keycaps

[Noodle]

Orihalcon's cable is listed as "Model M" for a reason - it works great with Model M terminals but perhaps not much else.

Soarer wrote a Teensy-based project (search "Soarer's WYSE converter") that works with some/most WYSE terminals, but there are a lot of those RJ* terminals that nobody has yet gotten to work on a modern computer.

I figured it was listed as "Model M" since that was the most common application for it, even if it could be used for other keyboards.  Oh well, was worth a shot I suppose.

While the Altos is definitely a rebranded WYSE, and you could probably get it working by building a Soarer's WYSE converter for it, it's going to be a bit of work to get it going, for a keyboard with a non-standard layout, and MX black switches.

My recommendation would be to buy a new Filco TKL, and if you want a really robust keyboard, swap it into an aluminum housing. It will be standard ANSI 87-key layout, so you can use almost any aftermarket keycap set there is.

Filco TKL
TEX alu case
Double shot keycaps

Oh man that's.... expensive.  Mightaswell take my chances with the Teensy and a breadboard.
If I can I think I'm gonna get an extension cable and splice that up instead.  I don't want to be the person who ruins an otherwise operational 25+ year old keyboard.  )

My fall-back plan this whole time has been to harvest the switches, but I'd hate to do that.

Anyway thanks for the advice.

[mike52787]

If you want a terminal board and already bought the soarers converter why dont you just buy a m122? theyre insanely cheap and pretty cool boards. Heres one just for example.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-CLICKY-VINTAGE-KEYBOARD-MODEL-M-1395660-CLICKER-WITH-CONNECTING-CORD-/331925968846?hash=item4d485457ce:g:negAAOSwENxXnVgQ

[Noodle]

If you want a terminal board and already bought the soarers converter why dont you just buy a m122? theyre insanely cheap and pretty cool boards. Heres one just for example.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-CLICKY-VINTAGE-KEYBOARD-MODEL-M-1395660-CLICKER-WITH-CONNECTING-CORD-/331925968846?hash=item4d485457ce:g:negAAOSwENxXnVgQ

Perhaps, but it'd have to be a smaller model.  Anything wider than my QuietKey would simply be too wide for my keyboard tray.  It's the main reason I got the Altos unit, since it's got a condensed layout.

I want try to get one of these keyboards working before I buy any more, but if I can't then I'll definitely consider getting a Model M.

[rowdy]

Welcome to Geekhack!

Some great responses you have in this thread from members who really know their keyboards!

Also this is the correct area for questions like this, so no worries there

With careful selection, a terminal keyboard will work just fine on a modern PC, however there are so many terminal keyboards, and most manufacturers seemed to have their own proprietary protocol and sometimes connector, selecting one can be a bit hit and miss.

[Noodle]

Necro-bump.

Since my last post I've gotten a teensy 2.0 and spliced/soldered the Altos keyboard's wires to it according to the pinout given in the thread, yet I can't get Soarer's WYSE converter to work properly with it.  I've managed to successfully load the hex onto the teensy, but when I open up hid_listen it detects it as a WY85 model (which it isn't - it's a condensed ASCII WY60 with 101 keys) and it doesn't seem to detect any keystrokes.

Did I miss a step or something of that nature?  Is there any way to force it to ID it as a WY60?  Could this possibly indicate that the teensy is damaged (loading the LED blink test program worked just fine, but the soldering job overall was kind of messy)?

I'm still pretty new to all this, so any help is appreciated.

[nicckk]

I think I am in the same boat as you here. I have a Qume terminal board I am trying to get working. I wired it up to a teensy and flashed soarers. Mine is also identified as a model 85. I think this ID is the default? I have seen the model 85 listed as ID n/a or ID 00. I opened a thread asking about this and it seems the next step is to fix the layout. I think the way to do this would to have every key initially mapped as unassigned, see what HID listen spits out when you press they keys, and go from there.

I will be working more on this later this week! Let me know if you make any progress

[rowdy]

You might be better asking in Soarer's WYSE converter thread, or even his XT/AT/PS2/Terminal to USB Converter thread.