Help identifying/getting this keyboard to work
Posted by ItsMattDoe@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 22 comments
I pulled this old magnavox keyboard from my uncle’s storage to try and use with my imaging setup at work, but I can’t seem to get it to work or find any information about it online. From what i’ve seen, it looks like an old AT din 5 which would need a special adapter. But I’d like to get some more info about it before I spend money on a special adapter that might or might not work. Any help would be appreciated! It looks similar to some missile terminal keyboards if that is any help.
Scoth42@reddit
The couple odd keys like "Who Are You" and "Here Is" make me think this is an early terminal or teletype keyboard and not meant for PCs at all. Some did use the same protocol in the end but it may not be workable on there at all.
ItsMattDoe@reddit (OP)
Would there be any way to get it to work on a pc? I’ve seen some things like running each wire through a board to convert the signal, but idk how that would work with those oddball keys
TundraLegendZ@reddit
Or you could just use a pico and find the keyboard rows and columns like i did with this guy https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/s/Y5MRbiLb1o
pixelbart@reddit
If you know electronics and soldering, I’d go for a Raspberry Pi Pico (or other RP2040 based board) and QMK firmware.
Maybe start with a normal Raspberry Pi, hook the wires up to the GPIO pins and try to make sense of the signals. Once you’re done with the documentation, you can write your QMK configuration.
Scoth42@reddit
Ultimately yes, but you'd have to know what the protocol is, write something up to decode it, convert it to the AT/PS/2 protocol, and ship that out the other end. I think there are some projects out there already to convert terminal keyboards to something modern but I have no idea whether any of them would work with this.
ComfortableHot6309@reddit
Looks like a std AT-101
linkardtankard@reddit
That’s an older keyboard for sure as it doesn’t have a copilot key
mightyohm@reddit
Give or sell this keyboard to someone with whatever weird Magnavox equipment it's made for. Don't modify or cannibalize this keyboard to use with a modern PC. There's lots of other less rare keyboards out there you can do that with.
ItsMattDoe@reddit (OP)
Womp womp, i’m gonna make it work
Amazing_Actuary_5241@reddit
It's a DIN 5 connector but the protocol could be different from AT. If It's AT then a simple passive adapter to PS/2 piggybacked to an active PS/2 to USB converter would do the trick.
It be interesting to know what switches it has, hopefully ALPS but could also be foam and foil or capacitive domes.
ItsMattDoe@reddit (OP)
I can get a better look tomorrow. I think they’re foam and foil but idk, I just know they had these big springs that sat on the stem of the keycap
Amazing_Actuary_5241@reddit
Looks identical to a BTC-5151 or Keytronic KB-5151 so I would try the AT to PS/2 adapter with a PS/2 to USB active converter.
Yours has better aestetics though.
LuigiThirty-@reddit
That’s not a PC keyboard, that’s a radioteletype keyboard.
wireknot@reddit
Yeah, we had din plugs on our terminal setups, not sure they're really wired the same as the din keyboards on straight computers. Interesting problem. I know you can find din to ps2, they're still around. Din to usb might be more of a stretch.
RFC793@reddit
Would help to look at the board. In particular the part numbers for the ICs
ItsMattDoe@reddit (OP)
I’ll pull it apart tomorrow and see if I can get any more info
Plaidomatic@reddit
Yeah, that's not gonna happen without significant reverse engineering I think. The special keys like "Here is" and "Who Are You" are ASR-33/teletype keys. The rest of the keys are pretty generic, but I suspect this was a keyboard for a communications terminal, maybe Marisat. But I can't find this keyboard anywhere else.
Better pictures could help, specifically the seal sticker on the bottom, the round white sticker with blue markings.
ItsMattDoe@reddit (OP)
I can get some more pictures tomorrow
leadedsolder@reddit
I would not hook this to an AT port until you're perfectly sure of the pinout.
ItsMattDoe@reddit (OP)
I may have already done that 💀 I have a din 5 to din 6 and din6 to usb at work so I tried to connect it already. Hopefully it’s not busted
compu85@reddit
This looks like it has a KeyTronic foam and foil mechanism. Expect to need to replace all the foam contacts. Does it say Burroughs on it? If so it's a terminal keyboard and won't plug directly into a PC.
tes_kitty@reddit
This looks like a keyboard for a PC, not for an AT since it only has F1 to F10. If that's true, you will only be able to use it on a PC or XT but not on an AT (286) or later.