Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: TimO on January 10, 2003, 09:52:53 AM
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People, can someone tell me, if I take out my A1200 motherboard to put it in a tower case so I can expand it, can I wire it up so that the A1200 is the keyboard (and perhaps floppy drive?) of the tower unit? I don't want to lose that classic design from my desk!
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I can recall a (good) few years ago, Micronik did just that, so its definately possible.
I may be wrong, but I think there were some docs on aminet under hard/hack..
However, as a standard A1200 keyboard has the rollover bug, are you sure this is what you really want? There are a plethora of PC->amiga key adapters for this job, and you can get a PC keyboard for under a tenner, go cordless etc.
Of course, you lose the amiga keys in favour of Windoze (urgh) ones, so I appreciate any reticence to adopt this route :-)
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What the topic first led me to think of was the "dream" I have. To actually use my 1200 as a keyboard for my 4000. The worlds first keyboard with a 320 MB HD and 8 MB RAM. :-) Would be possible using a parallell cable and two tiny programs, I guess...
Cheers!
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You could use Ventriloquist over Envoy!! and the file sharing services of Envoy would let you use the floppy disk. use a Liana parallel cable (think I have one somewhere...)
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You can. I did exactly that with my A1200 custom built tower.
I used the keyboard MPU circuit board from a A500 keyboard, and hacked that to my A1200 keyboard. Then I wired the keyboard signals directly to the A1200 motherboard (mobo kayboard hack (http://batman.jypoly.fi/~saku/lehti/online/33/osastot/sekalaiset/kuvat/nappis.gif)), +5V and GND are taken from the floppy connector.
Here are some pics of the finished keyboard:
keyb_back_s.jpg (http://www.iki.fi/sintonen/tmp/keyb_back_s.jpg)
keyb_back_circuit_s.jpg (http://www.iki.fi/sintonen/tmp/keyb_back_circuit_s.jpg)
keyb_front_1_s.jpg (http://www.iki.fi/sintonen/tmp/keyb_front_1_s.jpg)
"TimO" sounds like a finnish name to me (sorry if I am mistaken), anyway, if you are a finn, check this article (in finnish) (http://batman.jypoly.fi/~saku/lehti/online/33/osastot/sekalaiset/torni.html) I wrote to SAKU (http://saku.amigafin.org/) about my tower hack.
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On a slightly different note... does anyone know how to interface an Amiga Keyboard with a PC (I have my reasons). Due to the face that the Amiga has it's controler chip on the Mobo rather than as part of the keyboard , I have thought about getting a Microcontroler (a PIC based BasicStamp or similar) and programming it to turn the Amiga Keyboard key presses into PC serial or PS/2 signals....
Any thoughts?
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I guess no one has any ideas then :-D
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Actually I have the above mentioned Micronik A1200 keyboard case with included PIC right here.
You're welcome to pay for the postage and have it =). Although if you happen to have an spare IDE harddrive lying about I'd be happy to relieve you of that :-D.
BTW I offered (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91) offered this housing a few months ago but then nobody wanted it...
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On a slightly different note... does anyone know how to interface an Amiga Keyboard with a PC
The Catweastle MkIII flipper has a connector for Amiga 2000/4000 keyboards. AFAIK it has the PS/2 form (A4000), but A2000 keyboards can be used with a cheap DIN->PS/2 adaptor.
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@tickly:
Would that also allow the usage of A2k/4k keyboards on an A1200?
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essential MS[/i] keyboard (http://shotgun.shacknet.nu:81/new_microsoft_keyboard.jpg)
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Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I was wondering if this method could be used to use an A500 as a keyboard for an x1000? It seems envoy is available for OS4 but is it compatible with a system running 3.1?
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You can. I did exactly that with my A1200 custom built tower.
I used the keyboard MPU circuit board from a A500 keyboard, and hacked that to my A1200 keyboard. Then I wired the keyboard signals directly to the A1200 motherboard (mobo kayboard hack (http://batman.jypoly.fi/~saku/lehti/online/33/osastot/sekalaiset/kuvat/nappis.gif)), +5V and GND are taken from the floppy connector.
Here are some pics of the finished keyboard:
keyb_back_s.jpg (http://www.iki.fi/sintonen/tmp/keyb_back_s.jpg)
keyb_back_circuit_s.jpg (http://www.iki.fi/sintonen/tmp/keyb_back_circuit_s.jpg)
keyb_front_1_s.jpg (http://www.iki.fi/sintonen/tmp/keyb_front_1_s.jpg)
"TimO" sounds like a finnish name to me (sorry if I am mistaken), anyway, if you are a finn, check this article (in finnish) (http://batman.jypoly.fi/~saku/lehti/online/33/osastot/sekalaiset/torni.html) I wrote to SAKU (http://saku.amigafin.org/) about my tower hack.
That's a pretty sweet hack there great job
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Actually I have the above mentioned Micronik A1200 keyboard case with included PIC right here.
You're welcome to pay for the postage and have it =). Although if you happen to have an spare IDE harddrive lying about I'd be happy to relieve you of that :-D.
BTW I offered (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91) offered this housing a few months ago but then nobody wanted it...
If you still have this I will take it off your hands and pay the postage :)
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You can. I did exactly that with my A1200 custom built tower.
Nice work!
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If you still have this I will take it off your hands and pay the postage :)
I think if after 9 years he still has it, then he's probably decided to keep it.
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Heh, as a matter of fact I ditched all my Amiga gear when I emigrated last December. I sold everything to 'kees' (no relation to the A.org Kees/NoMaam) over at amigascene.nl. You might want to try and contact him if he's willing to sell/give you the Micronik keyboard housing.
( http://www.amigascene.nl/userinfo.php?uid=766 )