Re: Keyboards

[johnlb@primenet.com (John Bowling)]

In article <1028527966-960630223311@rook.wa.com>,
Steve Townsend <steve.townsend@rook.wa.com> wrote:
>    
>Jack,
>    You wrote:
>Quote|From    : JACK COUNTRYMAN
>Quote|Subject : Re: Can I plug a Mac keyb 
>Quote|Conf    : 92 - comp.sys.apple
>Quote|
>Quote|   For that matter, not all mac keyboards
>Quote|work.  The
>Quote|early ones (prior to the SE or SE 30) where the
>Quote|keyboard
>Quote|had the phono plug to connect to the computer do
>Quote|not
>Quote|work...wrong plug to go into the IIGS.  There also
>Quote|seem to
>Quote|be problems with some of the last
>Quote|keyboards....especially
>Quote|the ergonomic (multiple part/moveable) ones as per
>Quote|other
>Quote|online discussion
>    
>    True, but both of these keybards have for wires in their
>cables.  Is it possible to rewire one of the older Mac keyboards
>to work on the newer Macs or the GS?
>                                            Steve

Even if you wanted to change the plug, you still could not make it work.
The newer keyboards, and GSs and Macs since the Mac II, all use the
Apple Desktop Bus, which is an intellegent interface between the computer
and several devices, usually input, but they can also be output.  Older
Mac and Apple keyboards were strictly one direction, keyboard to computer,
and only sent a serial byte (or possibly 7 bits) much like a serial modem
port.  With ADB, you can have several keyboards connected and a mouse and
trackball.  The ADB can address each item out there, and can tell which
keyboard (or other device) that last 'A' key came from.  GS software doesn't
allow this, but the ADB is capable of it.

The older keyboards cannot be addressed, and they cannot pass mouse position
information along, which ADB ones do.

I have used two keyboards, a trackball, and a mouse at the same time on 
my GS.  Not that it did any good, but with the right software, you could be
editing two separate files independantly at the same time with two keyboards.
Growing an extra pair of hands to use it would be rather difficult!

John

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- John Bowling          -- Did anyone notice the recent switch by the
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