Re: source II+ keybds can this be modifited?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

brad wrote:
> dumb newbie question on electronics sorta
>
> can a similar keyboard from back in the day be modified to work on a ii + if
> it sorta looks like
> it would fit in a // or ][+ clone or regular case?
>
> here is the link of something like i see on ebay from time to time
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8737215055&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1
>
> i mean it is not exactly correct but was wondering with a little clip here
> and there and solder and some
> old apple ii keycaps if such beasts can be tweaked as a replacement for //
> or // + cases ..maybe adding
> and esc key or removing an extra key
>
> i have NO PLANS on going anywhere near anything with a soldering iron or
> anything..just see these once
> in a while and was wondering if you found the right model/era even if not
> exactly alike you could just remove
> or add components and/or reprogram keys somehow to do as you wish...or is it
> all hardwired in...
>
> anyway..just asking out of curiosity.... i see them advertised as 58key
> keyboards or some such once in a while

While it is possible to adapt almost any keyboard to an Apple ][+,
what it would require depends on how much you want to leverage.

If you wanted to use a ][+ encoder board, you'd have to cut all the
traces on the keyboard and wire it to match the matrix on the ][+,
which would be a fair amount of soldering.

If you wanted to use a microcontroller to scan this keyboard (I'm
assuming that "multiplexed" means that it's wired in some kind of
matrix, but not encoded), you would need to program an appropriate
microcontroller (with enough inputs and outputs) to scan the keyboard
and present ASCII and strobe to the Apple ][+.  You'd also have the
Shift, Reset, Control, and Repeat switches to deal with.  Shift and
Control are probably fine without rewiring, but Reset and Repeat may
need to be "demultiplexed" into separate switches.

It shouldn't be to big a job if you like microcontrollers.

-michael

Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/

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