Re: Moveable Keyboard On An ][+

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

"Robert C." <robc638killspam@sympatico.ca> wrote:

>I was thinking on making my ][+'s keyboard removeable. I know using an IBM 
>keyboard is out of the question as it uses a very odd encoding technique. 
>What kind of encoding does a Mac keyboard use? How difficult would it be to 
>decode the serial line into a parallel signal in order to plug it into the 
>connector at the motherboard?

    One of my Apple II Plus clones, a "Fugi Elite-5", has such a feature.
The motherboard has the familiar DIP-16 connector for the keyboard, 
but there's a tiny circuit convertor plugged into it, with DIN-5 connector
that mounts to the backport. From what I recall, the convertor was very
simple, maybe one or two chips. 

    This clone doesn't have a built-in keyboard, instead it came with a
detatchable IBM PC-like keyboard that plugs in through the convertor.
I vaguely remember trying the keyboard on an actual PC and it not 
being recognized (and probably visa-versa with a PC keyboard). I'm
sure the keyboard and convertor would work equally as well plugged
into my real Apple II or II Plus but I never tried it.

Mitchell Spector