Re: Apple II+ keyboard weirdness (help with repair)

[Gary Gouriluk <gvgouril@shaw.ca>]

I'm no techie, so these may not be what you need, but I just ran across
them on ebay.

Apple II Keyboard Encoder Card_1979
Item # 2724564656

Keyboard Elec encoder board Apple II, boxed
Item # 2723466781

Apple II Encoder Card and Cable 1979*
Item # 2724376060

Speaking of keyboards...
I have a platinum IIe with a strange keyboard. It produces a British pound
sign (L with a line through it) where the # is. The basic prompt is a kind
of S with a circle in the middle and it also has some vowel with various
accent keys. On these keys it shows 3 or 4 symbols like the normal french
canadian keyboard. On the IIgs the keyboard is selectable. Are there dips
or anything to change this on the IIe?

Gary

Roger Johnstone wrote:

> In <SI1qa.35507$MZ6.32035@fe05.atl2.webusenet.com> Rob Diehl wrote:
> > I got out our family's old Apple II+ computer after 10 or so years of
> > sitting in the closet. My dad loaned it out to a family with some kids
> > and ever since then the keyboard stopped working. Well, that was a
> > long time ago and I am on a mission to repair it. Everything in the
> > computer works great except for the keyboard which gives absolutely no
> > input to the computer under any circumstances except for the reset
> > button (which doesn't really count I don't think, since it is somewhat
> > isolated from what I recall after reading the Apple II Redbook).
> >
> > The Apple II Redbook helped me diagnose the machine somewhat, but
> > lacks detailed pin descriptions of the keyboard controller board
> > itself, and only gives the pinout of the socket that connects to the
> > motherboard via ribbon cable.
>
> ..
>
> > My wild guess right now is the Keyboard Controller IC is fried, but
> > that doesn't really explain the strange signals on the 7400 or 7404. I
> > made sure the chip was socketed properly by checking each pin for
> > continuity, and it's fine as far as that goes. Nothing seems
> > discolored or anything, the board actually looks to be in really good
> > shape other than the keyboard simply does nothing.
> >
> > I have a few of questions:
> >
> > 1) What do you think is wrong?
>
> I don't know. Don't forget though that the keyboard encoder scans the
> key matrix, so many of the pins will be rapidly toggling between their
> high and low states. On a meter this may look like a strange voltage.
> You really need a logic analyser, or at least a simple logic probe to
> tell what's really going on.
>
> > 2) Where can I get a detailed pin description of the keyboard
> > controller board? The Apple II Redbook seems to have everything
> > covered in great detail except for the keyboard.
>
> This I can help with :-) I have a copy of the later Apple II Reference
> Manual which covers the Apple II and II+. It has the keyboard encoder
> circuit in it, which I have scanned and uploaded to <http://homepages.
> ihug.co.nz/
> ~rojaws/Apple II keyboard.tiff.gz>
>
> > Any other advice (other than to trash it) is appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > -Rob
>
> --
> Roger Johnstone, Invercargill, New Zealand
>
> Apple II - FutureCop:LAPD - iMac Game Wizard
> http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~rojaws/
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> "All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that
> the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if
> you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means,
> do not use a hammer."
>                            IBM maintenance manual, 1925