XT/AT/PS2/Terminal to USB Converter with NKRO

[Muirium]

Most likely. Soarer said he was working on finishing it up before going open source, then he vanished, never to be heard again. The person who subsequently reverse engineered it in his absence tried to get his permission, heard nothing, and didn’t publish their source, as I recall. Good old authorship and intellectual property!

What’s gotten your interest? I thought you were a TMK guy. I think Hasu has almost all of Soarer’s functionality now, plus much more, just in a different format that’s generally less non-coder friendly to begin.

Hasu’s GUI has been talking to me lately. I may switch over my converters. But it’s always so much easier for most of us when the binary is already there for you to start.

[tentator]

I would also prefer tmk as a converter nowadays.. to be honest, some features like space-fn implementation are imprescindible for me now..
Also if we could somehow "standardize" the way to define a keymap/layout it would be actually a great thing: immagine to be able to load layouts on any tmk/qmk, soarer, CommonSense, xwhatsit, etc! All understanding the same configurations...
I also miss a lot the non heterogenity of some fuctionalities like dual-role keys or taps between them..
Ideally the layout could be defined in a syntax like that of the keyboard-layout-editor.com but that's not enough and also the RAW syntax is a bit ugly tbh..

[snacksthecat]

If I have a keyboard that is AT/XT switchable, is there any reason you guys could think of that it would be preferable to use AT over XT (or vice versa)?

[Anakey]

well AT is far easier to get working on a modern system a simple 5 pin din to PS/2 adaptor along with an active PS/2 to USB converter and then you have a working keyboard obviously it limits re programming but for a laymen user its simple and easy solution. Of course for those that make their own converters i guess that the process of building one is the same whatever protocal its just flashing different code so the choice does not matter as much.

[ivanthetolerable]

Hello all,

I recently ordered two adapters on eBay for my XT model F. One of the adapters randomly died altogether and I was sent a replacement. The replacement arrived, but when I plug in any of my Model Fs, it doesn't work. In HID I am getting R06 WFE for all key presses, and I noticed that the Keyboard IF is 0000 and the code set is Unknown. The mode is set to AT/PS2 instead of XT. Any idea what caused this and how to fix it? It is like that on any computer I use.

[soviet9922]

can i use an arduino nano in place of a tinssy ?

[tentator]

You can use a pro micro instead! Both soarer and tmk run on it as converters. And it costs less than 3$ on Aliexpress.

Tent:wq

[t_southwell]

Got a pro micro connected to my model F and flashed Soarers. When I plug it in there seem to be loads of random keypresses. hid_listen not picking up when connected

[kmnov2017]

Check that your cables are not shorting each other. If that doesn't fix it, make sure your keyboard is grounded to the Promicro.

[t_southwell]

Check that your cables are not shorting each other. If that doesn't fix it, make sure your keyboard is grounded to the Promicro.

The cables are fine. What do you mean by the grounding? The ground pin is connected from the keyboard to the pro micro. Could the pro micro just be bust?

[ivanthetolerable]

Has anyone had the issue "block too large" when trying to create a lot of macros?

[Muirium]

No. But it sounds pretty self explanatory!

Try refactoring your macros. And see what scinfo says about your program size vs. the Teensy’s memory.

[spidey3]

I just purchased a Soarer's adapter for F122/M122 on ebay, and I have been trying to get the tools working so that I can customize the key mappings.

Unfortunately, I found that the latest Mac binaries were ancient, and would not run on a current Mac (Catalina).

After some hacking of the Makefile, I managed to compile the tools from source, but I am worried about using them to change the firmware settings in any way without first verifying that they work correctly (don't want to brick my adapter).

scinfo seems to work:

Code: Select all

$ ./scinfo
scinfo v1.10
scinfo: looking for Soarer's Converter: found
scinfo: sending info request: ok
device: ok

Protocol Version: v1.00
Code Version: v1.12
Max Settings Version: v1.01
Current Settings Version: v0.00
SRAM Size: 2816 bytes
SRAM Free: 1806 bytes
EEPROM Size: 1024 bytes
EEPROM Free: 1020 bytes

but scrd doesn't seem to give any meaningful output:

Code: Select all

$ ./scrd /tmp/from_adapter
scrd v1.10
scrd: looking for Soarer's Converter: found
scrd: sending read request: ok
device: has 0 bytes: ok
scrd: complete
scrd: writing file: 2 bytes: ok

$ ./scdis /tmp/from_adapter 
scdis v1.10
# length: 2
# signature: S C
# version: 0 0

$

Is this expected for a fresh out-of-the box adapter?

[JBert]

scrd checks what kind of configs are found in the converter's flash memory. If it's fresh out of the box you will never have uploaded a config, thus it is normal that you get an empty result.

[JBert]

If I have a keyboard that is AT/XT switchable, is there any reason you guys could think of that it would be preferable to use AT over XT (or vice versa)?

With regards to stability I wouldn't know, but with regards to features you should keep in mind that the XT mode will not support the keyboard status LEDs (although the keyboard might remember the status when you press Caps Lock, but then it might run out of sync with the computer, even more so if you want to remap Caps Lock in the Soarer converter).

[itsRealVelure]

Hello,

I have an IBM model M 1392366 (RT terminal) with the 6-pin rectangular AMP connector from 1989 that I really want to get up and running because we're the same age and it's awesome. I'll start with my questions and then list the steps I've taken. If anything looks way off please please let me know; any help would be greatly appreciated!

For the record, I have no experience with breakout boards, arduino, or any kind of electrical engineering and am only lightly versed in C++ (I'm an R/Python data-sci programmer), but I want this to be my intro to an interesting hobby and I want this 1989 model M as my daily!


QUESTIONS:
A. Does anybody have a reference for the RT connector wire colors? Is there any reason they wouldn't correspond to the kbdbabel's diagram?

B. What's the order of the programming steps? I.e. I first flashed v1.10 hex, then v1.12, then ran scas/scwr. Is that right?

C. Do I need a single config file containing the HID code maps or should it be referenced to (#include "config.sc") in another file?

D. What could be causing constant clock timeout (R05) in hid_listen?

E. Could this board be bluetooth-ed with a bluefruit feather at32u4, or is this undoable with 3.3V board? Are the pin definitions similar? (i.e. would clock = PD1 on Teensy correspond to PD1/SDA on the feather? Alternatively, how could you use both teensy and feather to get bluetooth on this keyboard?



STEPS:
I sliced up the original AMP connector and observed that the following colours correspond to the pins as presented in Soarer's original post of kbdbabel's diagram (horizontally, from top left pin as seen looking at the connector):

Vcc = White | Speaker in = Orange | GND = Black
Data = Yellow | Speaker out = Tan | Clock = Red

So I wired them to the appropriate Teensy 2.0 pins as per Soarer's diagram.

I did the following to program the Teensy:
1. Opened Teensy program as sudo
2. Pressed button on Teensy to enter manual prog mode
2. Uploaded v1.10 hex file and rebooted (success)
3. Uploaded v1.12 hex file and rebooted (success)
4. Ran $ sudo scas legacy.sc legacy.scb (success)
5. Ran $ sudo scwr legacy.scb (success)

Nothing happens.

Previously, I had wired the keyboard to a bluefruit feather at32u4 using the same-labeled pins and at least got the LEDs to flash/keyboard boot? I believe I loaded the TMK bluetooth-hid on that one.

Thanks!

[swampangel]

Others will be able to help you more with Soarer's, but I did find this comment, in case it's helpful https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyb ... h/e50ugc9/

E. Could this board be bluetooth-ed with a bluefruit feather at32u4, or is this undoable with 3.3V board? Are the pin definitions similar? (i.e. would clock = PD1 on Teensy correspond to PD1/SDA on the feather? Alternatively, how could you use both teensy and feather to get bluetooth on this keyboard?

If you're serious about converting your Model M to bluetooth, you can't go wrong with viewtopic.php?t=17388

If you're serious about doing it yourself as a project, then you probably have to switch to TMK/QMK which are open source as opposed to Soarer's (https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=27272.0, https://docs.qmk.fm/)

[hackser]

I'm sorry for asking this but it's been a while since the creation of this project, and source code is still not available. Is there a reason why it is still not released? My problem is just that my keyboard is sending custom codes which are not in the fixed translation sets - so without the source code I can't really get those keys to work

[fohat]

Unfortunately, Soarer abruptly vanished from the scene without a word before he released the source code, which he had been hinting at for several weeks or months.

That was what? 5 years ago?

We have mostly given up on miracles at this point.

[hackser]

Aw that's a bummer. I guess I will have to go with TMK or something..

[ZedTheMan]

tmk's ibmpc_usb may be up your alley here, that's Hasu's new multiconverter firmware that converts the things soarers does. Needs testing.

[ivanthetolerable]

Hey guys,

I've been driving myself crazy lately. I'm trying to program one of the Extra_F keys to have a different effect when I press it + Shift or CTRL. I.E, right now Extra_F1 is set to copy, but I want it to launch calculator when I press Shift+ Extra_F1. Any idea? I feel like I've tried everything

[fricked]

Could this be done on an attiny85? I've used Engicoder's xt to ps2 and it works like a charm but now I've got some terminals i want to convert

[kelvinhall05]

Any idea if I can use an RJ45 Soarer's to convert this bad boy?

kkb25506.jpg (505.84 KiB) Viewed 17889 times

Apparently it's a "Basic 4 Terminal Keyboard" or a "KKB25506". No idea what protocol it speaks (hopefully at or xt).

[fohat]

Apparently it's a "Basic 4 Terminal Keyboard" or a "KKB25506". No idea what protocol it speaks (hopefully at or xt).

Orihalcon is a member here, you might contact him directly.

Soarer wrote a specific "WYSE" converter that might work, but it will be trial and error.

If you are incredibly lucky, where the wires hit the board they might actually be labeled as "data" "clock" VCC" "ground" or some variant.

[ngnx]

I flashed the latest version on a Teensy 2.0 and built a converter for my AT Model F keyboard (IT layout). I'm on W10.

It works, except for one thing: the "SysRq" key, which used to work as Print, now no longer sends ANY scancode at all (according to KeyboardStateView), and it no longer seems to work in any application in practice. It's dead.

There is a key on the numpad which is labeled "Print" and ' * ', it always only worked
as a * key, never as "Print", and it's still the same, whether numlock is on or off, so it didn't replace the print key. Nothing changed here.

I am confused as to what happened to my SysRq/Print key, the way it worked by default with my PS2 to USB adapter was fine.

How do I fix this?

I have another question: WinHIDListen doesn't seem to work, it runs but doesn't detect anything. Is there a problem with W10 perhaps?

Edit: I found that while WinHIDListen doesn't work, there's a cmd version that does.
With that I was able to find the scancode for SysRq and reassign it.

[kelvinhall05]

Does this support Wyse boards? Wired it up according to some diagrams and flashed V12. Doesn't work.

[Findecanor]

Does this support Wyse boards? Wired it up according to some diagrams and flashed V12. Doesn't work.

No, this one does not, but Soarer did release another converter firmware that does support most Wyse models. For the WY-50, you should be able to connect his controller firmware

[kelvinhall05]

Does this support Wyse boards? Wired it up according to some diagrams and flashed V12. Doesn't work.

No, this one does not, but Soarer did release another converter firmware that does support most Wyse models. For the WY-50, you should be able to connect his controller firmware

I tried using that one and it worked but the keyboard was outputting the wrong scancodes for the keys that were pressed

[kelvinhall05]

Aaand nevermind.

I literally just went outside for a short little bike ride, come back, and it works perfectly. Nothing changed with the converter, just...started working. Hey, I won't complain