Tandberg Data TDV 5000 Series
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This article requires photographic illustration |
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| Model no. | TDV 5000, TDV 5010, TDV 5020 |
|---|---|
| Branding |
Tandberg Data Tandberg Display |
| Manufacturer | Tandberg |
| Layouts | ISO |
| Keyswitches | Siemens STB 21 |
| Keycaps |
Spherical double-shot ABS (-1992) Spherical dye-sublimated PBT (1992-) |
| Interface | PS/2 |
| Years of production | 1989 - late 1990s |
| Model no. | TDV 5010 |
|---|---|
| Part number | G84-9021SPMDE |
| Branding | Tandberg Display |
| Manufacturer | Cherry |
| Layouts | ISO |
| Keyswitches | Cherry ML |
| Keycaps | Spherical dye-sublimated PBT |
| Interface | PS/2 |
| Years of production | late 1990s - 2004 |
The TDV 5000 series is a series of MF2 keyboards, first made by Tandberg Data, later by Cherry for Ergonomic Office Systems under the Tandberg Display brand (TDV 5010 only). The non-Cherry variety was based off the earlier TDV-1200 series keyboards, and it has been observed[1] that later TDV-1200 terminals and TDV-6000 series products may show up with the same matrix board/layout that was introduced for the TDV 5000 series.
NOTE: Generation 1 of this keyboard, although being PS/2 compatible and fitted with a 6-pin mini-DIN socket, does not use the standard PS/2 pinout on the connector itself. Most keyboards from this series has protection against using the wrong cable, but early versions made in 1989 and early 1990 might not. If any of these keyboards without overcurrent-protection is connected wrong, the output-transistors may short out the power-rails and promptly fry themselves.
Contents
Development
Throughout the 80s, Tandberg had reasonable success with their TDV 2200 series of terminals. These terminals were made with different key-layouts for different customers and use-cases, and some customers also sold their own OEM variety with unique functionality. Tandbergs own variety (TDV 2215) was to a large extent similar to the OEM variety from Norsk Data, where the Norsk Data version had additional keys and functions spesifically tailored for the NOTIS software-suite. NOTIS was a set of workplace applications (word-processor, spreadsheet, etc..) running under the realtime multi-user SINTRAN-III OS for the Norsk Data NORD minicomputers. Towards the end of the decade, a smaller cheaper option was available: the TDV 1200 series of terminals. Like the 2200 series, these were also available as a Norsk Data OEM variety, in much the same way.
As PCs grew more and more popular, at one point around 1989 Tandberg established the TDV 5000 series. This series did not introduce a standalone hardware terminal, but was rather a series of keyboards designed to be PC-compatible for use with PC-ports of various NOTIS software. All early keyboards in this series has the additional NOTIS-keys, but it is unclear if the host PC needs a special keyboard-interface chip in order to use these. The keyboard firmware tags these with a non-standard 0x80 scancode prefix.
The 1st generation of the TDV 5000 series of keyboards was based on the keyboard of the TDV 1200 terminal. As much of the design was developed from the TDV 1200 keyboard, all of them had TDV 1200 printed on the internal PCB. To ease production, all 1st generation keyboards are fully equipped with all switches, even when (on most TDV 5010 keyboards) the 20 extra NOTIS-keys are hidden under blanks. The first generation TDV 5000 series started out with Siemens STB 21 switches and matching Siemens ABS double-shot keycaps. Later Gen1 boards switched to PBT caps using Helvetica instead of DIN lettering. There might also have been some internal mechanical changes as the branding was changed from "Tandberg Data" and "Tandberg Display", but the colors and shapes still exactly match. Late keyboards of the 1st generation look identical to those of the second generation, except for the additional Windows 95 keys of the latter.
The transition to the 2nd generation must have happened sometime during the years 1996-98: the earliest possible year is 1996, when Cherry ML switches were introduced; the earliest known 2nd generation keyboards are from 1998, when the batches sold at eBay in 2009 and 2011 were made. In 2004, Tandberg Display keyboards were taken off the market.
Varieties
Most keyboards in the TDV 5000 series are very similar in many ways. The internals are similar between the different varieties, and it is mostly the color of the keys, label-area on top and LED colors that differs. These parameters may also vary depending on vintage. Keyboards of the TDV 5000 and TDV 5020 models are often, but not always branded "Norsk Data", whereas the TDV-5010 are always branded "Tandberg".
Since the generation 1 keyboards are all hand-labeled, the tables may not be right in all cases. some inconsistency may occur, in particular for the oldest keyboards. There are also later keyboards for the TDV-1200 as well as TDV-6000 series, using the same matrix and layout as the TDV-5010. These only differ in the controller-board and hardware interface used.
| Model | Description |
|---|---|
| TDV 5000 | All beige and gray keys, including the special NOTIS keys. Unique color-distribution compared to other PC-compatible keyboards. Label-area is orange. |
| TDV 5010 Gen1 | Beige and gray ordinary keys (similar color-distribution to the IBM Model M). NOTIS-keys are orange, but later covered up by beige blanks on keyboards made after the early 90s. Beige label-area. |
| TDV 5020 | Similar to the early TDV 5010 Gen1 but with orange label-area, possibly introduced as an option as Tandberg started covering the NOTIS-keys on the later TDV 5010 Gen1 keyboards. |
| TDV 5010 Gen2 | Similar in appearance to later TDV 5010 Gen1, but built on Cherry ML hardware and with added Windows/Drop-menu keys. Custom keycaps to match the Gen1 look-and-feel, and light gray instead of beige. Marked "Tandberg Display" instead of "Tandberg Data". |
Parts
TDV 5000 series keyboards from the early 90s will often have a list of parts making up the keyboard on the back. Most of these parts are used across most of the varieties, and a complete keyboard consist of Electronic+Matrix boards, a controller with firmware, a keycap set, a housing, mechanical parts and the cable. Known part numbers include:
| Tandberg Part | Item | Known Versions |
|---|---|---|
| 967032 | Electronic board RUBY Mk2 TDV 1200 | v2.0 |
| 967042 | Electronic board PC TDV 5000 | v1.0 v2.0 v4.0 |
| 967043 | Matrix Board PC | v1.1 v1.3 |
| 967144 | Firmware TDV 1200 | v1.0 |
| 967851 | Keytopset TDV 5010 Norwegian | v2.2 |
| 967855 | Keytopset TDV 5020 Norwegian | v2.2 |
| 967965 | Housing TDV 1200 MF P/W | v1.0 |
| 967967 | Mechanical parts | v1.0 |
| 968551 | Firmware TDV 5000 PC/AT/PS2 | v1.4 v1.7 v1.9 v2.1 |
| 968552 | Cable PS2 mDIN 2,5m P/W | v1.0 |
| 968571 | Later version of Electronic board PC TDV 5000 | v1.1 |
| 968585 | Later version of Firmware TDV 5000 PC/AT/PS2 | v1.0 |
- 967032 needs firmware 967144, and uses a serial interface. 967042 and 968571 needs firmware 968551 and are PS/2-based. All controller boards supports the 967043 matrix board.
- 968571 is only different from 967042 in that it adds two resistors in series between the MCU and sink transistors. This limits the maximum sinking-current to somewhere between 10-20mA on each PS/2 signal line, protecting the keyboard should the wrong cable be used. v2.0 and v4.0 of 967042 also has 10k or 82k resistors (respectively) added, but as a patch rather than on the PCB itself.
- 968585 seems to be roughtly the same firmware as 968551, but for the 80C52 instead of the 8051.
- 967851 is only different to 967855 in that it has blanks instead of the extra NOTIS-keys. These are both the keycaps with dye-sublimation prints, and the older double-shot keycaps probably have a different order-number. The keycaps on the very early keyboards from 1989 does not have bumps on the F/J/num5 keys, but this was introduced in 1990.
Firmware Differences
Four firmware revisions of part 968551 have been analyzed, but there are very likely more. Much of the functions remain the same between these versions, but there are some behavioural differences one should know if planning to use low-level features of the keyboard. In short, v1.4 contains a few notable bugs fixed by v1.7. On top of this v1.9 adds better data-collision handling, and v2.1 fixes an edge-case when recovering from overflow.
Scancode for key C12 in scancode-set 3
v1.4 bug: This key will return scancode 0x5D in scancode-set 3 instead of the expected 0x53. This a bug, and it comes from the developer assuming this key in scancode-set 3 having the same scancode as in set 2. 0x53 is correct for the European ISO layout the keyboard sports, whereas it should have been 0x5C in the case of an American layout.
Set Key Mode Commands
v1.4 bug: In v1.4 you are expected to set the mode of a key one at a time, and the command is automatically terminated after this. In later versions you are instead expected to keep sending the scancodes of several keys after initiating the command. As a result, for v1.7 to v2.1, an "Enable Scanning" command is required in order to terminate any of the commands setting the mode of individual keys (even in the case the mode of only one key is being changed).
Key-release of NOTIS-keys in scancode-set 1
v1.4 bug: Key-release scancodes for the NOTIS-keys in scancode-set 1 will be prefixed with 0x80 0xF0 (as is custom in scancode-set 2 and 3) in addition to setting bit 7 of the base scancode (as is the proper way in scancode-set 1). By v1.7 this is fixed, and the unexpected 0xF0 byte has been removed from the prefix.
For 102-keyboard navigation-keys and PrtScr (originally these were only on the numeric pad of the IBM 83/84-key model F), a make/break-pair of an 'ignore num-lock' scancode is added around the base scancode make/break-pair if num-lock is active. This is as described in the IBM technical references, and also the exact behaviour for v1.4 in all cases. However, in v1.7 to v2.1, the break-part of the 'ignore num-lock' scancode is inserted prematurely, before the next make-scancode if another non-navigation key is pressed while the navigation key is still being held. This enables keys on the numpad to be pressed when any navigation key is being held, respecting the currently selected num-lock state.
Shift keys and queue overflow
v2.1 will try to keep re-sending missed shift-key break-codes before anything else when recovering from a queue overflow. v1.4 to v1.9 does not have special handling for this, and will not re-send any scancodes missed to a queue overflow. Due to this, if an overflow happens when a shift key is held on the earlier versions, and shift is let go before recovering, the shift-key will stick until it's pressed again.
Unused Features
In the non-Cherry version of the firmware, several suported features remain unused on most keyboards.
NOTE: While some of these points might suggest performing hardware modifications, be aware that the keyboard operates with two ground potentials. The chassis and shield around the keyboard is grounded through the shield of the cable (mains earth ground), while the electronic circuits are grounded through the commons of the cable (power ground) only. Connecting shield and circuit ground together might therefore result in ground-loop scenarios that can have unfortunate consequences to workings of the keyboard. For example, in the case of static electricity discharge, external electronic fields/noise, or if you should be unlucky and use the keyboard on a surface in the presence of a minor ground-fault. In summary, while the casing of a switch should be mounted to chassis ground, any ground for the electrical operation of the switch should be taken from circuit ground and remain unconnected with chassis ground.
Keyboard Mode (XT, AT, Terminal)
By default the keyboard starts in AT-mode using scancode-set 2. However, there is code for XT-mode compatibility using scancode-set 1 only, as well as code for starting directly in scancode-set 3 (Terminal mode). Allthough the default is hardwiered on most keyboards, the mode can be set by removing the 100 ohm resistor at either ST1 (for XT), ST2 (for Terminal) or none/both of them (for AT). Eventually, patching in a 3-position toggle-switch to make a movable 100-ohm pulldown resistor, will enable this to be user-selectable.
Beep Active by Default
While the actuation beep feature can be toggled by the user, it is by default turned off. This is due to a 100 ohm pulldown resistor on ST3. If this resistor is removed, the beep will start out active by default. It should be possible to patch in a toggle-switch for disconnecting this pulldown by choice if you like the feature and by occasion don't want to manually enable it every time.
Key Matrix
The ordinary key matrix type 967043 also has a few unused switch positions: C54, D54, E13A, G01, G06 and G48A. Some of these are partially or fully covered by other keys and/or switches, some are not. Three of these corresponds to additional keys (with similar behaviour as the NOTIS-keys), two are alternate duplicate locations for existing keys, and the last one is an alternate non-duplicating location for backspace. These keys are likely features related to other, much more uncommon layouts (for example, in addition to the ordinary NOTIS-layout which is most common, Norsk Data documentation mentions there is a "Comtec" layout for Nortext as well).
Wide backspace
The firmware and key matrix type 967043 natively supports a double-spaced regular size backspace key. To install this, the two switches in its place (E13 and E14) needs to be desoldered, and one of them needs to be put back in position E13A. A new wide backspace keycap for the switch will also be needed.
Keylocks
The earlier TDV 2200 series of terminals sometimes came with two keylocks on the keyboard. Code for this can also be found in the firmware, but no known keyboard in the series has the actual keylock-switches themselves installed. The keylocks are readable from the PC using the non-standard command 0xEC, whereupon the keyboard responds with an Ack followed by a number from 0xF6 to 0xF9 depending on the keylocks' state.
The normal type 967043 matrix-board does not have any switch position for retrofitting the keylock-switches, only the corresponding diodes. Adding this feature to an existing keyboard would therefore require some patchwork or a different matrix-board.
TDV-1200-style indicators
The matrix-board have unused solder-pads for the lock indicator LEDs to be embedded within some of the keyswitches, as well as pads for a dual-colored indicator. Embedded LED indicators was a feature supported on the earlier Siemens STB 11 switches, complete with keycaps built with a translucent window. This feature can be seen in use on earlier TDV-1200 series keyboards, and the location of the pads on the TDV 5000-series matrix board suggests that the matrix is also made to be compatible with the earlier TDV-1200 layouts/controller.
Gallery
Controller board of early Gen1 TDV 5010 and TDV 5000
Controller board of later Gen1 TDV 5010 and TDV 5020
Example of a keyboard with the later Gen1 TDV 5010 Layout, allthough made for the TDV 6000 series non-PS/2 terminals.
Extended height Cherry ML switches
External links
- Deskthority — Tandberg TDV 5010 (Cherry G84-9021SPMDE)
- GitHub — Source-code and change-history of the TDV-5010 Generation 1 firmware
