getting a nixdorf softkeys keyboard working

User avatar
sphinx
Major Bummer

09 Apr 2015, 13:39

Has i posted before here i found this baby a few months ago.

I wanted to see if i could get it working, i bought some atmega34u arduino controllers but i dont really know where to start to do this.. i know how to code, but i don't have that much experience with electronics, just some basic understanding and expert google skills

this is the connector:

Image

so, where to start?

User avatar
scottc

09 Apr 2015, 13:42

I'm no expert by any means, but I'd probably do the following:
- Find out which computer or terminal it interfaces with
- Find out what protocol that computer's keyboards use
- Find out the pinout of that cable or reverse engineer it
Your expert Google skills should help you with #1 and #2, but you're on your own for the rest. Good luck!

User avatar
HzFaq

09 Apr 2015, 13:46

If you're going for a full controller replacement, mapping the matrix would be a good start; you can then find out how many rows/columns there are and how many pins you will need on your converter.

From there on, you can follow that to get your converter set up and firmware sorted.

Broadly...I've not actually done this yet (I've been planning to map the matrix of my Acces-IS board for months), but that was going to be my starting point.

User avatar
sphinx
Major Bummer

09 Apr 2015, 13:56

well googling about this keyboard isnt that easy, most of the posts send me to reddit/GH/deskthority with people drooling about the booby-soft-switches and what not :)

but i did find this topic in google groups: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic ... KrHZBbqhoQ

I used google translate and apparently they are just saying that the connector doesn't fit anything they know..

this might be related to the controller, but i'll need to confirm when i get home: http://www.keil.com/dd/docs/datashts/in ... 1sl_ds.pdf

this is what i have so far.

one thing i was thinking was giving a 5 volt current in each pin and see what happens.. can this break something? i should be able to find which one is the power pin this way right?

User avatar
sphinx
Major Bummer

09 Apr 2015, 13:58

HzFaq wrote: If you're going for a full controller replacement, mapping the matrix would be a good start; you can then find out how many rows/columns there are and how many pins you will need on your converter.

From there on, you can follow that to get your converter set up and firmware sorted.

Broadly...I've not actually done this yet (I've been planning to map the matrix of my Acces-IS board for months), but that was going to be my starting point.
this is a good idea to try if my first plan fails.. first i want to try to fully restore the keyboard without replacing the controller

User avatar
sphinx
Major Bummer

09 Apr 2015, 14:11

i noticed that ps2 also has 6 pins... i guess it would be very unlikely that they were compatible....?....right?

User avatar
chzel

09 Apr 2015, 14:23

Two of the ps/2 pins are for mouse use iirc

User avatar
sphinx
Major Bummer

09 Apr 2015, 14:35

so far i found this keyboard was from a Nixdorf Targon system, thanks to this GH Thread

From this link, i found that apparently Nixdorf Targon systems used UNIX, so i might be close to something
From the 1980s, international "open" standards prevailed in the computer market. Nixdorf followed this trend in 1985 with its universal Targon system, which was based on the manufacturer-independent UNIX operating system.
Image
Last edited by sphinx on 09 Apr 2015, 14:36, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
HzFaq

09 Apr 2015, 14:36

Nice detective work, following this with interest.

User avatar
sphinx
Major Bummer

09 Apr 2015, 14:47

from wikipedia:
Spoiler:
Targon /31 /32 /35 Systemfamilien: Ab 1988 wurden diese Systeme in Banken, Industrie und Handel eingesetzt. Alle drei Systemfamilien wurden unter AT&T Unix System V betrieben. Die Targon /31 und /32-Systeme basierten auf der Motorola 680xx-Prozessorenfamilie und wurden als „kleiner“ Server positioniert. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wurden bereits die heutigen Client-Server-Strukturen mit diesem System abgedeckt. So war es 1990 möglich, Microsoft Windows 3.11 als Client mit einer Targon/31 als Print- und File-Server zu betreiben.

Die Targon /32 Familie wurde als fehlertolerantes System konstruiert. CPU-, Speicher- und Festplattentausch waren im laufenden Betrieb möglich.
Targon /35 bediente die großen Unix-Installationen und war keine Eigenentwicklung von Nixdorf, sondern ein Zukauf von der Firma Pyramid.
translated
Targon / 31/32/35 System Families: From 1988, these systems were used in banking, industry and trade. All three families of systems were operated under the AT & T Unix System V. The Targon / 31 and / 32 systems based on the Motorola 680xx processors family and were positioned as a "small" servers. At this time, the current client-server architectures with this system have already been covered. So 1990 was possible to run Microsoft Windows 3.11 client with a Targon / 31 as print and file server.

The Targon / 32 family was designed as a fault-tolerant system. CPU, memory and hard disk replacement were possible during operation.
Targon / 35 operated the large Unix installations and was no in-house development of Nixdorf but an acquisition by the company Pyramid.
wow such specs

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