deskthority

Hi fellow DT members, currently trying to get this to work, to no avail. I couldn't find any answers on GH, DT etc, so I'm willing to give 5$ to anyone that can help me out. Flashed the promicro with soarer's software, soldered it to the internal wires and it isn't registering any keypresses although lock LEDs are on. R04, R05 and R06 errors pop out in hid_listed on connect, then it's silent. Pics:

The Keyboard ID and Code Set are correct for an XT keyboard, so the converter is at least talking to it. The lock lights shouldn't be jammed on, though.

Is there an XT/AT switch on the keyboard? If so, switch it into AT and try again.

No, there is no XT/AT switch on the keyboard. It had a DIN5 connector by default, and overall I can't find much info on the keyboard itself
Oh, and the LED on the pro micro is also on at all times, I don't know if this is supposed to be this way, it's my first time using it. Maybe I got the wiring wrong?

The LED being lit up on the Pro Micro is probably a bad sign. I think Soarer uses it as a warning indicator. I had similar issues with my IBM Model F AT on one of those. It just drew too much power for the Pro Micro to handle. Went with a Teensy instead. That handled the extra load.

The wiring is probably right—or you wouldn't see the Keyboard ID stuff at all—but always worth double checking.

Red light on when plugged in is normal for QMK but if Mu says it's not normal for Soarer I'd have to defer to his judgment. Did you add 1k pull-up resistors from VCC to clock and VCC to data?

I didn't, the guides I read didn't mention it

I had a lot of errors with an ADB QMK converter I was making until I added external pull-up resistors. Pro Micro is supposed to have internal pull-ups but they can seemingly be insufficient for some vintage boards.

Which ones did you use and how exactly did you wire it up? Sorry if this is obvious, I'm not that experienced in this topic (this is my first project). TIA

Muirium wrote: ↑

14 May 2021, 15:50

The Keyboard ID and Code Set are correct for an XT keyboard, so the converter is at least talking to it.

Point of order here, XT isn't actually capable of receiving anything from the soarers, so the converter can't talk to an XT board, only listen to it. Soarers has no way to tell the difference between not having a keyboard connected at all and an XT keyboard so it will default to XT if it doesn't get a response when it tries.

So unfortunately the converter being in XT mode doesn't mean it can see the board, and for this particular board the lock lights are handled on the keyboard itself and not by the converter so those being on really only means that it has power. Try the suggested pull up resistors and that will hopefully get it working.

I know Soarer’s fairly well, but on Teensy, not Pro Micro. I blew my only Pro Micro up with that AT I mentioned earlier. Never bought one since. They’re too much trouble.

On a Teensy: the LED should definitely go out after successful connection. If it’s constantly lit, you’re in trouble. Usually something bad is happening with your wiring.



Getting nerdy now. OP please ignore!

@ Zrrion: Doesn’t Soarer’s converter wait to hear from the keyboard, recognising XT protocol, before outputting that text? It’d be remarkably dumb if it did it for a null connection.

Although you’re right that XT is strictly unidirectional, Soarer’s can still *listen* to it, before reporting the blank 00 ID.

What if the PCB is dead? I had no other way to test it, other than using a Soarer's converter, that means it can be dead and it not being the converter's fault, since no keypresses (I soldered in a couple of switches to test) or shorting pads manually output any codes to the converter itself.

Try swapping clock/data, can you also take good pics of both sides of the PCB?

Swapped clock and data, the output was constant R06. Will take the pics in a minute

My bad. reconnected the USB with clock and data still swapped, No output at all. Lock lights on, pro micro's LED on. Activating buttons still does nothing.

Alright. The condition of the PCB is... worrying to be honest. I got it this way, it had some bridges already done (in the pics)

I had an issue with a iiGS keyboard recently where it seemed dead when plugged in. Looked like there was some corrosion on the PCB around the connectors. Desoldered them and found that the pads were corroded/lifted. Wired some jumpers from the connectors to the next point along the traces and now all is good!
Here's an illustration of the concept. Hoping another comrade will chime in with a photo!

Any 1k ohm resistor should work. I used these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0185FGTSS/

Someone may have a reason for not doing what I did, but I ran my resistors under the Pro Micro, inserting the legs up through the appropriate holes and connecting the wires to those. It worked in my case, but I was just experimenting. There are a lot of people with a lot more knowledge of circuits and controllers here so if they say that's a bad idea I'd listen to them!

Can you try TMK?

Also I wanted pics of PCB to check if it had the MCU reset line connected to what would've been the original cable but it doesn't appear to.

I also have a DFRduino Uno V3 with ATmega328P-PU laying around, maybe it can handle this?
Edit: nevermind, it's not supported. Back to trying to make the pro micro work.

Update: Soldered pull up resistors like in the graph sent by raoulduke, no errors but still doesn't register any keypresses. I've ran out of ideas.

Hmmmm... Sounds like the controller is happy now (pull-ups fixed my errors too). It's a shame about the board- looks like there was a fair amount of jiggery-pokery done on it. Beyond those jumpers I see some burns and such and it almost looks like the controller jumper is bridging two pins at the top. That might be part of the problem. Looks like seller tried to fool with it and gave up.

It had vintage blacks in it, so I made profit, but that's a shame I planned a cool project with it. Maybe I should try to do a handwired build inside the case?

That might be fun! I'm going to do similar with a AEK 1 that had an unsalvageable PCB. I think I'm gonna use amoeba PCBs to keep it clean.

Muirium wrote: ↑

14 May 2021, 18:28

@ Zrrion: Doesn’t Soarer’s converter wait to hear from the keyboard, recognising XT protocol, before outputting that text? It’d be remarkably dumb if it did it for a null connection.

Although you’re right that XT is strictly unidirectional, Soarer’s can still *listen* to it, before reporting the blank 00 ID.

If you plug in a soarers converter without a keyboard plugged in it will default to XT.

Amoeba PCBs seem like a great idea! I tried TMK too, here's what hid_listen says:

I assume the PCB is dead this way. I ordered a bunch of amoeba PCBs and will use them inside the case. Thanks for all the help guys!

Be sure to share your results! I'd love to see what you do.

All I can say now, it's gonna be clicky!