deskthority

Hi, I'm new user, I'm from Italy and I love vintage keyboard...
On ebay I won this wonderful olivetti keyboard







An ANK 25-102...but it doesn't work on winxp...it has serial port but doesn't power on on post...it needs some trick to work on winxp? An adapter? Thank you for you support...

Wow. Never heard of a serial port keyboard before. It's mice that used to connect to the serial port on PCs, not keyboards. I have no reason to believe that any modern system would look for a keyboard on the serial port. Probably from the late 80s before PCs and Macs became standard – I am not familiar with Italian systems, only that Olivetti bought British manufacturer Acorn, who used PC-style keyboards on the Archimedes, which would connect to a PC but didn't work on them.

I imagine you will need a custom converter board for that. At least the connection is easy to work with.

Edit: Oh, and my Acorn Archimedes 440/1 used a DB-9 connector for the display. I spliced a regular DB-9 serial lead with a DIN-type BBC Micro monitor lead to connect the machine to a BBC Micro monitor, as the Archimedes monitor PCB was smashed up and I only had classic Cub monitors to hand. Just because it's DB-9 doesn't mean that it's actually serial :-)

I've seen some Encom branded Cherry G81-3000 with serial interface on ebay. Seller stated that it worked with serial to usb adapter, so that might be worth a try.

Thank you for replies...well it looks wonderful I bought it for this reason!!

I tought to connect it to the serial port but didn't work...it is certainly too old!! But there will be a way to make it work under win xp...Another italian guy had same problem...he tried with a serial to usb adaptor but it didn't work...maybe it needs some esternal interface..I don't know type of protocol, maybe I can build an external interface..it is a shame not to be able to work with it...

At least tell us what the switches are, and whether the caps are double shot ;-)

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:At least tell us what the switches are, and whether the caps are double shot

If I remember correctly, dyesub and some not very good switches.

rodtang wrote:

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:At least tell us what the switches are, and whether the caps are double shot

If I remember correctly, dyesub and some not very good switches.

Not always....I recommend you get in touch with Grond, hes italian and has a small collection of Olivetti boards, he should be able to help you.

Thank you for info...where I can find him?
Anyway I think that this is not serial port, it is proprietary connector...but I don't know anything about it...anyway is there any chance to modify and let it works with winxp? It's always a keyboard!

It should definitely be doable with an active adapter (microcontroller) but it might still be quite a bit of work.

He is a member here, just write him a PM.

Thank you....I don't think that this is a DIN 5 pin....it is like a D-SUB 9 pin...so I have to re-assign pin to D-SUB 9 pin...any tips? I think that is Olivetti Proprietary connector...
Anyway colors are:

1 Black
2 White
3 Green
4 Red
5
6
7
8
9 Orange

I found this datasheet of a newer version of the chip http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet- ... S8060.html. Hopefully they are similar and has the same pinout. I think it's power and some sort of serial in the connector as there are only five wires. You could figure out how it works and build a converter with for example a Atmega32u4 (e.g. Tennsy, Arduion Leonardo). pin 23 SOUT (serial out) looks interesting, is it connected to the dsub 9 maybe? You could also rip out the electronics and scan the rows and columns of the keyboard matrix with a Atmega32u4 controller.

Great updates guys!!
I simply connected a PS2 male to original port with this diagram:

PS2 male:

1: DATA (PIN 1 from serial port to PIN 1 PS2 male)
2: NC
3: GND (PIN 3 from serial port to PIN 3 PS2 male)
4: VCC (PIN 9 from serial port to PIN 4 PS2 male)
5: CLK (PIN 2 from serial port to PIN 5 PS2 male)
6: NC

There's only a wire, PIN 4 of serial port that I hadn't connected...
Now it's working great...there's only a few second of delay at the push of Bloc num, bloc scorr and caps lock, it works immediately but led power on after 4 or 5 second later...I don't know why!
Thank you for the info, maybe this solved problem can will be helpful to somebody in the future, older keyboards has a special charm!!!

All the ANKs are rubber dome but really good, i think the 102 was sold with M24

pasph wrote:All the ANKs are rubber dome but really good, i think the 102 was sold with M24

Yep you're right...I'm not an keyboard expert, but I can feel that the touch is not mechanic...I'm looking for a mechanic model M...next week I'll let you know about it...

I dunno if 102 was sold with M24...I saw Olivetti M300 and it has a similar keyboard, take a look:



or M240:

http://www.baldi.it/museo/menu_museo_pc_olivetti.html

I like that M300 – two floppy drives, one upside down :-P

Still no money shots though. Plain domes? Domes with sliders? Maybe those weird things with a dog/cat-no-ear-licking-cone things. You never know, the keycaps could be U mount :-)

I have a WS 685 and it's a MX black terminal keyboard

Hello guy's, i have this keyboard at home with the original pc but i would like to use my keyboard with my new pc. I creating an adaptator with good pin and i have one problem, my keyboard doesn't work ' i see a 3 leds flashs but anythink response
Have you got an idea ? Thank you, good night

ledpoisoning wrote: 06 Nov 2012, 13:13 Great updates guys!!
I simply connected a PS2 male to original port with this diagram:

PS2 male:

1: DATA (PIN 1 from serial port to PIN 1 PS2 male)
2: NC
3: GND (PIN 3 from serial port to PIN 3 PS2 male)
4: VCC (PIN 9 from serial port to PIN 4 PS2 male)
5: CLK (PIN 2 from serial port to PIN 5 PS2 male)
6: NC

There's only a wire, PIN 4 of serial port that I hadn't connected...
Now it's working great...there's only a few second of delay at the push of Bloc num, bloc scorr and caps lock, it works immediately but led power on after 4 or 5 second later...I don't know why!
Thank you for the info, maybe this solved problem can will be helpful to somebody in the future, older keyboards has a special charm!!!

Hi!
Try to connect my m24 to a PS/2 but dos not work... Have you used a protocol converter or something??

Thanks!