deskthority

Found my dad's old Epson PX-8 word processor in his closet while helping him clean out his house. Second I saw it I pulled a key and found Hirose M8s behind some nice DS keys. The keys needed a deep cleaning, wish I would have taken a before picture because they were nasty. Here are some pictures of it after the cleaning
I never had any hands on experience with word processors, a little before my time, but I am wondering if it would be possible to output the key codes via one of the plugs on the back, either Serial or RS-232. I believe that the ports were originally used to send documents to printers, but I am hoping that I can alter it to send live key codes. If anyone has any suggestions other than putting in a Teensy and cutting a hole for the plug, they would be greatly appreciated. I would be OK with putting in a Teensy, it just cannot effect the exterior.
Thanks!

Wow, those are some gorgeous key caps. The machine scrubs up very well.

I agree -- I just saw these keycaps a few days ago in an interest check on GH:

http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=61294.0

What plugs does it have on the back? Photo?
Serial and RS-232 are two names for the same thing. Does it work? Maybe it has a terminal mode or something?

Well it would be correct to say RS-232 is a type of serial communication, that usually uses a DE9 or DB25 connector .

Cool caps you would expect something like that to use cherry ML as the caps are such a low profile

Wow, this page is awesome:

http://fjkraan.home.xs4all.nl/comp/px8/index.html

Turns out you can really make your own ROM for it if you're willing to spend the time.

Or burn a ROM with Turbo Pacal and try to write a keyboard simulator. Or write it in Basic ...

How do those switches feel? I have a bunch of (very similar) M84s that I'm planning a custom keyboard for, and I'd like to see the insides of those caps! Wonder how large they are compared to DSA etc.

This is why I differentiated RS-232 and Serial It works perfectly, currently has the word proccessor program on it but we also have the spreadsheet program and a mystery program. Thanks for the link, this is going to be a long process but I hope I can eventually get a keyboard simulator going and return it to my dad in working order.

The switches feel like heavier Topre with low key travel. They have a tiny tactile feel as the contact gets pushed out of the way and then it is linear to the bottom. I will get some nickels out and get an accurate measurement put if I had to guess, I would put it in the 65-75g range. I will get some photos up of the caps compared to DSA along with the weighing.

Tactile, eh? Different to mine then, which are linear. Pretty heavy though, like a reduced travel / increased weight MX black. Thanks for the (coming) caps pics.

Very small amount of tactile, I may just be looking to deep into the switch. After typing some test sentences on it instead of slowly hitting a key, I would now call them linear. Here is a picture of it compared to DSA, DCS, and SA. (All row 3) Here is a shot of the doubleshot. Some switches show some of the brown/orange/gray but the majority are completely white on the inside like this key. It took 14 nickels so 70g to activate, so very similar to your description of short throw heavy blacks.

Gotta love the font on these Epson keys. Had an HX-20 for a while.

Looks like one of my favourite keyboard fonts, Eurostile, to me:


Thanks for the pictures. I'm impressed how well DSA manages to compete with a low profile like this.

No problem. I hope that the Geekhack group buy actually happens because if I can't get the live keyboard output, a similar keyset on a 75% would still be a great gift for my dad. Too bad SP doesn't have a similar font in doubleshot and dyesub wouldn't be possible with the white legends