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rfka01 #91550 11/20/13 01:41 PM
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RB, the DEC LK201 keyboard is integrated - I think LN dumped its ROM and included the keyboard driver with the Rainbow.


NCR DMV- DEC Rainbow- Siemens PCD- ITT 3030-Oly People- Acorn A5000- Olivetti M20
rfka01 #91552 11/20/13 02:41 PM
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It's integrated but doesn't do anything. The ROM we have is for a version that we don't have schematics for, and I'm not the greatest at figuring out keyboards from MCU code.

I'll take another whack at it soon, otherwise maybe the guys who *are* good at that stuff (Judge and Curt) will get bored and check it out ;-)

Last edited by R. Belmont; 11/20/13 04:09 PM.
rfka01 #91561 11/20/13 07:15 PM
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Its possible I might get hold of a dead LK201 red LED keyboard (the one we DO have schematics for) sometime within the next 6 months or so.

The current dump is from the later cost-reduced green LED version.

LN


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rfka01 #91569 11/21/13 10:21 AM
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Regarding the DEC Rainbow, this just arrived on BitSavers yesterday:

http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/rainbow/MP01722_PC100-B_Rainbow_Schematic_Jul84.pdf

rfka01 #91571 11/21/13 12:52 PM
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Yeah, but those schematics include neither version of the LK201, unfortunately.

rfka01 #91574 11/21/13 04:37 PM
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I think the document is a great find because it covers the Rainbow 100-B which we have the ROMs for.



NCR DMV- DEC Rainbow- Siemens PCD- ITT 3030-Oly People- Acorn A5000- Olivetti M20
rfka01 #91581 11/21/13 10:39 PM
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I wrote to Jeff Armstrong about the LK201 ... and he replied:

Quote
"I'm not personally aware of differences in LK201 keyboards. In my experience, as long as the business end of the connector is compatible, it hasn't mattered. In fact, I often use LK401 keyboards with my Rainbows just because they're considerably smaller.

LK keyboards have been emulated before, I believe. You might want to look at the SIMH package. There was a gentleman whose name eludes me at the moment who managed to create a DEC Pro/350 emulator derived from SIMH package. I would guess he had a reasonable simulation of the LK series. HOwever, I would not be surprised if they were emulating the serial LK interface rather than the internals of the LK itself."

The emulator he mentions now is really interesting and can be found here ...

http://xhomer.isani.org/xhomer/

the machine would make a nice addition to MESS.

Robert


NCR DMV- DEC Rainbow- Siemens PCD- ITT 3030-Oly People- Acorn A5000- Olivetti M20
rfka01 #91582 11/21/13 10:48 PM
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Correct, the LK201 is the same from the machine's POV, but this is Sparta, err, MESS, and the internals of the original and cost-reduced models are quite different (totally different CPU families, key matrix wiring, and everything else).

rfka01 #91584 11/21/13 11:22 PM
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Yeah, I know and told him ... nonethless, there are some gems in that sourcecode archive smile



NCR DMV- DEC Rainbow- Siemens PCD- ITT 3030-Oly People- Acorn A5000- Olivetti M20
rfka01 #91585 11/22/13 12:42 AM
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Yeah, the info on the Pro/350 is definitely good to have smile

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