The Sinclair QL Forum

Pr0f wrote: The hardest thing here is trying to find those keyboard tail connectors - those particular sizes seem the hardest to source...

TME in Poland have them.
https://www.tme.eu/en/katalog/connector ... 2%3A563%3B

tofro wrote:

Pr0f wrote: The hardest thing here is trying to find those keyboard tail connectors - those particular sizes seem the hardest to source...

TME in Poland have them.
https://www.tme.eu/en/katalog/connector ... 2%3A563%3B

Bookmarked - many thanks

Pr0f wrote:What's actually required for the Q68 to use the QL keyboard?

Just a little PCB with a microcontroller as you anticipated. I heard of QL matrix to PS/2 projects, but no sign of completion for about two years...

I was coming at that from the other direction - taking a PS/2 feed and the column inputs from existing IPC to generate 8 bit 'scanned key code' - it sort of worked, but was easily confused by keystroke combos that have to be taken into account, and virtually all the extra goodies from the ps/2 keyboard have to be switched off at the start, like typematic repeat and some of the additional PS/2 scan codes produced when certain key combos are done.

I would probably start with an existing PS/2 keyboard and see if the micro in it could work with the QL matrix as it already does the job of scanning keys.

Pr0f wrote:I would probably start with an existing PS/2 keyboard and see if the micro in it could work with the QL matrix as it already does the job of scanning keys.

Especially if you have the sourcecode, that sounds like a good idea. Or get in touch with those QLers who already worked on similar projects.

Peter wrote:

Dave wrote:At 2cm to the depth and 3 cm width, put the PS/2 on the back (where the dongle will be less bothersome) and move the expansion port to the left edge and duplicate it and I give you my solemn word I'll release two expansions for the Q68 II within a month. A floppy interface using the DP8473, and an 8302/8049 adapter enabling QL microdrive and keyboard functionality.

An adapter enabling QL microdrive and keyboard functionality would be extremely nice to have for the Q68. I actually see a better market for the existing Q68 than forcing people to buy a mechanically changed one. Availability would boost motivation for mounting the Q68 inside the QL case. What keeps you from releasing it without a Q68 mainboard change?

The main problem with it is that I am not a programmer. Isolating the 8473 driver, and retargeting it to the shifted addresses of the Q68 extension bus was troublesome, and I'm not sure it's right at all. Also, the extension bus is very fast and I'm not confident in my timings or compatibility with the 8473. It might be working more by sheer dumb luck.

It was a bread board project, and it has all been re-used for other projects now. I turned that into a PDP-11 QBus FDC.

Peter wrote:

Pr0f wrote:I would probably start with an existing PS/2 keyboard and see if the micro in it could work with the QL matrix as it already does the job of scanning keys.

Especially if you have the sourcecode, that sounds like a good idea. Or get in touch with those QLers who already worked on similar projects.

I have source code for the 8042 processor for IBM AT keyboard - that could be ported to something more modern like a PIC - it's just work. It's also worth keeping in mind there is a lot of extra timing related stuff to deal with the capacitive keyboard switches - so that would need removing and to be replaced by a matrix scan that eliminates debounce - the rest of the code is a fifo that holds the scanned keys and a comms broker that listens for keyboard commands and empties the fifo - so that should be able to stay.

The 8042 is remarkably similar to the 8049 - in fact they can share the same tools - so anyone whose played around with the QL IPC could have a go. I wish I had bookmarked the site I found it on - as the guy there collects keyboard details and has links to hundreds of projects going to and from old keyboards to modern protocol and vice versa.

Pr0f wrote:The 8042 is remarkably similar to the 8049 - in fact they can share the same tools - so anyone whose played around with the QL IPC could have a go.

That would be nice. There seems to be more interest in building a Q68 into a QL case than I thought. I'm curious if one of the matrix keyboard projects will see the light of day.

To my surprise, a QL mainboard replacement still leads the poll.

Could some of those who voted for it, tell if they still need the QL extension bus?

Please reply under the assumption that lots of RAM, fast mass storage, mouse interface, SER, etc. are on the mainboard.

Peter wrote:To my surprise, a QL mainboard replacement still leads the poll.

Could some of those who voted for it, tell if they still need the QL extension bus?

Please reply under the assumption that lots of RAM, fast mass storage, mouse interface, SER, etc. are on the mainboard.

If the motherboard also runs at least as fast as SGC then I might do without it. Also a paralell port would be nice.
But it is nice to hope that someday someone will design an expansion card with lots of analogue and digital i/o ports that will allow me to use the QL in some automation system