Bringing the CPC keyboard into the 21st Century

[ComSoft6128]

An interesting and short video by Sebastien Lelong:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvTUfztwzTk

[Bryce]

Ehhhh, he doesn't say what he's doing!? Is he telnetting to the laptop, has he made a CPC expansion, is there a RPi in the CPC Case? Does the CPC still work as a CPC? Information is what would make it interesting.

Bryce.

[ComSoft6128]

"Keyboard hacked with microcontroller (PIC18F27J53) programmed as a USB HID keyboard interface http://jaluino.org). Keyboard matrix is managed with shifter and unshifter chips. Source: https://code.google.com/p/jaluino/sou..."

I see that raoudoudou has, this morning, asked Sebastien Lelong for more info via the comments section underneath the Youtube video, so maybe a more detailed explanation will be forthcoming.

Cheers,

Peter

[rpalmer]

This looks the same as what someone did to a commodore 64 keyboard.

They got that (c64 keyboard) to be input into a PC using a PIC chip to convert the C64 keyboard codes to the same codes as that seen by a USB keyboard (in PS/2 mode).

This is not that hard to do, since the USB stack in the PIC can be modified to suit (scan hardware and then send sequence via USB). Going back the other way is to a degree a little more difficult.

rpalmer

[Bryce]

So he destroyed a nice CPC6128 to create a mediocre PC keyboard? And it's not as if he's overcome some huge technical challenge that the world was waiting for. Where's the dis-like button when you need it?

Bryce.

[zhulien]

im thinking the most useful thing for this is to resurrect a non working cpc in which they keyboard works by putting something like a raspberry pi inside the cpc casing. what do you think?

[Munchausen]

He should have just made a converter for a PCW 8256/8512 keyboard, since it's almost identical just with an extra column of keys and a slightly different layout on the right hand side. The keys could be swapped to put the arrows into a more standard configuration, if really desired. It's also a more usable keyboard, since it isn't raised an inch and a half from the desk at the front (much as I love the CPC, this is not ideal).