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Amstrad 5086 using 2086 keyboard

Started by gladders, 14:45, 14 June 17

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gladders

Hi folks,


I have an Amstrad 5086 XT clone. As we are probably all familiar with about dear old Amstrad, many components were proprietary, and I've learned that Amstrad's keyboards are non-standard.


The 5086 has a PS/2-style port for the keyboard but a PS/2 keyboard won't work. It seems the internal electronics are still XT-like, and I need an XT or AT keyboard along with an XT/AT-to-PS/2 adapter to make it work.


I've found an Amstrad 2086 keyboard on eBay. Would this work? Or would it be also non-standard, and sulk on a 5086?


On a similar note, would the 5086 work with any mouse, or do I need a specific model?


Thanks in advance :)

greatwolf1283

I've found the following page that may be of some use: http://www.retroisle.com/amstrad/pcs/techdetail.php
Also of use would be the great John Elliot's page: http://www.seasip.info/AmstradXT/hwcompat2.html

In terms of a keyboard, you may be looking at a standard XT keyboard, albeit with a PS2 connector rather than the more common DIN-5 connector.  Whether an XT keyboard with a standard PS2 adapter would work I'm afraid I don't know the answer.  It also appears that the 2086 keyboard would probably not work on the 5086.

As for the mouse, it may work with a standard PS2 mouse, although, a good option would be to go with a standard serial mouse, although you'll probably need to get a new driver for it (A good option for a driver would be CuteMouse, which has a smaller memory footprint than the standard MOUSE.COM)

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