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Techniche PCW102 Keyboard

Started by danhans42, 21:05, 30 March 21

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danhans42

Hi All,


I recently bought a PcW9256 and it came with a Techniche PCW102 Keyboard. I couldnt find much information on it when I looked it up, just two mentions :-


https://techmonitor.ai/techonology/first_pan_euro_keyboard


http://www.fvempel.nl/addon.html


I thought I would post some high res pics just in case of there was any interest for the pcw wiki,

GeoffB17

Yes, not seen one of these before.   It sounds very nice, q BIG improvement on the standard keyboard.

Is the little box visible in the pics part of the system, or is that something else?

Geoff

danhans42

Its part of my PCW.. probably the floppy drive (it has no fronz bezel - it was scalped from an old Compaq desktop).


Its currently in an exploded form on a coffee table - makes experimenting a bit easier :)





JohnElliott

I'm certainly interested -- have you looked inside to see what the works are like? If there's a ROM or a dumpable microcontroller in there I'd also be interested in a firmware dump, but that does require the right equipment.

danhans42

I'll open it now.


I'm all up for dumping it, have quite a lot of equipment on hand so shouldn't be a problem at all.


Let's have a look 😁

danhans42

So,


Looks like the keyboard was made by BTC.. Also the microcontroller on the board is an Intel MCS-48 Part - P8749H.


Pics attached.

danhans42

My programmers don't current support this. However doing some reading on the subject it seems the protocol for reading these is very simple. It's also socketed which helps with being able to read it.


If you are interested I'll have a look at dumping it with something homemade. Are you any good at disassembly? I know very little/nothing of these old MCUs





robcfg

I'm building this project: http://www.mattmillman.com/projects/hveprom-project/an-easy-to-build-mcs-48-8748-8749-8741-8742-8048-8049-programmer-reader/ and I have spare PCBs.


If you'd like one, I'll send it to you for the price of the postage.

GeoffB17

Hmm..

Good question...

Is John Elliott any good at disassembly?

Insert whole string of emoticons here!!

Geoff ;D

danhans42

Thank you for the kind offer.

I'm not so bothered for the programming element, just the reading.. and even it's only for this one applixation, so want to keep build down to a minimum.

Ive spent so much on parts in the past year I'm trying to make and make do with what I have on hand  ;D


Looking at it I'll use a atmega2650 due to the amount of IO it has..

Protocol for reading looks like it's just a matter of holding /reset low with the correct address and IO pins, and then flicking /reset high and reading the data pins for the byte.

I'll have a go first with my own attempt, and if not might go for that .. I will let you know if that's okay?

It might be a week or two before so get onto this. I've got some other of jobs to do with adding an AY-3, IDE and finishing off this usb link/host I'm working on.

robcfg

Sure, no problem!


Just let me know if you'd like to get it.

JohnElliott

Quote from: danhans42 on 19:58, 31 March 21
My programmers don't current support this. However doing some reading on the subject it seems the protocol for reading these is very simple. It's also socketed which helps with being able to read it.

If you are interested I'll have a look at dumping it with something homemade. Are you any good at disassembly? I know very little/nothing of these old MCUs
I use a Willem parallel-port programmer with an 8048/8049 adapter. It can usually manage to read an 8048-series MCU.
I've disassembled a few 8048-type keyboard MCUs (including the 8048 in the original PCW keyboard) so hopefully I'd be able to find something useful in the Teqniche MCU.

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