Does anyone know a way to link up an old acorn (either BBC or Archimedes, I'm not sure what kind it is) Concept Keyboard to a PC? You know, the kind of configurable keyboard that is used in schools and the like. I understand it used to link into something called a "user port", is this roughly (or even vaguely) equivalent to a PC serial port? The keyboard itself has 128 keys, and has a 25-pin male D connector on the left hand side of the back plate. I can write my own driver software once I have it interfaced with the PC serial port, but until I have a way to link it up then I am stuck! Would a cable going straight from the output of the keyboard to the serial port of the PC work, or would I have to build an interface circuit?
Thanks in advance (sorry for all the questions :) andrew
in article 3A9446B5.AC250...@whoever.com, rasteri at rast...@whoever.com wrote on 21/2/01 11:52 pm:
> Does anyone know a way to link up an old acorn (either BBC or > Archimedes, I'm not sure what kind it is) Concept Keyboard to a PC? You > know, the kind of configurable keyboard that is used in schools and the > like. I understand it used to link into something called a "user port", > is this roughly (or even vaguely) equivalent to a PC serial port? The
Rhys Evans wrote: > in article 3A9446B5.AC250...@whoever.com, rasteri at rast...@whoever.com > wrote on 21/2/01 11:52 pm:
> > Does anyone know a way to link up an old acorn (either BBC or > > Archimedes, I'm not sure what kind it is) Concept Keyboard to a PC? You > > know, the kind of configurable keyboard that is used in schools and the > > like. I understand it used to link into something called a "user port", > > is this roughly (or even vaguely) equivalent to a PC serial port? The
> The user port is a parallel interface port IIRC.
> Rhys
If it's a parallel port then why can it read info from the acorn? I thought parallel ports of that age were usually unidirectional.
<URL:mailto:rast...@whoever.com> wrote: > Rhys Evans wrote:
> > in article 3A9446B5.AC250...@whoever.com, rasteri at rast...@whoever.com > > wrote on 21/2/01 11:52 pm:
> > > Does anyone know a way to link up an old acorn (either BBC or > > > Archimedes, I'm not sure what kind it is) Concept Keyboard to a PC? You > > > know, the kind of configurable keyboard that is used in schools and the > > > like. I understand it used to link into something called a "user port", > > > is this roughly (or even vaguely) equivalent to a PC serial port? The
> > The user port is a parallel interface port IIRC.
> > Rhys
> If it's a parallel port then why can it read info from the acorn? I thought > parallel ports of that age were usually unidirectional.
*Printer* ports in early machines were unidirectional. Printers are not necessarily the only parallel device, nor is the printer port the only parallel port.
|
