11 Dec
2010
11 Dec
'10
1:33 p.m.
[Lisa keyboard tester]
Yes, but he does have the binary file aviaalble to download, which is all
you need to reproduce the device.
Hmmm... I
notice he won';t release the firmware source. I can fully
understnad why the sources for commercial products are often not
available, but my suspicious mind suggests that one reason why they
wouldn't be avaialble for soemthign like this is that the author is
aashamed of the code. In which case I am not sure I'd trust it.
Either that, or maybe he doesn't want someone manufacturing these
en-masse and making money off his work? If someone had the source, they could build a full PS2 to Lisa keyboard converter and
sell them?
My experience of releasing source code for classic computer-related
things is that the market is so small that nobody is going to make them
commerically anyway. And I would much rathers others could see the
sources, make changes, improve it, make other simialr devivces, etc.
Which, IMHO, wouldn't be a bad thing these days considering how rare
fully working Lisa parts are versus the proliferation of cheap,
disposable pee cee keyboards.
But there's certainly enough detail there to build such a thing from
scratch, with or without that source if you had access to a Lisa and a
keyboard.
Indeed..
-tony