15 May
2016
15 May
'16
8:18 p.m.
I disassembled the RC2030 to get at the motherboard and spent some time
probing. This is a multi-layer board, quite thick, so tracing things
down has proven difficult. Two of the three extra pins on the DIN
connector for the keyboard are connected to a 74LS240, one as an input,
one as an output; these pass through the 74LS240 and are routed through
a pair of jumpers. Past this point I'm having a heck of a time figuring
out what they're connected to -- it's nothing obvious like the serial
controller. The third pin appears to be +5V.
I also found this note in the MIPS PROM Monitor Reference
(http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/mips/PRM-01-DOC_PROM_Monitor_Ref_Jun…):
"keyboard: Determines the type of keyboard used: MIPS (default) for the
UNIX-style keyboard and AT for the AT-style keyboard (2030 and RC3x30).
Default is AT for 4000 systems."
So it looks like there are a couple of different keyboard types; it's
possible that the UNIX-style keyboard uses all 8 pins, though that seems
unlikely.
Another interesting note regarding the "console" variable when set to
"a" (though perhaps not applicable at all to the RC2030:
" Enables all console devices. Do not use this value on a Rx3x30 system
with a mouse attached to tty(0)."
tty(0) is one of two serial ports on the rear. That would seem to
indicate a serial mouse -- I don't know whether the note about RX3x30
systems means there was no serial option on the RC2030, or that this
option simply wouldn't cause an issue with a serial mouse on the RC2030.
I suppose the easiest way to solve this would be to find an old Logitech
mouse and just try it. I need to get the X software packages loaded on
this thing first...
- Josh
On 5/15/16 5:40 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
On 5/15/16 5:16 PM, Al Kossow wrote:
Is there still an os on the disk?
Yes, a
kind listmember had archived the QIC install media for MIPS
RISC/OS, I installed from that. When I got the machine, the system
disk was dead, and could not be coaxed back to life.
The MAME guys might be interested in simulating
it if you dump
the roms and the hd. It wasn't obvious from the picture in the
picture if the V50 had an eprom as well. I'm gussing the intel
40 pin part by the keyboard is an 8031?
I can double-check this week and dump the
ROMs. I'll also look at the
extra pins on the keyboard. I'll note that the jack is labeled just
"KEYBOARD." There is nothing labeled "Mouse" anywhere on this
thing...
- Josh
On 5/15/16 5:13 PM, Al Kossow wrote:
On 5/15/16 3:01 PM, Josh Dersch wrote:
And it works perfectly. So, it's a
"standard" AT keyboard, but be careful which one you choose :).
What are the pinouts off the 8-pin connector?
I'm guessing the mouse uses the other pins.
Digging on the web, this has been asked with no replies for at least
10 years.