Hi guys,
I've just got my hands on a HP 16500B logic analyser mainframe,
complete with a few acquisition cards (16530A 2-channel 400Msps
oscilloscope and 16550A 100MHz State/500MHz Timing logic analyser). Now
I'd rather like a keyboard and mouse for it...
I'm aware that the HP-HIL keyboard and mouse used on the 16500B were
First thing. You;ve got it right, but a lot of people don't. HP-HIL
(Human IInterface Link) is the interface for keyboards, mice,
twiddleboxes, etc. HPIL (Interface Look) is logivally a serial ersion of
HPIB (IEEE-488) and links up disk drives, printers, etc. There is no such
thing as an HPIL keyboard or mouse (at least notm made by HP), but it's
worth searching for them on E-bay, becasue they're likely to be HP-HIL.
HP-proprietary, and that they were also used on a
couple of HP
workstations. My question is, does anyone here have a HP-HIL keyboard,
They were used on a lot of HP machines (the mice on rather more machines
than the keyboards, actually).
The keyoard comes in at least 3 sizes. The compact keyoard, the full
keyboard (similar to a PC keyboard) and the odd one used on the Integral.
Now, HP-HIL devices can be asked to sned an ID byte back to the host, the
high bits of this encode the type of device (and is different for the 3
keyoard tpyes), in the case of a a keyboard the low bits encode the
country-specifc layout. Note the the keyboard doesn't send ASCII codes --
it's more like a PC keyboard in that it effective sends '3rd key on the
2nd row has been pressed' It's up to the host machine to turn that into a
character (based on the layout determined from the ID byte).
Why am I telling you this? Well, it's possible your analyser will not
handle all types of keybaords (I suspect it will handle all country
versions). Do you hapeen to know waht keyboard was origianlly used?
I have come across 2 HP-HIL keyoard types. The HP46020 is the older one,
It has individual keyswiches soldered to an SRBP PCB. It uses a COP
microcontorller, an HP-HIL slave chip (HP custom) and a few 4000-series
CMOS parts. The ID byte is partially set by diodes soldered on the PCB,
so could be trivially changed.
The HP46021 is the later one, and claims to e compatible. The PCB in that
conyains a large HP custom chip (directly linking to the HP-HIL
connectors) and an E2PROM. I susepct the latter contains the ID byte. The
keyboard matriv is a membrane tpye sandwich and is variable
_capacitance_. No, that supprised me too, but the only change in
electrical properties that I could detect as a capacistance change, and
checking the patent nunbers (helpfully marked on the sandwich) confirmed
this.
There are several versions of the mouse (different shapes, I think maye 2
and 3 utton versions, and different circuits). But I think they're all
pretty mcuh compatible.
mouse, or (preferably) a mouse and keyboard pair for
sale?
I can't promise, and I'll haev to dig a bit, but I may have a UK layout
46021 and a mouse spare.
(I'd also settle for a PS/2-to-HP-HIL adapter,
if such a beast exists)
I beleive it did exist, but I've never seen one.
I've had a quick look on Greed-bay, and it seems the only listings
for HP-HIL kit are from test-and-measurement dealers whose prices are a
bit... well... "out there".
You might find it easier to buy a cheap HP9000/300 series machine (AFAIK
all used the HP-HIL keyoard). I've found old HP9000s sell for very little
money on E-bay.
Let me know if you want me to seriously dig for a 46021...
-tony