PIC programmers? More generic programmer? Port?

[Scott Quinn]

On Sat, 2021-03-06 at 10:13 -0800, Chuck Guzis via cctalk wrote:
> 
> It should be possible to do the same using a Blue Pill cheapie and
> MAX232 level shifter.   Still if this is a one-off, I doubt that it
> would matter to the user.

That's what I had started thinking. Use the STM32 board with the built
in 3 UARTS (yes, I know you can bit-bang, but why not use em if you got
em?) and one of those cheapie DC-DC switching converter boards plus a
MAX232. Don't need to get any expensive programming stuff then (yeah,
$65 is a great deal compared to what they were in the '90s, but still
it is COVIDtime), and less outlay for supplies. Easy for others to make
too.

Have a question - for PS/2 the power-on handshake the byte sent is 0xAA
per my reference. The keyboard(7) manpage gets a little coy here for
the IRIS keyboard, with a unnamed first byte and a second byte that
sends keyboard configuration information. Anyone know what that first
byte on the IRIS side is? I want to have the adapter do the handshaking
if possible to enable KVM use.
> 
> FWIW, I did the PC AT/PS2  to PC XT keyboard converter years ago
> using
> the cheapest PIC I could find--a 12F629--and I still had program
> memory
> left over. A cap, a diode and a resistor were the only external
> components.
> 
> --Chuck
>