Hi Dave, (01)
Thanks for the info. I must admit that I'm a little confused though. (02)
My understanding was that the AugTerm program you wrote in ESASM that
runs on an 8086-based machine under MS-DOS was meant to be a software
replacement for the physical lineprocessor hardware. (03)
The AugTerm program does appear to have support for a keyboard, mouse,
and keyset, at least according to the comments in the assembler source code. (04)
If the physical lineprocessor hardware was replaced by AugTerm, then
wouldn't the keyset need to be plugged into the PC someplace? (05)
I was imagining that the original hardware used to run the AugTerm,
sometime in the early to mid 1980s, would have been an original IBM PC
or an early successor. (06)
The PC keyboard would probably have been either a 5 pin DIN (AT style)
or 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style). (07)
The mouse would have been either a RS-232 Serial port mouse or a PS/2
style mouse. (08)
With the keyset, I had no idea, but assumed that since the PC has, in
general, only serial and parallel ports as options, that one of those
two would be a reasonable assumption. Also, the 25 pin connector that
Jake gave me made it seem that it was meant for connection to either a
serial or parallel port. (09)
As for people who had helped to build keyset hardware, Jake had
mentioned both Don Andrews and Ed van de Viet. (010)
I will try to find someone with an ohmmeter who could do some tests to
help determine what kind of hardware it is. (011)
In the meantime: Jake, do you have any additional information to add,
which might help solve this puzzle? (012)
Thanks, (013)
Jonathan (014)
J D Hopper wrote:
> Sure, I remember. But you're not going to like it.
>
> Unless it's a keyset I haven't seen before, it's strictly a dc
> device..no encoding of any kind, no serial interface in it, just
> wires and switches.
>
> The keyset plugged into the lineprocessor and was sampled. You
> can probably figure out all there is to know with an ohmmeter.
> I think it worked at TTL level, but that's immaterial. There's
> probably one common pin and 5 pins going to the 5 switches
> (normally open).
>
> I didn't work on a keyset for a PC. I vaguely remember
> something about someone doing it, but I can't help you beyond
> that.
>
> Dave (015)
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