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I mentioned at the last SCC meeting that Dag had reviewed and approved
our plan to investigate the Xerox Alto keysets in the CHM collection (see
attached). Our goal was to confirm our understanding of their
interfaces to see whether they were all the same. We discovered
that CHM also had an SRI keyset, so we decided to include it in our
investigation, since we knew that the SRI keysets had at least three
different interfaces. Jonathan and I wanted to let you know that our tests were successful and give you a brief summary of our results. We met with Allison at CHM yesterday (5//15/2006). She had 4 Xerox Alto keysets available for testing, as well as one SRI keyset (located in the Engelbart case upstairs). We tested the keysets using a set specially built adapter cables that enabled us to interface it through a game port to USB adapter to a test program that Jonathan wrote. We found that the SRI keyset is in perfect working condition, and we have identified it as Type A ( http://blueoxen.net/c/hyperscope/wiki.pl?KeysetPinouts#nid8F).  We found that all four Xerox Alto keysets have the same Type D interface ( http://blueoxen.net/c/hyperscope/wiki.pl?KeysetPinouts#nidAX).  Three out of the four Xerox keysets are in working condition, but the fourth has only two working keys. The only problem encountered was that our custom adapter cable was wired backwards, so key0 registered as key4, an so forth. The cable was built from Xerox Alto schematics, and we need to determine whether the problem was how the cable was wired or the schematics. In any case we were still able to complete the tests, and we can easily rewire the cable to set things right. We'll also update our pin out information for the Type D connector. We recorded detailed information about each keyset using its CHM acquisition numbers, andalso took a number of photos as we did the work. We will write up a full report on the investigation soon.and make all the photos available. Our challenge now is to understand the relationship between the Xerox and SRI keysets, and the four interface types. Luckily, we're still in contact with Bill English, who was responsible for both the SRI and Xerox keysets. Big thanks to Allison for her help in pulling the keysets and getting everything set up for us to perform the investigation, and to Dag for guiding us through the proposal and approval process. Nouveau Systems, Inc. 3120 De La Cruz Blvd., Suite 120 Santa Clara, CA 95054 phone: +1 650 961-7992 fax: +1 520 843-7217 mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com Nouveau Systems products seamlessly integrate collaboration, information management, processes automation, and capture of mission-critical knowledge. To learn how Nouveau Systems products can help your organization drive innovation, visit: http://www.NouveauSystems.com
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