[Info-vax] LK-style USB keyboard, anyone got a spare for sale?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2012-08-27 20:02:07 +0000, Michael Kraemer said:

> sampsa schrieb:
>> So I noticed there's a DEC-layout (with PF+gold keys etc) LK46-
>> something with a USB port available but they're CRAZY expensive
>> (several hundred dollars) from suppliers that I managed to Google.
> 
> Wouldn't it be possible to use a PS/2 LK together with one
> of those PS/2-USB adapters?

Nope.  There might be one around that works, but not (successfully) 
with the PS2->USB dongles I've tried.

If you're seriously inclined, you might liberate a bucket of some of 
the better Cherry switches and keycaps from a donor keyboard or two (or 
buy the Cherry switches new 
<http://www.cherrycorp.com/english/switches/key/index.htm>), borrow a 
3D printer for the casing, and create a keyboard controller using an 
Arduino or such as the controller.

Or gut an available VMS LK, and replace its controller with a USB connection.

That'll be cheaper than that half-megabuck production restart that was 
mentioned earlier.

The old VAXstation II/GPX documentation had a (partial) discussion of 
the old keyboards and widgets from that era; not sure if it had the 
keycodes listed or not.  I haven't seen a listing of the USB LK details 
anywhere that's available.

Well, this presuming you can't scrounge some VMS LKs, or (if you're 
gonzo) tweak an optical virtual (projection) keyboard to meet your 
needs, or rework your software or your finger memories to not be quite 
so dependent on the VMS LK layout.

And FWIW, it does not appear that Nemonix has USB-connected LK 
keyboards; not based on what was posted on that web page.

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