Big-box Amiga keyboards

[AndyLandy]

Thought it might be a useful resource for other Amibayers, and also curious myself, but which keyboards work with which Amigas? The 2000 has a large-DIN plug and the 4000 has a small-DIN plug, but what do the other miggies have? Am I right in assuming that there are only the two types (although there may be different designs, I'm interested in compatibility here)

 

[moijk]

Thought it might be a useful resource for other Amibayers, and also curious myself, but which keyboards work with which Amigas? The 2000 has a large-DIN plug and the 4000 has a small-DIN plug, but what do the other miggies have? Am I right in assuming that there are only the two types (although there may be different designs, I'm interested in compatibility here)

A1000 uses the RJ12 jack.
A1500/A2000/A2500/3000 uses a 5-pin DIN female.
CD32 and A4000 uses the 6-pin miniDIN female.
I think the CDTV has the same 6-pin miniDIN, as well as IR for keyboard.

 

[Zetr0]

All keyboards have a +5, Ground, Clock and Data.

The Data is provided by protocol, the PC compatible keyboards use a PS2 protocol, this is incompatable and essentially incomprehensible to the Amiga without the use of a converter.

Most Amiga to PC Keyboard adapters use a Micro-Controller that converts the data from the PC protocol to the Amiga protocol.

There are a few samples and sources on Aminet that will allow you to build your own with a little knownledge =)

 

[chiark]

The only odd one is the CDTV which has a PS2 connector but is wired differently to the 4000... You can definitely use a standard DIN/PS2 connector on the 2/3/4k/cd32.

You cannot use a CDTV keyboard on anything else, or any other keyboard on a CDTV, without an adaptor cable to swap pins 2-3 (clock/data) and 1-4(power/ground).

Quite why CBM thought swapping power/ground was a good idea ever is beyond me...

Reference is already available on the web:
http://www.titan.co.nz/Amigaak/AA060132.htm

 

[rkauer]

Complementing:

A1500/2000/2500 = A3000/3000T = A4000T, keyboard-wise. They share the very same connector and pinout.

CD32 share the same keyboard connector with the A4000D. The two extra wires on the CD32 are not connected when using a keyboard.

 

[AndyLandy]

Complementing:

A1500/2000/2500 = A3000/3000T = A4000T, keyboard-wise. They share the very same connector and pinout.

CD32 share the same keyboard connector with the A4000D. The two extra wires on the CD32 are not connected when using a keyboard.

I wonder why they changed it for the 4000D and then back again for the 4000T? Oh, yeah, this is Commodore we're talking about...

 

[rkauer]

A4000T is the A3500 prototype, which is almost the same as the A3000T. A4000D is a "hack", it is a stripped down A3000D with no scandoubler but with AGA chipset.

 

[Zetr0]

The CD32 keyboard connector its best to mention is infact both a Keyborad connector AND a serial connector, so dont go plugging a keyboard in it...

for the CD32 you will need an adapter, or official CD32 keyboard.

All Amiga keyboad share the same data-protocol. so as long as theres +5,Ground, CLK and Data, they will all work with any other Amiga unit.

 

[UberFreak]

I'm currently using an A2000 keyboard with my A4000, through a 1M long converter cable.
I'm having some problems, but they could be due to a bad keyboard, I need to verify it with the A2000.
The problems I'm getting are "lost" key-strokes or strange delays: sometimes if I press a key nothing happens, but about half a second later it is magically pressed :huh:
And lots of keystrokes dont register at all... not the same keys, its completely random!

 

[Zetr0]

@UberFreak

That sounds like a keyboard CLK fault,

You might fair better with a higher-quality cable, or perhaps a small 5pin to 6pin mini-din plug.

 

[UberFreak]

I'll try to find a shorter adapter cable (they are quite impossible to find here, I found the one I'm using in an old PC junk box).

Problem is, the A2000 KB cable is extremely short, as the A2000 KB port is in the front.
With the A4000 an extension is a must!

 

[chiark]

You can use a 4000 keyboard on a CD32 with no ill side effects. The other 2 pins are NC (not connected) on the keyboard...

My big box amigas (2000/3000/4000) are connected via a monitor and keyboard switch to a single monitor, keyboard and mouse. They must have at least 2 metres of cable on them, and the switch, and they work perfectly... Perhaps check quality of your connections?

 

[rkauer]

Or the quality of the extension cable: it must have the shield wired to GND to avoid problems.

 

[moijk]

The CD32 keyboard connector its best to mention is infact both a Keyborad connector AND a serial connector, so dont go plugging a keyboard in it...

for the CD32 you will need an adapter, or official CD32 keyboard.

All Amiga keyboad share the same data-protocol. so as long as theres +5,Ground, CLK and Data, they will all work with any other Amiga unit.

Strange, my lyca-connected mist-keyboard works well with my cd32.

 

[Zetr0]

Its likely that the Lyca ignores pins 2 and 6 (TxD and RxD respectively)

have lookie here

 

[rkauer]

And A4000 keyboards don't have wires at those positions at all. Hence I mentioned it is safe to hook it to CD32.

 

[RedDaemonFox]

A4000T is the A3500 prototype, which is almost the same as the A3000T. A4000D is a "hack", it is a stripped down A3000D with no scandoubler but with AGA chipset.

Uhh, the 3500 is the 3000t essentially, the 4000t has several differences, including the variety of daughter cards it used iirc. The 4000D also has several other differences:

SIMM vs ZIP/DIP
IDE vs SCSI II
INT2 Fixed
the daughter cards are different

 

[rkauer]

A3000+, sorry. No ZIP chips: SIMM instead.

 

[Kin Hell]

Some of you must have severe lumps on the side of your heads. :mrgreen:

Kin