Mac SE and Newton serial keypad

[mvallance]

My sister in UK found a working Mac SE in a hotel she just bought. It starts up and is in graet condition. however, there is no mouse and keyboard. I have found a serial mouse. I have a serial keypad from my Newton. My question is,
Will the Newton serial keypad work on the SE?? Can someone try for me?
I will be flying from Japan to UK next month and wish to play with my 'new' Mac Cheers in advance.

[JRL]

No, you need an ADB keyboard and mouse.

[Bunsen]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Desktop_Bus

Luckily, they are pretty easy to find, as the ADB standard was used for over ten years, until the iMac came out.

[mvallance]

Thank you.

[Mac128]

I have a serial keypad from my Newton. My question is,
Will the Newton serial keypad work on the SE??

Yes you can use a serial keypad from a Newton. It was a fairly common hack back in the say ... for what reason I cannot say. Though it is not plug-n-play.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Keyboard

Follow this link to see the details and pictures of how one would look working on an SE:

http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6840&start=25

[JDW]

Thanks for providing the link, Mac128. I guess the search feature on this site was offline recently.

I've been a Newton user (in Japan) for a very long time, and I must say that I don't know where you folks are find this so-called "keyPAD"! There is an Apple Newton keyBOARD and some 3rd party keyBOARDs, but no keyPAD that I am aware of. A keyPAD is typically also called a "Numerical" Keypad, whereas a keyBOARD has all the ABCs and often the Numerical keyPAD as well.

If you would like to see my Newton Keyboard running smoothly on my SE/30 over serial, have a look at these photos (where I provide a link in the description to the required driver):

Photo#1
Photo#2

Of course, if you followed Mac128's link, you will have found those photos already.

[mvallance]

keypad - keyboard - i guess being so compact I named it keypad - oh well, life goes on
searching works quite fine on this great forum.
thanks for links and amazing to see this actually working.
michael.

[Mac128]

thanks for links and amazing to see this actually working.
michael.

The reason I prefer the Newton keyboard over a standard ADB keyboard from the period is specifically for the compact design. I always loved the original 128K/512K/e keyboard and what I considered an elegant solution for adding a keypad if necessary (something I rarely use). The fact that Apple didn't officially offer one again until the aftermarket Adjustable Keyboard and then the TAM (which had no keypad option) shows just how out of touch Apple was with their customer base. The TAM keyboard was one of the most sought after items on eBay. And the Adjustable Keyboard didn't sell because it was highly criticized for being cheaply made. I think Jobs hit the nail on the head with the new Wireless Apple Keyboard. Further, the Newton Keyboard has no power-on key as JDW points out, which makes it perfect for the compact Mac which does not use soft-power, except for the Color Classic (and there are ways around that). I love how it keeps everything streamlined within the width of the Mac, like the original. Even the Adjustable Keyboard spreads out quite a bit wider than the original Mac short keyboard, TAM or the new Wireless. But it looks great with the "Classic" series of compacts and is period. Certainly the black color of the Newton Keyboard sets it apart, but it is an Apple keyboard and it co-ordinates with the black accents on the case: name badge, text, ports, display mask area. Get yourself a black Apple mouse and it'll seem intentional. Of course you could always paint a badly yellowed one black to match. The TAM keyboard should look perfectly co-ordinated with the original beige Macs, which I think is in part why they chose the bronze colour-scheme in the first place. Sadly it can only be used with the Platinum ADB Macs with which it will be a more stark contrast, then again it is much harder to find.