RedJacketPress
Well-known member
I have a follow-up question: how do you map the "Power" key on an ADB keyboard? I'm using an Apple Keyboard II (M0487), and the button is actually referred to as "Reset."
Cheap and simple ADB to USB converter
- Thread starter ronan
- Start date
I don't know about the ADB to USB converter, but regarding the Power key:
Early Apple USB keyboards have a power button. I can connect my Apple USB Keyboard from the B&W G3 to my Mac Pro 2008 running Monterey. If I press the power button on the keyboard for awhile, it will cause my display to sleep. If I press Control-Power, it will show the "Restart Sleep Cancel Shutdown" dialog. I suppose you would want the ADB keyboard's reset button to do the same thing?
When connected to my B&W G3, the Apple USB Keyboard's Power button can turn on the Power Mac. If I hold Command-Option-O-F, then it will go into Open Firmware. If I press the Power button again, it will shutdown.
SparrowRat
Well-known member
Hey, I would also be interested in building one of these. Does anyone in the US have a spare board I could buy?
Skate323k137
Well-known member
If I can find where I put them ...
Edit: found them, I have 10-15 left, shoot me a PM if you need one (or more).
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Skate323k137
Well-known member
@ronan I see the PCB files on your github but didn't notice a license i.e. CC-BY-SA or GPL.
I have easily a dozen kits (sans pro micro) available. Because several people have asked for these, and because I am -definitely- getting 1099'd by eBay/PayPal this year, I moved my remaining PCBs and parts to eBay. This also keeps me honest in giving a portion of my open source item sales to charity. I've left your name on the PCB and in the listing and credited you appropriately, please let me know if there's any issue at all with me selling these like that.
I have easily a dozen kits (sans pro micro) available. Because several people have asked for these, and because I am -definitely- getting 1099'd by eBay/PayPal this year, I moved my remaining PCBs and parts to eBay. This also keeps me honest in giving a portion of my open source item sales to charity. I've left your name on the PCB and in the listing and credited you appropriately, please let me know if there's any issue at all with me selling these like that.
tt
Well-known member
Did you end up finding anything? I have the same thoughts, I prefer an ADB keyboard, but using a ball mouse is not great.
zigzagjoe
Well-known member
USB is a couple of orders more complex to implement so it requires a significantly more expensive microcontroller.
EDIT: Look at the USB wombat: https://shop.bigmessowires.com/products/usb-wombat
Better option is to find a USB mouse that also does PS/2. I believe I saw some adapters out there that do PS/2 to ADB already, so that'd be your best bet for a modern mouse on a mac.
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mdeverhart
Well-known member
@bigmessowires sells the Wombat ADB-USB which does just that - you can connect USB keyboards/mice to old Macs, or you can connect ADB keyboards/mice to modern machines.
zigzagjoe
Well-known member
Good catch! Edited.
Chopsticks
Well-known member
you need something that can run as USBHost, hardware wise a lot of arduino style boards can do it. probably something like the SAMD based stuff.. most of the teensy boards support running as USBHost too.
the main possible issue is going to be if theres a good USBHID driver available or not.
otherwise you would need to write your own Generic USBHID keyboard and/or mouse driver if there isnt some code out there you can reuse.
USBHost libraries are kinda common now, but implementing the rest of the code is where the challenge would be.
tt
Well-known member
@Chopsticks Yeah, I was wondering if any new adapters had come about in the bast few years. I tested an adapter bbraun made based on an STM32 dev board a long time ago so I have been interested in finding a simple and small microcontroller board with USB host capability to tinker with that runs off 5V and just needs an ADB socket attached to it.
Chopsticks
Well-known member
while i havent used it from everything ive read the BMOW wombat is a fantastic device, but being able to go USB>ADB and ADB>USB in the same device while supporting keyobards and mice increases complexity alot. its a product im my long....long list of things to buy for my vintage mac's.
however depending on you programming skills theres alot of code out there for DIY USB keyboards, and the ADB protocol is both well documented and also has a decent amount of adaptable code out there too.
in theory (though without having looked at any code in depth in a long time) you should be able to implement a 'custom' USB keyboard interface relatively easily. id probably start with implementing and tinkering with some code that allows you to modify say the scan codes used to remap perhaps the function keys or something to output different scan codes i.e to make the Function keys send a change volume or something.
that would get you versed enough in how it all works.
next i would look at how ADB to USB code works and how the mapping is done in some on those open source ADB>USB projects floating around on the net. strip out whats not needed to get a better understanging on how its working.
from there you could mesh them together to get a USB>ADB setup running.
keep in mind its likely more complex to actually write the code then how ive explained the process of doing so. and also keep in mind a keyboard and a mouse work quite different. converting a mouse is another topic again.
depending on you skillset and also what time you have to dedicate to learning/writing/designing it, you still may be better of buying the Wombat... again its a great device. but if learning and tinkering is more valuable to you then the hours/weeks/months etc needed to DIY it then theres a huge amount of much more talented people then me here on the forum whom im sure whould be happy to pass on or answer any specific questions you have should you go down that route. Trust me here, both the skills and knoweldge the members here have is immensive impressive
however depending on you programming skills theres alot of code out there for DIY USB keyboards, and the ADB protocol is both well documented and also has a decent amount of adaptable code out there too.
in theory (though without having looked at any code in depth in a long time) you should be able to implement a 'custom' USB keyboard interface relatively easily. id probably start with implementing and tinkering with some code that allows you to modify say the scan codes used to remap perhaps the function keys or something to output different scan codes i.e to make the Function keys send a change volume or something.
that would get you versed enough in how it all works.
next i would look at how ADB to USB code works and how the mapping is done in some on those open source ADB>USB projects floating around on the net. strip out whats not needed to get a better understanging on how its working.
from there you could mesh them together to get a USB>ADB setup running.
keep in mind its likely more complex to actually write the code then how ive explained the process of doing so. and also keep in mind a keyboard and a mouse work quite different. converting a mouse is another topic again.
depending on you skillset and also what time you have to dedicate to learning/writing/designing it, you still may be better of buying the Wombat... again its a great device. but if learning and tinkering is more valuable to you then the hours/weeks/months etc needed to DIY it then theres a huge amount of much more talented people then me here on the forum whom im sure whould be happy to pass on or answer any specific questions you have should you go down that route. Trust me here, both the skills and knoweldge the members here have is immensive impressive
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ronan
Well-known member
Sorry for the long delay. You can do what you want with the files, even a commercial usage. Try to mention me somewhere if possible.
Skate323k137
Well-known member
You are definitely mentioned/credited. Appreciate it.
Codiferous
New member
Hey there! Would you be able to send over a link to your ebay if you still have any available?
Skate323k137
Well-known member
Sure, I have just over 15 left.
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Codiferous
New member
Outstanding! Now I can finally solder something with my iron. Got two because I have no idea what I'm doing lolSure, I have just over 15 left.
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I ordered 5 units of Ronan's board from JLCPCB for about £2.50 (incredible!) and I can confirm it works perfectly with a USB-C Pro Micro clone with the name Tenstar Robot printed on the underside. I got mine in the UK on eBay for £8.50, but I see that they're available on Ali Express for under half the price. I clipped the header pins down a bit and filed them to dull the sharp edges. I used a 3.3K resistor because I had one on my desk. I got S-Video sockets from eBay and can confirm these fit fine:
This Pro Micro clone lacks a reset button, but shorting RST to GND for a couple of seconds and releasing will get it into flash mode. The bootloader was already fine for QMK to flash the payload directly.
I've had a poke about at the QMK firmware and I can see it assumes an ANSI layout (no ISO layout is defined), and then in macOS you can define that it's an ISO board. If you've cleared the Keyboard Assistant wizard away, you can get it back by navigating to System Settings > Keyboard > Change Keyboard Type (at the very bottom).
For an ISO AEK/AEK II this results in a single key not mapped which is the top left one (section mark/+-) but that's pretty unused. Once connected, modern macOS treats it as a contemporary layout, so € is Option-2, and backtick ` is on the key next to Z, neither of which is printed on the 90s key caps. The only slight inconvenience is that although keyboards/converter/adb_usb/adb.h mentions several different handlers (for ISO vs ANSI, AEK vs M0116, and for AEK to have discrete right-hand modifier keys) they do not appear to be referenced at all in the code. Perhaps they were intended to be added later. Having the modifier keys each treated as a single key doesn't have much practical disadvantage I suppose, though it would restrict if you wanted to make custom layers.
I tried compiling with keyboard/converter/adb_usb/matrix.c edited to force ISO, but all this does is move backtick from next to Z up to the top left key next to 1, and that key next to Z becomes unmapped. I prefer the default, since that aligns with a modern Apple A1843 keyboard (ISO).
Despite also attempting a build with ADB mouse support enabled (uncommenting the line in keyboards/converter/adb_usb/rules.mk), mouse support didn't work for me. Not an issue for me, since I cannot go back from Magic Trackpad.
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This Pro Micro clone lacks a reset button, but shorting RST to GND for a couple of seconds and releasing will get it into flash mode. The bootloader was already fine for QMK to flash the payload directly.
I've had a poke about at the QMK firmware and I can see it assumes an ANSI layout (no ISO layout is defined), and then in macOS you can define that it's an ISO board. If you've cleared the Keyboard Assistant wizard away, you can get it back by navigating to System Settings > Keyboard > Change Keyboard Type (at the very bottom).
For an ISO AEK/AEK II this results in a single key not mapped which is the top left one (section mark/+-) but that's pretty unused. Once connected, modern macOS treats it as a contemporary layout, so € is Option-2, and backtick ` is on the key next to Z, neither of which is printed on the 90s key caps. The only slight inconvenience is that although keyboards/converter/adb_usb/adb.h mentions several different handlers (for ISO vs ANSI, AEK vs M0116, and for AEK to have discrete right-hand modifier keys) they do not appear to be referenced at all in the code. Perhaps they were intended to be added later. Having the modifier keys each treated as a single key doesn't have much practical disadvantage I suppose, though it would restrict if you wanted to make custom layers.
I tried compiling with keyboard/converter/adb_usb/matrix.c edited to force ISO, but all this does is move backtick from next to Z up to the top left key next to 1, and that key next to Z becomes unmapped. I prefer the default, since that aligns with a modern Apple A1843 keyboard (ISO).
Despite also attempting a build with ADB mouse support enabled (uncommenting the line in keyboards/converter/adb_usb/rules.mk), mouse support didn't work for me. Not an issue for me, since I cannot go back from Magic Trackpad.
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