[Techtoolslist] ABI Boardmaster 4000 keyboards

[Tim Matthews]

Hi all. I recently acquired a pair of keyboards for the ABI Boardmaster
4000. I'd been looking for ages so am pretty pleased :)

Anyway, given how long it took me to track one down I figured they must be
pretty rare so I thought it was worth documenting what I've found in case
anybody else is looking to program their ABI.

For a start the connector is a DIN type 3 pin so I figure power and clocked
data. I have yet to verify this on a scope.

Inside is the part number "Cherry 601-1118" in solder and Model number:
680-0486H/05 on a Cherry label. Googling these part numbers shows hits for
this keyboard being used in CNC machines so there may be quite a few out
there. The main IC is an Intel MAB 8048H (Datasheet here:
http://pdf.chinaicmart.com/MAB/MAB8035HL.pdf) which is a basic MCU with 1kB
of onboard mask ROM. I figure the Cherry ID and mask rom is a good sign that
these are generic serial keyboards so it may be possible to interface some
similar models to the ABI.

I considered whether the mask ROM might contain custom code but the chip
markings appear to be as-standard so I'm hoping it's just plain keyboard
matrix decoding & serial RX/TX code. I've (very briefly) thought about
dumping the mask ROM, probably by attaching some RAM and writing a trojan to
dump it. I'm happy to give this a try if there is any interest.

Other than the MCU there are a trio of LS08s, a 159, a 5.185 MHz crystal and
a few resistors and caps. The PCB is a single-sided design and very simple
so it wouldn't be too hard to produce a schematic if anybody needs to
reproduce it.

So, are there a large number of ABI users out there who are desperate for a
keyboard? If not then I'll probably only document this for historical
purposes and not bother dumping the MCU ROM.

I'm also looking for any leads on the Masterlink software that ABI used to
provide a kind of HP-IB control interface. Any info on the software, docs or
the supposed replacement PAL which is meant to come with the kit would be
very much appreciated.

thanks,
tim