[Techtoolslist] 9100FT Programmer’s Keyboard

[John Robertson]

On 2017/10/03 5:05 PM, Ian Eure wrote:
> I finally tracked down a Programmer’s Keyboard for my 9100.  I don’t
> know how widely it’s known, but there were two different versions
> of the keyboard.  The only photos I’ve seen are the earlier model,
> which meant that I almost let this one slip away.  It was on eBay, new
> old stock, for $36 shipped!
>
> All the info is in the manuals, if you look.  I had always wondered
> why the keyboard illustrations in the Programmer’s Manual didn’t match
> the photos of the keyboard I’d seen.  It’s because I read scans of a
> later (1991) printing, which has illustrations of the later revision
> of the keyboard.  I haven’t seen a 1988 printing, but I bet it shows
> the earlier keyboard layout.
>
> The various 9100 service manuals list different part numbers:
>
> 9100A Supplemental Parts List (May 1988), fig. 5-21, p. 5-53
> ----
> Lists p/n 5-64995-131.  This seems to be the more common version of
> the keyboard.  It has a block of (mostly) 2u keys on the far right,
> angled RETURN key, and arrows by the SHIFT and RETURN keys.
>
> Photo: https://i.imgur.com/undefined.png
Broken link.
>
> The Service Manual which this is a supplement to (9100A Service Manual
> p/n 809210, May 1988) only lists the Fluke stock number, 757120, in
> fig. 5-20 on p. 5-50.
>
>
> 9100FT Service Manual (p/n 910476, November 1991), fig. 5-18, p. 5-49
> ----
> This has new stock and parts numbers.  s/n 887216, p/n E04008051.
>
> The later revision more closely resembles a 1990s 101-key PC keyboard,
> with separate numpad and arrow keys.  It seems to work fine on a
> 9100A.
>
>
> Since this an uncommon keyboard, I naturally tore it apart and took
> some photos of the inside before even plugging it in.  These are
> available on
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/sa34h6252476012/9100FT-Keyboard.zip?dl=0,
> and probably ought to go into the TTL FTP.
On the way...
>
> It seems to be second-sourced from KeyTronics, which might explain the
> lack of documentation (schematics, etc) in the Fluke service manuals.
> Even though it looks like a PC keyboard, it uses uncommon capacative
> (hybrid mechanical) switches mounted on a metal plate, and feels much
> sturdier than the 1990s rubber dome board I was expecting.  The
> controller is an 8031, with the program in a 2764 EPROM.  I’m going to
> see if I can dump it, though it’s soldered in and I’d prefer not to
> remove it.
>
> There are two DIP switches which are accessible via a panel on the
> bottom.  I have no idea what (if anything) they do.
>
> I’ve built a few keyboards from kits, so I was hoping that with a good
> look inside, it might be possible build a reproduction with the same
> microcontroller and program.  While the 8031/2764 is excellent news
> for this, the rest is a downer.  There’s an Exar 22-00958-000 IC which
> handles the capacitive keyswitches and provides keypress data to the
> 8031.  It looks like the switches and controller are hard to come by,
> which renders the program on the EPROM useless.  Still, maybe someone
> could adapt another KeyTronics board, as they seem to be fairly
> similar.
>
> Here’s a couple pages I found that have info on KeyTronics keyboards,
> and might be useful.
>
> http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?58612-Key-Tronic-KB3270-Plus-ROM-dump
> http://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/kb3270.html
> https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=37968.0
>
>    -- Ian
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Thanks! Wish I had time to play with my 9100FTs!

John :-#)#

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