Conveniently use an Apple ][ or ][+ keyboard with an Apple-1.
A very compact adapter that sits directly on the Apple-1 keyboard socket. It has a clear screen
button and passthrough breakout pins for the Apple-1 keyboard connector. For reset, the key(s) on the connected Apple ][ keyboard can be used.
On the backside, a solder jumper is added to unhook the 8th input bit off the 5V, meant for the advanced user. The power out
connector can be used to let the Apple-1 power the ASCII Keyboard Tester or Character Generator Tester. This adapter can also be used on top of those for further testing.
Cheap and possibly the smallest keyboard in the world, a real joke.
Set the ASCII data
using the DIP switches, press keypress
and off you go! A trained finger puts only one character on the screen. The circuit is implemented without debouncing to keep it simple.
Onboard clear screen
(Apple-1 only) and reset
buttons. Experiment further with the breakout pins for the keyboard connector. For the Apple-1; a solder jumper is added to unhook the 8th input bit off the 5V, meant for the advanced user. The power out
connector can be used to let the computer power the ASCII Keyboard Tester or Character Generator Tester. This keyboard can even be used on top of those.
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Apple-1 | Schematics | BoM | Gerbers | Get one! |
---|---|---|---|---|
Apple ][ | Schematics | BoM | Gerbers |
Test vintage parallel ASCII keyboards with ease and see how they actually work.
Eight red LEDs show the data bits
coming from the attached keyboard, which contain the ASCII code. The strobe
signal can be watched, going high to low, or vice versa. Furthermore, the reset
and clear
signals can be tested for the Apple 1 and Apple II.
The board needs a 5V power supply as a minimum, but some keyboards need -12V and/or +12V to operate. Onboard is a passthrough power out
connector for the keyboard. Connect an Apple-1 or Apple ][ keyboard directly using the DIP-16 connectors. The extra parallel data in
connector can be used to connect uncommon or custom keyboards.
Use the bread board area to add your own experiments!
Manual Schematics Bill of Materials Get one!Display the hex value (two digits, 0-9
, A-F
) of any parallel 8-bits TTL input.
To mount it on the ASCII Keyboard Tester, the 74LS374
IC is removed from this tester board. This frees up a socket to put in the display on top. The removed IC is still needed and is being reused on this board. For stand alone usage, the board needs a 5V power supply. Then the data in
connector can be used for custom TTL input.
The jumper can be used to enable (or disable) the 8th bit. This way, both ASCII values (7 bits) and full bytes (8 bits) can be displayed correctly.
Schematics Bill of Materials Get one!Discover how an Apple-1 or Apple ][ generates a single character for display.
Inspired through the famous article by Don Lancaster, about a tiny self-made display, attached to an ASCII Keyboard (Popular Electronics, issue April 1974). The character is shown on a 5x7 dot matrix display
. The binary row address
is indicated by LEDs and you can see how the display is being built up by stepping through the 7 horizontal scan lines. The clock speed can be adjusted from 0.6 Hz to 800 Hz.
Connect an Apple 1 or Apple II keyboard directly using the DIP-16 connectors, or use the ASCII data in
pins. Verify the ASCII input to the character generator using the character address
LEDs. A power supply with +5V and -12V is needed as a minimum. The -5V is regulated on the board itself. Provide +12V when this voltage is needed by the attached keyboard. Supported character generators: Signetics 2513
, 2316B
, 2716
EPROMs and 2816
EEPROMs. Extra, feed the 8-bit counter output
to the ASCII Keyboard Tester!
Send keystrokes and copy-paste software to an Apple 1 or Apple ][ from a remote terminal through a one-way serial interface.
Quickly get to the real fun. Load machine code Basic and Star Trek on an Apple-1 in a couple of minutes. Experiment with 6502-assembly or Basic. Write software with your favorite editor and simply copy-paste it over to the Apple-1. The board includes both clear screen
and reset
buttons.
The one-way RS232
interface is also compatible with USB to RS232 cables. Any terminal application can be used that supports custom configurations, like minicom. Use it with an Apple ][ by flipping over the adapter socket on the backside.
Many thanks to the work done by Mike Willegal, please check out his website.
Pre-order now!The process is old-fashioned simple:
Choose for only the PCB or a complete kit. The kit contains the PCB and all unsoldered parts. See the bill of materials for all parts that are included. Items can be soldered and assembled by us on request.
Prices are in euros and include 21% VAT.
Item | PCB / Color | Kit |
---|---|---|
Apple-1 Keyboard Adapter New | € 5 | € 15 |
Poor Man's Keyboard / Apple-1 or Apple ][ | € 5 | € 15 |
ASCII Keyboard Tester | € 7 | € 25 |
One Byte Hex Display | € 5 | € 20 |
Character Generator Tester | € 9 | € 45 |
Keyboard Serial Terminal Pre-order New | € 9 | € 75 |
More than two items? Get a 10% discount on your total.
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