ftp.whtech.com/ftp.whtech.com.tar/ftp.whtech.com/articles/reviews/01MIC96.TXT

Text File | 2006-10-19 | 14KB | 215 lines

     MICROPENDIUM Microreviews for January 1996
          by Charles Good
          ----------------
          AT KEYBOARD INTERFACE by Western Horizon Technologies.

          An immediately obvious disadvantage of the 99/4A is its small
     keyboard with relatively few keys and no numeric keypad.  Several
     years ago RAVE offered a full sized keyboard replacement.  You removed
     the 99/4As keyboard, installed the RAVE interface in its place, and
     pluged the RAVE keyboard into the interface.  I bought one of these in
     1988.  I think it cost me $200 and I didn't like it.  The non standard
     105 key RAVE keyboard had some strangely labeled keys I never used,
     felt mushy.    The keyboard eventually became mechanically unsound and
     new replacement 105 key keyboards were unobtainable.  RAVE also
     offered an XT keyboard interface without a keyboard, but it was also
     expensive ($150) and so were XT keyboards.

          Times and prices have have changed.  The RAVE 105 key keyboard
     with interface and the RAVE XT interface are no longer in production
     and XT keyboards are hard to find in stores and catalogs.  On the
     other hand AT 101 key keyboards are now readily available and very
     inexpensive.  You can get a new AT keyboard for $14 plus shipping from
     the MEI/Microcenter catalog (product #027615, phone [phone]).  My
     local WalMart store has them starting at $20.  I recently purchased at
     WalMart for $30 a "mechanical" AT keyboard with an audible click and
     nice tactile feel.  And most importantly for 99/4A users you can now
     purchase for $65 (+ $5 shipping) an AT keyboard interface Western
     Horizon Technologies that is better than the RAVE product and costs
     much less.

          This W.H.T.  internal console circuit board allows you to attach
     any AT keyboard to the side of your console and use either the AT
     keyboard or your console's keyboard.  Any computer keyboard will
     eventually develop mechanical problems, so the common availability of
     inexpensive replacement AT keyboards is an important consideration.
     With this console modification you always have the option of using
     your console keyboard as you normally do.  You can also plug in an AT
     keyboard and then use either or both the console or AT keyboard.  You
     will be tempted to figure out a way of hiding your console on the
     floor, in a drawer, behind something (out of sight out of mind) and
     just use the AT keyboard.  The AT keyboard's long coiled cord can
     reach to your console's hiding place.  There are unfortunately times
     when you must still use the console keyboard, so don't bury the
     console too deeply.

          As originally designed, installation of the AT keyboard interface
     was supposed to be user friendly.  Essentially all you supposidly had
     to do was cut one console motherboard trace with a sharp knife, make
     one solder connection, and without soldering fit the springy prongs of
     the AT interface circuit board over the the pins of the 9900 chip on
     the mother board.  Disassemble the console, cut a trace, solder one
     wire, press on the interface, route the keyboard jack to your
     preferred location on the side of the console, then reassemble the
     console.  The keyboard jack can be located almost anywhere you want on
     the surface of the console.  You cut a hole in the console and secure
     the jack through the hole.  Most users will probably prefer the left
     side of the console near the joystick port.

          I saw a public demonstration of this supposedly technoklutz
     friendly installation procedure at the 1994 Chicago faire, and it
     didn't work! Several sources have since told me that the "press on"
     technique is not stable, and this has been my own experience.  W.H.T.
     now recommends soldering all the prongs of the interface to the
     corresponding pins of the 9900 chip on the console motherboard.
     Unless you are good with a soldering iron this can be tricky.  W.H.T.
     offers dealer installation of their product for an additional $30.  I
     recommend this option.  Send W.H.T. a console you can afford to be
     without for awhile (Don O'Neil of W.H.T. tells me "3 weeks worst
     case") along with a check for $95 ($65 + the $30 installation fee) and
     they will return your console with the AT interface installed and
     guaranteed for 1 year.  You provide your own locally purchased AT
     keyboard.

          The W.H.T. AT keyboard interface is intended for standard 99/4A
     consoles without most other modifications.  It is definately NOT
     compatible with "32K in the console".  W.H.T. tried and failed to
     install the interface in a console of mine with an internal speech
     synthesizer board.  There wasn't enough room for both the AT interface
     board and the speech synthesizer board.  The AT interface WILL work
     with consoles modified for 80 column use with the AVPC, TIM, or
     Mechatronics 80 column devices.  I have my interface installed on a
     console modified for AVPC use.  If you have TIM, please note that the
     SOB product often sold along with TIM is not compatible with the AT
     keyboard interface.

          The obvious reason for the interface is to let you use an AT 101
     key keyboard on your 99/4A system.  There is such a variety of these
     keyboards on the market that I am sure you can find one that exactly
     suits your personal needs.  Variations available at my local stores
     include click or non click keys, mushy or hard or everything in
     between keypress force, strange shaped "ergonomic" designs that help
     keep your hands from getting tired, and either a trackball or
     dedicated arrow keys to move the cursor.  The 99/4A keyboard is ok,
     but if you have the room on your computer table an AT keyboard is much
     better.  Any AT keyboard takes up less table space and is no wider
     than a 99/4A console plus firehose connector.  My new AT keyboard is a
     real pleasure to use! I particularly like the big <enter> and <shift>
     keys and the dedicated cursor arrow keys.

          When you turn on your modified console the AT interface adds
     about 1 second to powerup time.  This means that you really do have to
     turn on the console after turning on the PE box, just like TI's
     directions tell you.  You can use the console's keyboard whether or
     not you have an AT keyboard attached.  If you do have an AT keyboard
     it comes up with caps lock and num lock on.  This is a very logical
     arrangement.  With num lock on you get immediate access to keyboard's
     numeric keypad with its own <enter> key.  This makes entering
     numerical data very convenient.  Except for word processing I usually
     have my alpha lock down, so having the AT keyboard start up with caps
     lock on seems very natural to me.  Caps lock on or off does not affect
     joystick performance.  You don't have to turn caps lock off to use
     joysticks.

          Many of the 101 keys do things with a single keypress that
     require multiple keypresses on a regular 99/4A keyboard.  The F1
     through F10 keys act a FCTN/1 through FCTN/0 in Basic and in TI
     Writer.  Separate arrow keys move the cursor in 4 directions.  The ALT
     key is the same as the 99/4a's FCTN key and can be used instead of or
     in addition to the F1-F10 keys.  A lot of the 101 keys do nice useful
     things in TI Writer.  Keys labeled Tab, Insert, PgUp, PgDn, Delete,
     End, and Home do what they say in TI Writer.  There are other single
     keypresses that kill-to-lineend, oops, and window right in TI Writer.
     When logged onto a BBS you can press Pause to stop and start text
     scrolling.  The Esc key returns the escape character (ascii 27),
     useful in controlling your printer.  There is a destructive backspace
     (something not found on the 99/4A keyboard) usable in both Basic and
     TI Writer.

          Many of you know that other PCs have type ahead keyboard buffers
     allowing you to type faster than the software can accept your input.
     What you may not know is that the keyboard buffer is built into the
     keyboard, not the PC's CPU.  With the W.H.T. AT interface we 99/4A
     users can now take advantage of any AT keyboard's keyboard buffer.
     The main benefit of such a buffer is in word processing.  No end of
     line missing characters with TI Writer or the Funnelweb editor.  The
     keyboard buffer can give you some strange effects with some software.
     If you hold a key down too long some software will register multiple
     keypresses of that key, even if the click keyboard only clicks once
     for the key.  I notice this with REDISKIT, which requires three upper
     case C presses to begin to copy each disk.  If at the beginning of a
     copy operation you just repeatedly tap the C key without counting, or
     hold it down too long, REDISKIT will format a copy disk, copy a master
     disk onto the copy disk and then imediately start reformatting the
     same copy disk again without pausing after the first copy is made.
     When using REDISKIT I have to remember to press C only 3 times and not
     keep my finger on the C key too long.

          There are a few problems using some software with the AT
     keyboard.  However all such problems can be solved by switching to the
     99/4A's keyboard when a problem is encountered.  For example, the
     Clear key (Fctn-4) doesn't work in basic to break a running program or
     in Funnelweb's Disk Review to abort a disk management operation.
     Another example; software that has its own keyscan may not respond at
     all to the AT keyboard.  Such software will, however, work just fine
     with the console's keyboard.  This software includes Atarisoft games,
     Telco, Fast Term, Mass Transfer, and the Horizon Ramdisk Config
     program.

          As of this writing (late December 1995) the AT interface does not
     like the console's automatic screen saver.  I am told that a
     replacement EPROM fix for this is in the works, but I don't yet have
     this new eprom.  If you purchase the AT interface, ask W.H.T. if the
     screen saver problem has been fixed.  If you already own an AT
     interface, ask about obtaining a replacement eprom.  Otherwise, you
     will have to put up with the behavior described in the next two
     paragraphs, which can be annoying.

          With the screen saver bug, in either Basic if you don't type
     anything in command mode for about 10 minutes the cursor stops
     flashing and the screen does not go blank.  Usually you can recover by
     just typing something on the AT keyboard, but not always.  Sometimes
     you have to type a key on the 99/4A keyboard to recover.  Some
     software, such as Funnelweb's central menus and disk review do not
     allow the console's screen saver to activate.  If you are running
     screen saver sensitive software that uses 40 or 80 columns, when the
     screen saver activates then your screen may pop into 32 column mode
     and not clear.  What you see is strange looking 32 column text and
     strange colors.  The software is still there and functioning.  Only
     the screen display is messed up.  To recover all you need to do is
     press a 99/4A (not an AT keyboard) key.  I notice the screen saver
     problem sometimes when copying disks using DSKU, DM1000, and the AMS
     copier.  If you have large capacity disks there may be some time
     between keypresses while the copy process continues.  After a few
     minutes, even while disk copying is in progress, the screen pops into
     32 column mode with strange colors.

          Most annoying to me is the way the screen saver bug affects the
     Funnelweb editor.  Even when actively using using the Funnelweb
     editor, after about 10 minutes the screen goes fireworks as the
     console's screen saver kicks in.  To recover you have to press a
     console keyboard key, and this usually slightly disrupts your word
     processing document.  Funnelweb, but not necessarily other forms of TI
     Writer, is coded in such a way that AT keyboard keypresses are not
     detected by the timer that activates the screen saver.  This is very
     annoying, but not fatal.

          There is a possibility that special software will be written just
     for the AT keyboard interface.  The interface has the sockets for 64K
     of 0 wait state 16 bit ram in the system rom area.  Right now there is
     no software to use this feature but I am told that David Nieters,
     author of the keyboard interface software, has been working on a
     terminal emulator that works out of that space and gives high speed
     support.  There are no promises that this will become a reality.
          ------
          ACCESS:

          Western Horizon Technologies, 3297 Woody Lane, San Jose CA 95132.
     Voice phone 408-934=0352 (ask for Don O'Neil).  Fax [phone].
     Internet email [e-mail]

          Charles Good, P.O. Box 647, Venedocia Ohio 45894. Phone
     419-667-3131.  Internet email [e-mail] or
     [e-mail]