Converting a TRS-80 Model 100 keyboard to USB
(Last modified 3 Jul 2012)


Updated 3 Jul 2012.  Added support for F9 through F12, using ALT versions of the third group of function keys.  This lets me use programs such as mc (text-based file manager).  I've updated the .zip below; also added the .hex file to the .zip so you can burn the object file into a Teensy++ 2.0 without having to rebuild.  Also added a copy of the comments in my source file showing the map between the unusual M100 keys and their PC-101 counterparts.

Updated 13 Jun 2012.  One more fix.  The fix below removed the tilde key; this fix restores it.  This fix also tweaks the debounce delay just a bit, making the keys a bit more solid.  I've updated the .zip below.

Updated 12 Jun 2012.  Fixed a bug that appeared when I used the M100 keyboard with my Raspberry Pi.  Pressing the right-Alt key (GRPH) sent spurious keystrokes to the RasPi, which messed up the nano editor.  I've updated the .zip below.


This project converts a TRS-80 Model 100 (M100) keyboard to USB.  My intent here is to use this converted keyboard on my Raspberry Pi (RasPi).  In fact, I want to replace the M100 logic board with the RasPi board, leaving the M100 case as intact as possible, then adding whatever connectors I need to bring the RasPi I/O to the rear panel.

I could have just plugged in an off-the-shelf USB keyboard, but chose to do the conversion for several reasons.  First of all, what fun is it to just buy something?  You spend a few bucks, take it home, and you're done!  What's the point?  :-)

However, the stock M100 keyboard is a passive matrix design, nothing but switches and diodes.  This means the keyboard draws zero current.  Since my ultimate goal is to run the whole Ras-Pi Model 100 off of batteries, having a low-power USB keyboard is vital.

Additionally, I want to keep the TRS-80 case as original as possible, and it would be tough for me to replace the existing keyboard with something else that looked good.  (This is more a mechanical skills issue than anything else.)


Choosing the connectors
The first hurdle was choosing the right headers for the two keyboard connectors.  The keyboard connections are brought out on two 10-pin single-row female headers.  The tricky part is the pins on the logic board are round and very small diameter, far smaller than the stock header pins you usually find on PCBs.  Refer to the photo below:

Headers for M100 adapter

On the left, you can see the standard square-pin header commonly found on PCBs.  To the right, in the blue shroud, is a connector I found in my junk box that has small-diameter pins suitable for use with the M100 keyboard connector (the white block in the center).

So I have a connector that sort of matches, but the shroud and the extra-long pins inside the shroud means that the final assembly will be too tall to fit in the case when I'm done.  So I had to remove the shroud, leaving only the pins and the connector substrate.  At least this is a mechanical task in my skill range!  :-)

Removed the connector shroud

With the shroud gone from two connectors, I was ready to begin wiring up the adapter.  I was in a hurry so I grabbed the only USB-capable development board I had, which is a Teensy++ 2.0.  The Teensy++ is total overkill for this project, but you go with what you have...

Here is the schematic for the adapter (PDF).  As you can see, it is only connections between the Teensy and the two keyboard connectors.

The connections to the keyboard matrix were based on the schematic in the original TRS-80 Model 100 Technical Reference manual (available on-line here).  Note that schematic is not faithful to the key cap labeling on the M100; it took some work with a DVM to trace out exactly what went where.

I wired up the adapter on a piece of perfboard, including a 40-pin DIP socket for the Teensy++.  Next up was the fun part, the code.  Please read through the comments in the code for some of the low-level details I had to address.  Weird stuff like push-on/push-off CAPS LOCK and NUM LOCK keys had to be accomodated, and there were some outright errors on the schematic.  Here is the source code and a suitable makefile.

Rather than create an USB stack from scratch, I used the example keyboard code from the PJRC website; here is a link to the code I used as my foundation.  I removed some unused timer code, then defined registers for driving the port lines wired to the matrix columns and registers for reading the port lines wired to the matrix rows.  I also added a table for mapping physical keys to given rows and columns.  I then added the special processing code for converting the M100 key layout into something close to the PC-101 keyboard I'm typing this on.

Note that the M100 keyboard is missing some necessary keys and has other keys arranged differently from a PC-101 keyboard.  For example, the M100 keyboard does not include keys for tilde, vertical bar, backslash, or the curly-braces, all of which are pretty important if you want to use your keyboard for programming.  Additionally, the M100 keyboard has both square-braces on the same key, unlike the PC-101 keyboard, which has these characters on separate keys.  I corrected these issues in special-case code in my program.  I also provided features that are commonly used in everyday work, such as HOME, END, PAGE-UP, and PAGE-DOWN functionality.

Because the PJRC code I started from consisted of C source and a makefile, I didn't even need to create an AVRStudio project for this effort.  I simply opened up Visual Studio 2005, created a new makefile project, and pointed VS2005's build, clean, and build-all commands to the makefile.  I did need to make a couple of minor changes to the makefile, since I am using an AT90USB1286 device.

I finished the code, built it, then used the Teensy download app, supplied by PJRC, to move my code into the Teensy++.  When I plugged my adapter's USB cable into the desktop PC, the PC enumerated the new keyboard.  Now I can type on either the M100 keyboard or my P/S2 desktop keyboard, and the PC handles the characters properly.

The M100 USB keyboard adapter

Here is the finished adapter wired to the M100 keyboard.  You can see the USB cable plugged into the top edge of the Teensy board.

Since the M100 keyboard has considerably fewer keys than a PC-101 keyboard, I had to map some key combinations on the M100 to get important keys available on a PC-101 keyboard.  The following comments from my source file shows how to get the important but missing PC-101 keys.

/*
 *  Map of M100 keys to PC-101 keys (shows only unusual or M100-specific keys; see modifyKeyPressForM100())
 *
 *      M100 key          PC-101 key
 *  -----------------     ----------
 *      BKSP              backspace
 *      shift-BKSP        delete
 *      GRPH              left-ALT
 *      CODE              right-ALT
 *      CAPS LOCK         Caps Lock
 *      NUM               Num Lock
 *      PASTE             {  (left curly-brace)
 *      shift-PASTE       }  (right curly-brace)
 *      alt-PASTE         F9
 *      [                 [  (left bracket)
 *      shift-[           ]  (right bracket)
 *      LABEL             \  (backslash)
 *      shift-LABEL       |  (vertical bar)
 *      alt-LABEL         F10
 *      alt-PRINT         F11
 *      PAUSE             `  (back-tick in Forth)
 *      shift-PAUSE       ~  (tilde)
 *      alt-PAUSE         F12
 *      shift- <--        Home
 *      shift- -->        End
 *      shift- up-arrow   Page Up
 *      shift- dn-arrow   Page Down
 */

This was a great project, and I'm happy with the resulting M100 functionality.  Mind you, it won't replace the IBM Model M I'm typing on right now, but it should certainly make the M100 suitable for playing with the Raspberry Pi.



Home