[rescue] Sun 3 keyboard/mouse options?

Mouse mouse at Rodents-Montreal.ORG
Sun Sep 10 23:59:09 EDT 2023


> Lucky me scored a 3/50 at VCFMW this weekend!

> Unfortunately, there was no keyboard or mouse with the system. I
> quick google didn't turn up any info on options/adapters/etc (though
> I've only been home for a while and haven't really dug in yet).

Its keyboard is a 1200 baud serial device, just using TTL voltage
levels instead of RS-232 voltage levels, and it's a ridiculously simple
protocol.  If you can get keyboard events off something else, and
they're at even moderately similar, it's relatively easy to generate
Sun keyboard protocol.

I've heard it said that there are adapters between USB keyboard and Sun
keyboard, but if you're looking for that you have to be careful _which_
Sun keyboard; you want the Sun-3 or earlier Sun-4 keyboard, the one
with the miniDIN-8 connector[%].  You also have to be careful which
direction the adapter in question is designed to go: Sun keyboard on
USB machine, or the other way around?

[%] The -3/50 uses a DA-15, not a miniDIN-8.  But the Sun keyboards
that speak DA-15 and the ones that speak miniDIN-8 are compatible
enough that you can plug either kind of keyboard into the other kind of
machine with nothing but a passive adapter.

> Serial is of course an option, and likely how I'll start out once I
> get everything cleaned up and inspected.

It's what I'd suggest for the first few attempts, certainly.

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