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CIRCLE WITH A DOT

  1. Home
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  3. Unlike my floppy drive box, only a single goat has pissed on my PCjr box

Unlike my floppy drive box, only a single goat has pissed on my PCjr box

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retrocomputingvcf
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  • gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG gloriouscow@oldbytes.space

    IBM mentions in passing in the technical reference that you could make other IR accessories for the system, but it was up to you to figure it out and the timings were tailored around the keyboard.

    I'm not sure if anyone ever did - at least I'm not aware of any 3rd party IR accessories.

    gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
    gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
    gloriouscow@oldbytes.space
    wrote last edited by
    #81

    There's a fun video of LGR experiencing some ... issues with his PCjr IR port.

    The beeping was an intentional feature by IBM to inform you that you had a bad keyboard signal. A beep occurs if the system receives a parity or phase error.

    "I hate and love you so much" is something that I feel deeply

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    gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG 1 Reply Last reply
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    • gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG gloriouscow@oldbytes.space

      There's a fun video of LGR experiencing some ... issues with his PCjr IR port.

      The beeping was an intentional feature by IBM to inform you that you had a bad keyboard signal. A beep occurs if the system receives a parity or phase error.

      "I hate and love you so much" is something that I feel deeply

      - YouTube

      Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

      favicon

      (www.youtube.com)

      gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
      gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
      gloriouscow@oldbytes.space
      wrote last edited by
      #82

      Because I am very normal I needed to see if I can read the PCjr keyboard IR protocol with a light pen.

      #retrocomputing

      gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG 1 Reply Last reply
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      • gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG gloriouscow@oldbytes.space

        Because I am very normal I needed to see if I can read the PCjr keyboard IR protocol with a light pen.

        #retrocomputing

        gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
        gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
        gloriouscow@oldbytes.space
        wrote last edited by
        #83

        The IR signal is biphase-encoded. You can't really have the IR blasting all the time, and an absence of light isn't meaningful either, so quick pairs of light pulses signify meaningful data.

        The first pulse is always 1, being the start bit. The start bit establishes the beginning of a series of 9 windows to follow, called bitcells. If a pulse appears at the start of a bitcell, it is a 1. if a pulse appears in the second half of a bitcell, it is a 0.

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        gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG 1 Reply Last reply
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        • gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG gloriouscow@oldbytes.space

          Will it turn on, or will it explode?

          #retrocomputing

          brouhaha@mastodon.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
          brouhaha@mastodon.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
          brouhaha@mastodon.social
          wrote last edited by
          #84

          @gloriouscow
          Yes. It definitely will.

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          • gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG gloriouscow@oldbytes.space

            The IR signal is biphase-encoded. You can't really have the IR blasting all the time, and an absence of light isn't meaningful either, so quick pairs of light pulses signify meaningful data.

            The first pulse is always 1, being the start bit. The start bit establishes the beginning of a series of 9 windows to follow, called bitcells. If a pulse appears at the start of a bitcell, it is a 1. if a pulse appears in the second half of a bitcell, it is a 0.

            Link Preview Image
            gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
            gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
            gloriouscow@oldbytes.space
            wrote last edited by
            #85

            The scancode is sent LSB first, after a start bit, and a parity bit follows.

            So our scancode is 0b0001_1110 or 1E.
            What key is that?

            MartyKey::KeyA => Some(0x1E),

            It's A! So, I assume that if I wire up the light pen to the keyboard port, we can use it as an IR receiver.

            gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG 1 Reply Last reply
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            • gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG gloriouscow@oldbytes.space

              The scancode is sent LSB first, after a start bit, and a parity bit follows.

              So our scancode is 0b0001_1110 or 1E.
              What key is that?

              MartyKey::KeyA => Some(0x1E),

              It's A! So, I assume that if I wire up the light pen to the keyboard port, we can use it as an IR receiver.

              gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
              gloriouscow@oldbytes.spaceG This user is from outside of this forum
              gloriouscow@oldbytes.space
              wrote last edited by
              #86

              This shouldn't really be a major surprise to anyone, considering the light pen is essentially made of the same things - a photodiode and some filtering circuitry.

              But it's just stupid enough to make me happy.

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