History

tmk 6b48c03ab7 news: Add description for POWER ON Switch and remove wrong and unclear info on GND and FG		2023-12-06 14:28:11 +09:00
..
binary	news: Update prebuilt firmware files	2023-11-09 11:56:16 +09:00
config.h	news: Add description for POWER ON Switch	2023-12-06 14:28:11 +09:00
keymap.c	news_usb: Change keymap and add README	2017-07-16 19:00:28 +09:00
Makefile	news: Remove news.c and use serial_uart.c instead	2023-11-07 23:25:11 +09:00
matrix.c	news: Change pin configuration	2023-11-09 11:53:27 +09:00
README.md	news: Add description for POWER ON Switch	2023-12-06 14:28:11 +09:00
tone.c	news: Change pin configuration	2023-11-09 11:53:27 +09:00
unimap_plain.c	news_usb: unimap support	2023-11-02 22:06:46 +09:00
unimap_trans.h	news_usb: unimap support	2023-11-02 22:06:46 +09:00

README.md

Sony NEWS keyboard converter

Sony NEWS is a BSD workstation with 68K/MIPS released in 1987 in Japan.

This converter allows NEWS keyboard to be connected to modern PC via USB. It works with NWP-5461 and NWP-411A.

Limitations:

LEDs on NWP-5461 is not supported.
Mouse is not supported.

Discussion:

https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=25759

Resources:

https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard/wiki/Sony-NEWS

Wiring

Use PD2(USART RXD) for 'Keyboard Data' pin and give power with VCC and GND. Other pins are optional.

AVR     NEWS
------------------------
PD0     7 Mouse Data
PD1     2 BZ(Speaker)
PD2     3 Keyboard Data
PD3     6 Keyboard Command(NWP-5461)
PD4     8 POWER ON Switch(NWP-5461)
VCC     1 VCC
GND     5 GND

Target microcontroller is Atmel ATMega32U2 by default but porting this project to other 8-bit AVR controllers would be easy.

Protocol

NEWS keyboard protocol is a usual asynchronous serial communication. You can receive data from the keyboard easily with UART of micro controller.

TTL level
9600bps
1-start bit
8-data bit
non-parity
1-stop bit.

Its scan code is one byte consists of 1-bit release(break) flag at MSB and 7-bit code. For example 0x29 is sent when 'a' key is pressed and 0xA9 when released.

MSB         LSB
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0   bit
| | | | | | | |
| +-+-+-+-+-+-+-- scan code(00-7F)
+---------------- break flag: sets when released

Scan Codes

NWP-5461

,---.   ,------------------------, ,------------------------. ,---------.                   
|Pow|   | F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | | F6 | F7 | F8 | F9 | F10| | F11| F12| ,-----------.
`---'   `------------------------' `------------------------' `---------' |  *|  /|  +|    
,-------------------------------------------------------------. ,---. ,---------------|
|Esc|  1|  2|  3|  4|  5|  6|  7|  8|  9|  0|  -|  =|  \|  BS | |Hlp| |  7|  8|  9|  -|
|-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
|Tab  |  Q|  W|  E|  R|  T|  Y|  U|  I|  O|  P|  [|  ]|Del|   | |Ins| |  4|  5|  6|  ,|
|---------------------------------------------------------'   | |---| |---------------|
|Ctrl  |  A|  S|  D|  F|  G|  H|  J|  K|  L|  ;|  '|  `|Return| |Clr| |  1|  2|  3|   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |-----------|Ent|
|Shift   |  Z|  X|  C|  V|  B|  N|  M|  ,|  ,|  /|   |Shift   | |PgU| |  0|  .| Up|   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
|Alt  |Gui |Alt |         Space     |          |Gui|App|Ctrl  | |PgD| |Tab|Lef|Dow|Rig|
`-------------------------------------------------------------' `---' `---------------'
 
,---.   ,------------------------, ,------------------------. ,---------.                   
| 7A|   | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 0A | | 68 | 69 | ,-----------.
`---'   `------------------------' `------------------------' `---------' | 64| 65| 52|
,-------------------------------------------------------------. ,---. ,---------------|
| 0B| 0C| 0D| 0E| 0F| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18|  19 | | 6A| | 4B| 4C| 4D| 4E|
|-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
|  1A | 1B| 1C| 1D| 1E| 1F| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24| 25| 26| 27|   | | 6B| | 4F| 50| 51| 56|
|---------------------------------------------------------'   | |---| |---------------|
|  28  | 29| 2A| 2B| 2C| 2D| 2E| 2F| 30| 31| 32| 33| 34|  35  | | 6C| | 53| 54| 55|   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |-----------| 5A|
|  36    | 37| 38| 39| 3A| 3B| 3C| 3D| 3E| 3F| 40| 41|   42   | | 6D| | 57| 59| 58|   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
| 43  | 44 | 45 |       46          |    47    | 48| 49|  4A  | | 6E| | 66| 5B| 5C| 5D|
`-------------------------------------------------------------' `---' `---------------'

POWER ON Switch registers scan code 0x7A(0xFA) and pin 8 is not needed actually.

NWP-411A

        ,------------------------, ,------------------------.
        | F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | | F6 | F7 | F8 | F9 | F10|
        `------------------------' `------------------------'
,-------------------------------------------------------------.  ,---------------.
|Esc|  1|  2|  3|  4|  5|  6|  7|  8|  9|  0|  -|  =|  \|  BS |  |  7|  8|  9|  -|
|-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
|Tab  |  Q|  W|  E|  R|  T|  Y|  U|  I|  O|  P|  [|  ]|Del|   |  |  4|  5|  6|  +|
|---------------------------------------------------------'   |  |---------------|
|Ctrl  |  A|  S|  D|  F|  G|  H|  J|  K|  L|  ;|  '|  `|Enter |  |  1|  2|  3|  ,|
|-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
|Shift   |  Z|  X|  C|  V|  B|  N|  M|  ,|  ,|  /|   | Shift  |  |  0| ↑ |  .|   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|  |-----------|Ent|
|Alt   |Cap|     |         Space         |     |   |   |      |  | ← | ↓ | → |   |
`-------------------------------------------------------------'  `---------------'
        ,------------------------, ,------------------------.
        | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 0A |
        `------------------------' `------------------------'
,-------------------------------------------------------------.  ,---------------.
| 0B| 0C| 0D| 0E| 0F| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18|  19 |  | 4B| 4C| 4D| 4E|
|-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
|  1A | 1B| 1C| 1D| 1E| 1F| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24| 25| 26| 27|   |  | 4F| 50| 51| 52|
|---------------------------------------------------------'   |  |---------------|
|  28  | 29| 2A| 2B| 2C| 2D| 2E| 2F| 30| 31| 32| 33| 34|  35  |  | 53| 54| 55| 56|
|-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
|  36    | 37| 38| 39| 3A| 3B| 3C| 3D| 3E| 3F| 40| 41|   42   |  | 57| 58| 59|   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|  |-----------| 5A|
| 43   |44 | 45  |       46              | 47  | 48| 49|  4A  |  | 5B| 5C| 5D|   |
`-------------------------------------------------------------'  `---------------'

Pinouts

NWP-5461

 -------------
 \ 1 2 3 x 5 /
  \ 6 7 8 9 /
   ---------
1 VCC
2 BZ(Speaker)
3 Keyboard Data(from keyboard MCU TxD)
4 NC
5 GND
6 Keyboard Command(to keyboard MCU RxD via two schmitt triggers of Z8 74LS14)
7 Mouse Data(from Mouse Ext connector)
8 Power switch(directly to the switch via diode)
9 FG

NWP-411A

-------------
\ 1 2 3 x 5 /
 \ x 7 x 9 /
  ---------
1 VCC
2 BZ(Speaker)
3 Keyboard Data(from keyboard MCU TxD)
4 NC
5 GND
6 NC
7 Mouse Data(from Mouse Ext connector)
8 NC
9 FG

Buzzer

You can control buzzer using tone() and noTone(). BZ pin should be connected to PD0.

void tone(unsigned int frequency, unsigned long duration)
void noTone(void)

tone() sounds buzzer in frequency(in hertz) for duration(in milliseconds). When giving -1 as duration to tone() buzzer makes a sound forever until noTone() is called.

Buzzer is not used by default firmware.