Hello NeXT Community:
Has Anyone made or heard of a NeXT Non ADB to USB adaptor for NeXT Hardware ,
I know they make ADB to USB Adaptors has anyone tried this with NeXT Hardware and do they work ,
Can earlier bios on older Monostations and cubes be flashed to V74 so it would work with ADB.
Would drivers need to be written to support a a keyboard and mouse for a proposed non adb to USB adaptor?
Anyone know where to get non adb connectors for potentially modifying keyboards and mice to work with NeXT hardware , can an adb mouse or keyboard probably apple be made non adb compatible?
Any thoughts appreciated?
Anyone have caches of non adb mice or keyboards gathering dust anywhere?
I'll have custom Y Cables for Turbo and Color systems available in a week or two .
Best regards Rob Blessin Black Hole, Inc.
8)
Quote from: "Rob Blessin Black Hole"Hello NeXT Community:
Has Anyone made or heard of a NeXT Non ADB to USB adaptor for NeXT Hardware ,
I know they make ADB to USB Adaptors has anyone tried this with NeXT Hardware and do they work ,
Wait - this sounds like you want to connect a USB keyboard to a (ADB/Non-ADB) NeXTstation, right? This won't work even with a USB-to-ADB converter, since the converter is just a USB slave device. I suspect the USB-ADB converter will work for attaching NeXT ADB keyboard/mice to PCs/Macs, but that won't make too much sense IMHO.
QuoteCan earlier bios on older Monostations and cubes be flashed to V74 so it would work with ADB.
I don't think so - IIRC the Turbo chipset is required to support ADB (someone please correct me if I'm wrong here).
QuoteAnyone know where to get non adb connectors for potentially modifying keyboards and mice to work with NeXT hardware , can an adb mouse or keyboard probably apple be made non adb compatible?
The non-ADB connectors are more-or-less standard Mini-DIN plugs, but without adapting the protocol you won't get far.
QuoteAny thoughts appreciated?
I started working on a PS/2 or USB to NeXT non-ADB keyboard converter, but this doesn't work right now - something in the protocol still seems to miss. Basis for this is a Xmos XS-G4 evaluation board (4-Core RISC microcontroller that can handle the high speed of the NeXT-soundbox bus easily). Ideally, I would like to create a complete soundbox replacement. This is based on the reverse engineering information on 68k.org and reading the NetBSD/Plan9 kernel source code, but I'll have to put some more work into this, obviously.
-- Michael
Hello Michael: Thank you , it sounds like a converter would be the best approach, I'm wondering if any of the developers of Daydream at quix that developed the dsp dongle which allowed the NeXT to boot up as a mac would have insite into how to engineer a convertor. as a lot of the NeXT keyboards and mice are reaching their end. I had some logitech mice that where converted to non adb compatable at one time and will contact Shannon formerly Deepspace to see who made those as it would solve the diminishing mouse supply atleast.
Here is my dilema I have around 60 adb Soundboxes and a lot of non adb hardware so I'm trying to come up with a bridge between the 2 with everybodies help.
Also would an adb to nonadb adaptor work for those adb soundboxes so you could plug in a nonadb keyboard to them or would something go haywire.
Also anyone know the speciific difference between an ADB Monitor Cable and Non ADB Monitor cable as far as the pinout connectors, I have a diagram we are using in the back of a manual to make the Ycables and will test it when they are ready with both hoping it will work as I know ADB monitor Cables work for both but non adb cables won't work with adb components.
It is the proprietary stuff that may leave us stymied with the good old hardware.
Best Regards Rob Blessin
Quote from: "cuby"Quote from: "Rob Blessin Black Hole"Hello NeXT Community:
Has Anyone made or heard of a NeXT Non ADB to USB adaptor for NeXT Hardware ,
I know they make ADB to USB Adaptors has anyone tried this with NeXT Hardware and do they work ,
Wait - this sounds like you want to connect a USB keyboard to a (ADB/Non-ADB) NeXTstation, right? This won't work even with a USB-to-ADB converter, since the converter is just a USB slave device. I suspect the USB-ADB converter will work for attaching NeXT ADB keyboard/mice to PCs/Macs, but that won't make too much sense IMHO.
QuoteCan earlier bios on older Monostations and cubes be flashed to V74 so it would work with ADB.
I don't think so - IIRC the Turbo chipset is required to support ADB (someone please correct me if I'm wrong here).
QuoteAnyone know where to get non adb connectors for potentially modifying keyboards and mice to work with NeXT hardware , can an adb mouse or keyboard probably apple be made non adb compatible?
The non-ADB connectors are more-or-less standard Mini-DIN plugs, but without adapting the protocol you won't get far.
QuoteAny thoughts appreciated?
I started working on a PS/2 or USB to NeXT non-ADB keyboard converter, but this doesn't work right now - something in the protocol still seems to miss. Basis for this is a Xmos XS-G4 evaluation board (4-Core RISC microcontroller that can handle the high speed of the NeXT-soundbox bus easily). Ideally, I would like to create a complete soundbox replacement. This is based on the reverse engineering information on 68k.org and reading the NetBSD/Plan9 kernel source code, but I'll have to put some more work into this, obviously.
-- Michael