HP Terminal keyboard w/ RJ11-style 6-pin connector

I have an old HP keyboard which is really nice, PC101-style layout,
with only one problem. It has a 6-pin "RJ12" connector instead of a
PS/2 connector. This "RJ12" connector is exactly the
same size and shape as a classic RJ11 phone connector, with the only
difference being that it has 6 pins (6 wires). Does anyone have a
pin-out?
Thanks, Nathan

Unless you like the challenge of rewiring keyboard interfaces, do not go there.
There are plenty of other nice older keyboards that either plug straight into a
PS/2 port or can be made to do so with an AT-to-PS/2 converter... Ben Myers

On 21 Jun 2006 04:55:42 -0700, wrote:

>I have an old HP keyboard which is really nice, PC101-style layout,
>with only one problem. It has a 6-pin "RJ12" connector instead of a
>PS/2 connector. This "RJ12" connector is exactly the
>same size and shape as a classic RJ11 phone connector, with the only
>difference being that it has 6 pins (6 wires). Does anyone have a
>pin-out?
>Thanks, Nathan

Ben Myers wrote:
> Unless you like the challenge of rewiring keyboard interfaces, do not go there.
> There are plenty of other nice older keyboards that either plug straight into a
> PS/2 port or can be made to do so with an AT-to-PS/2 converter... Ben Myers

Thanks, Ben. What you say is true - I have a really nice IBM keyboard
that has a PS/2 connector. But this HP keyboard is also very nice and
it seems a shame not to be using it. The machine I want to plug this
keyboard into is an HP 700/RX (X-terminal). It has a regular PS/2 port
and an HP-HIL port. Maybe there's an adapter somewhere to allow this
keyboard to work through the HP-HIL interface?

Do you know what HP terminals this RJ11-type keyboard was designed to
work with?

Nathan

wrote:

> Do you know what HP terminals this RJ11-type keyboard
> was designed to work with?

There were at least two variants of RJ12/RJ25 (all 6 pins populated)
keyboard interfaces in hp. The two I recall were the 12v and 5v
Magic ITF (Integrated Terminal Family) ports, which I called
MITF-5 and MITF-12 in the HCLs (Hardware Compatibility
Lists) I used to maintain when I was at hp.

If the keyboard you have is a C1027A or C1408A, then it's an
MITF-5. This doesn't get you much closer to a solution,
however, as I never had technical specs on how MITF worked.

There was at least one converter, the 98016A, which allowed
an HP-HIL host expecting an ITF layout HIL keyboard to use
a C1027A/C1408A PC-101 layout MITF-5 keyboard.
Lotsa luck in finding one of those. Few were made, as it was
a transitional item for customers demanding PC-101 layout
in the period before hp switched from ITF layout to PC.

--
Regards, Bob Niland private.php?do=newpm&u=
http://www.access-one.com/rjn email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com
NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.

> There was at least one converter, the 98016A, which allowed
> an HP-HIL host expecting an ITF layout HIL keyboard to use
> a C1027A/C1408A PC-101 layout MITF-5 keyboard.
> Lotsa luck in finding one of those. Few were made, as it was
> a transitional item for customers demanding PC-101 layout
> in the period before hp switched from ITF layout to PC.

Thanks, Bob. My keyboard is a C1408A, so the 98016A adapter
would work for me, seeing as my 700/RX terminal has a HIL port.

I'll look around. If anyone has one of these, I'm in the market.

Nathan

wrote:

> ... seeing as my 700/RX terminal has a HIL port.

If the RX supports an HIL keyboard, and more specifically,
an ITF-layout keyboard, the 98016A might work. A quick
look on the net turns up no apparent hits on hp 98016A.

If it expects PC-101 layout on HIL, then there were PC-101
layout keyboards with native HIL interfaces, principally the
hp C1429A and C1429B.

M.I.C. also made the MICHIL box, which supported PS/2
keyboards on HIL hosts expecting ITF layout. That
product is long discontinued, but they made a lot of them,
orders of magnitude more than hp made of 98016As.

--
Regards, Bob Niland private.php?do=newpm&u=
http://www.access-one.com/rjn email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com
NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.