AT&T terminal keyboards?

Ethan Dicks ethan.dicks at gmail.com
Thu Jun 25 23:05:49 CDT 2015


Hi, All,

I just picked up a couple of AT&T terminals, a 730+ and a 5620 "Blit"
terminal.  The 730+ powers on, passes self-test and probably would
work great if I had a keyboard for it.  The 5620 lights the CRT but
doesn't appear to work outside of presenting a huge green dot the size
of the raster.  It also lacks a keyboard.  I have hopes that it's
something simple like wonky internal connectors that need to be
reseated (vs bad components).

I read on one of the several FAQs that I can use an AT&T 4410 terminal
keyboard with the 730+.  The box has an 8p8c jack.  Additionally, from
the same source, I got a 3B1/7300 keyboard and mouse.  It happens to
have an 8-pin 0.1" female connector in a barbed-lock housing. Outside
of the connector, the key layout is superficially the same as a
picture I saw of a 730+/4410 keyboard.  What I'm curious about is if
they are electrically compatible - i.e., could one make an 8p8c->2x4
pin header pin swabber and have the 3B1 keyboard work on the 730+?  I
won't shocked if they are entirely different, but there are enough
superficial similarities that I'm minded to at least ask.

I've found the trove of old Blit apps, etc. and see how tortuous the
path is to get layers working, etc., but for now, I've got a couple
old terminals that are entirely unlike any of the DEC terminals I
have, so that by itself is cool.

Thanks for any deep knowledge of these guys that isn't already covered
on the FAQs.

-ethan


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