SunBlade 100 keyboard issues

Jeffrey S. Worley technoid6502 at gmail.com
Tue Sep 1 15:36:08 CDT 2020


I have a Sunblade 100, got it on ebay for $103.00, landed on my
doorstep.  I hacked the nvram chip with a pair of AA batteries, which
should keep the thing going for a hundred years.

I really wanted a STOP key, and found an ad on Ebay for new Type 7 usb
keyboard/mouse, bought the set.

I used a plain jane USB keyboard to install OPENBSD and that works just
fine. The type 7 keyboard works great on a pea sea, and, if the Sun is
booted, running an operating system, it works fine there too. 

If the type 7 keyboard is plugged in at any time prior to booting from
media, any time the OpenBoot prom is in charge, the prom reports no
keyboard detected and defaults to a serial console.  This happens even
if the type 7 keyboard is plugged in ALONG WITH the generic USB
keyboard I am using successfully with the machine right now. 

An advertisement for the type 7 keyboard gave me a clue that this is a
known problem with some early SunBlade machines and that I would need a
Firmware upgrade.  I've looked on Oraclle's site for Sunblade 100
firmware upgrades and not found them.

Can someone link me to the latest firmware for the SunBlade 100 so I
can get it to recognize this keyboard? 

At present I've got OpenBSD 6.7 running with X and a light window
manager.  Got Dillo running as well, so I can surf.  Woot woot!  I miss
my SParcstation 4/330 though.

Thanks!

Jeff

The OpenBoot Prom utility however, does not see this keyboard at all.
 I


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