Paul Williams wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 PW> Hi Roy J. Tellason, hope you are having a nice day

RJT>Too bad you didn't snag one of those ones that radio shack was giving 
RJT>away some time back... I have some info on those, and I understand that
RJT>there's support under linux,  as well.

 PW>  I've got 8 or 9 of those plus a mess of info and a few programs.
 PW> They don't do me any good on the laptop though since it won't take
 PW> an ext kybd input unless it finds one connected to the port on
 PW> power up. (same port is used for the ext mouse too but that's
 PW> always live) 

 PW>  Since those rs scanners don't have a kybd chip inside...

Here's a thought:

I've encountered a number of keyboards where the switches themselves were
all screwed up,  particularly those where the switches were simply a couple
or three sheets of clear plastic with foil on them -- the foil would break.
 But the board in there,  far from being the size of a whole keyboard as it
wasw on the earlier stuff,  is *way* small.  Just big enough to hold the
chip,  the LEDs,  and connections to the outside on both ends.  So if it
wants to see a keyboard chip...

RJT>Lacking that, you can probe the pins with a bidirectional 
RJT>LED/resistor 
 PW> 88
RJT>and those signals on which pins will tell you how the port is wired.

 PW>  Been there, done that, that's why I'm asking here if anyone
 PW> recognizes the blasted thing.

Ok.  That's something I've done on occasion but in here lately it hasn't
brought me much satisfaction.  There oughta be a way to accumulate and
propagate that sort of information without getting into major hassles.

PW>> I've tried using my comm program and some other stuff to try and 
PW>>talk to it but I've not had any luck so far.

RJT>Gotta get the bottom-level hardware stuff right first,  doncha 
RJT>think?

PW>  Which as I say is why I asked. I've not gotten anywhere doing all
PW> the right things and since there is a jumper inside that does
PW> something.. 

Hm.  I wish I could help you more with that thing...

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