Tom Baldwin Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 The software to program the Alphameric keyboards is either called AVCP or ACP. I could only find a version for DOS when I programmed my keyboard. Luckily I still had a Win98 PC kicking around. I'm not quite sure what you mean about rearranging the keys. The basic design of these keyboards is a metal frame which holds the top half of each key assembly, and a PCB underneath with which the keys make contact.The metal frame on my keyboard is punched with the sloping QWERTY layout at the top, and a plain grid for the lower half. The keycaps which take up more than one position simply span multiple switches, and can easily be popped off and rearranged. On the eBay keypad you linked to, you're be able to put any keycap anywhere, because the whole support frame is on a plain grid.Does that help? How well it works through a PS/2 -> USB converter really depends on how good the converter is. The ones I tried had quite a lot of latency, and weren't particularly pleasant because of that. One final thing to note - as the eBay auction photo shows, the connector for the PS/2 port is actually an RJ45, so you need a passive converter cable. There wasn't one included with the keyboard I bought. HTH Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jay Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 slightly in line with this but has anyone found a piece of software in which you can turn you num-keypad on you keyboard in a bunch of shortcuts, so instead of pressing fn f1 together all the time, you can turn number one into fn + f1 and number two into fn + f2 ect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boswell Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 slightly in line with this but has anyone found a piece of software in which you can turn you num-keypad on you keyboard in a bunch of shortcuts, so instead of pressing fn f1 together all the time, you can turn number one into fn + f1 and number two into fn + f2 ect?Is Keytweak any use? Free http://www.tucows.com/preview/327616 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LX-Dave Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Update: I now have an Alphameric keyboard to use for this purpose. I was wondering whether it would be possible to use (for example) the keyswitch to switch between keyboard modes in MagicQ (Normal, Programming, Playback)? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfmjohn Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Hi all, I've just come across an old Alphameric keyboard at work and would like to be able to use it for MagicQ. Does anyone have a link to the programming software or a manual for the E128 or would be willing to email/PM the file. I've tried Google for the software names above but no luck. I've also contacted Devlin Keyboards (they seem to still be manufacturing these keyboards) but am still awaiting a response and their website is beyond hopeless when it comes to information. Cheers,John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 PM (about to be) sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutley Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 I've programmed and used a few Alphameric POS keyboards, and managed to dig out the floppy boot disk to program them! The programming utility may or may not work with all Alphameric POS keyboards. I've made it into three formats: .ZIP, .IMG, and .ISO. Burn it as a bootable CD and boot your computer from it! ZIP fileISO imageIMG image There are three .ALP files in there which are my old saved layouts you can use as examples [Files are made available at no cost, on a purely "helpful" basis only. No copyright infringement intended. Files will be removed if Alphameric raise objections] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 A bit of thread necromancy here. I have just purchased an Alphameric E128 keyboard with PS2 connection for use with MagicQ. Am I too late to get this working with *shudder* windoze 8 on USB (I have also purchaed a USB to PS2 adaptor) or has that technological ship sailed and I've bought a brick? Any suggestions and or laughter welcome at this point. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Can't help with your particular model sorry but some years ago I p rchased second hand Preh Commander POS keyboard that refused to work with a usb to ps2 adapter. Give it a crack and let us know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I have seen similar devices which will not work directly on a USB port, but are fine if connected to a powered USB hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Baldwin Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 My Alphameric keyboard worked okay in normal use with a PS2-USB converter, under XP. Never had the desire or opportunity to try it under Win8. However the programming software *had* to run native under DOS. I would guess you could find a FreeDOS live CD and use that to temporarily boot into DOS - I never needed to do that as I had A Win95 PC kicking about, and used the MS-DOS mode on that. ...and thinking about it, that Win95 PC had a PS2 keyboard port - I think you might need to scrounge up a vintage PC to configure the keyboard, but not to use it day to day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Update 1: I tried Bruce's suggestion of using a USB Hub to power the keyboard and both Win7 and 8 fail to recognise it with the adaptor I have at the mo. I've ordered a different USB-PS2 adaptor (one with both mouse and keyboard connectors) and we'll see if that does any better. I also have a source for an old win95 machine that I might be able to use for the programming. I'm not as confident as I was but hope remains alive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Update 2: Okay I now have a working keyboard thanks to a better USB- PS2 adaptor (yay) I can lay my hands on a win 95 machine to programme the keys but what's the best keybaord mode to put Magic Q into to give me the most versatile control? I need to control either 1 or two playbacks with a 'go' button but is this available in 'programming shortcuts'? Any help would be gratefully received Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Baldwin Posted April 7, 2014 Share Posted April 7, 2014 Not as far as I can see - some of the GO playback shortcuts have different meanings in the two modes. of course, there's nothing stopping you mapping two different physical keys to the same keystroke (or keystroke sequence), but labelling the keys differently.So you could have one key which sends "Q", labelled as "NEXT PAGE" (maybe with a one colour of background), and another key which also sends "Q", but labelled as "PB1 SELECT". You'd use the first key in programming mode, and the second one in playback mode. It's not perfect, but that option's called give Chamsys a few quid for a wing :-) For the cost of these keyboards, I think it's a reasonable compromise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 Update 3: I've got Mutley's software running but alas the keyboard is not supported by it. Does anyone else have a copy of the programming software (I have a win98 machine ready and willing to run it) Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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