luke@tasis.utas.oz (Luke Visser) (08/04/87)
I have a problem that involves a third party keyboard and the latest
System/Finder combination (4.1/5.5). What I need is any help that I
can get from this news group.
The problem involves a third party keyboard that we bought because our
secretarys disliked the standard Mac keyboards (lets face it you've got
to keep the secretarys happy :-)). The keyboards are built by a group
called Tangent Technologies (are you out there? Can you give me any help?)
and distributed in Australia by Metropolitan Business Machines. The
keyboard is basically a IBM style keyboard that has been adapted (by Tangent)
to work (not any more :-)) with the Mac and is more comfortable than
the standard Mac keyboard.
This is the problem. We bought them about a year ago and until now we have
had no problems. However, with the latest System upgrade (to 4.1) when I
rebooted the system and tried to do some typing I managed two correct
characters then a stream of incorrect characters and then the keyboard
froze. No manner of tapping could get it to work. Rebooting produced
exactly the same sequence.
Test Set-up is: Mac Plus, Apple Hard Disk 20SC, System 4.1, Finder 5.5,
runs MacServe as server (couldn't have anything to do with it), no other
additional unusual software or hardware. Tried on two independent set-ups
of this type.
So I reverted to the previous System (4.0) and no problems. I contacted
the Aussie distributers and they were basically uninterested (to say the
least - they didn't want to even know the set-up that caused the problem),
their suggestion was to contact Apple, basically a waste of time because
it isn't Apple's responsibility to look after 3rd party products.
So that's it, can anyone tell me how to solve the situation and get those
keyboards to work with the current System. Even better does Tangent
Technologies have a Usenet address which I can bug them on, or if they
read this could they respond.
Could people reply to me and I'll summarise to the net.
Thanks Muchly in Advance,
Greetings from Tassie
Luke Visser.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke Visser
Snail: Uni of Tasmania, Box 252C GPO, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia.
ACSnet: luke@tasis.oz ARPA: luke%tasis.oz@seismo.css.gov
UUCP: {enea,hplabs,mcvax,seismo,ukc}!munnari!tasis.oz!lukeerik@hpsadla.HP (Erik Kilk) (08/06/87)
I have an old 512k keyboard on my MacPlus which worked flawlessly until I started using system 4.1 three days ago. Now occasionally I get a long stream of identical characters or none at all. My first reaction was to unplug and reinsert the keyboard cable. This appeared to fix the problem for an evening or so. Erik
tecot@apple.UUCP (Ed Tecot) (08/07/87)
In article <403@tasis.utas.oz> luke@tasis.utas.oz (Luke Visser) writes: >I have a problem that involves a third party keyboard and the latest >System/Finder combination (4.1/5.5). What I need is any help that I >can get from this news group. > >The problem involves a third party keyboard that we bought because our >secretarys disliked the standard Mac keyboards (lets face it you've got >to keep the secretarys happy :-)). The keyboards are built by a group >called Tangent Technologies (are you out there? Can you give me any help?) >and distributed in Australia by Metropolitan Business Machines. The >keyboard is basically a IBM style keyboard that has been adapted (by Tangent) >to work (not any more :-)) with the Mac and is more comfortable than >the standard Mac keyboard. > >This is the problem. We bought them about a year ago and until now we have >had no problems. However, with the latest System upgrade (to 4.1) when I >rebooted the system and tried to do some typing I managed two correct >characters then a stream of incorrect characters and then the keyboard >froze. No manner of tapping could get it to work. Rebooting produced >exactly the same sequence. > >Test Set-up is: Mac Plus, Apple Hard Disk 20SC, System 4.1, Finder 5.5, >runs MacServe as server (couldn't have anything to do with it), no other >additional unusual software or hardware. Tried on two independent set-ups >of this type. > >So I reverted to the previous System (4.0) and no problems. I contacted >the Aussie distributers and they were basically uninterested (to say the >least - they didn't want to even know the set-up that caused the problem), >their suggestion was to contact Apple, basically a waste of time because >it isn't Apple's responsibility to look after 3rd party products. > >So that's it, can anyone tell me how to solve the situation and get those >keyboards to work with the current System. Even better does Tangent >Technologies have a Usenet address which I can bug them on, or if they >read this could they respond. > >Could people reply to me and I'll summarise to the net. > > Thanks Muchly in Advance, > > Greetings from Tassie > > Luke Visser. > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Luke Visser >Snail: Uni of Tasmania, Box 252C GPO, Hobart 7001, Tasmania, Australia. >ACSnet: luke@tasis.oz ARPA: luke%tasis.oz@seismo.css.gov >UUCP: {enea,hplabs,mcvax,seismo,ukc}!munnari!tasis.oz!luke I am not 100% sure of the problem, but my recommendation is to remove the file 'Easy Access' from the system folder. This should work. And now an explanation: Many of the third-party keyboard vendors, instead of making their hardware fit the electronic specs of the Apple keyboard, instead decided to provide their own software to replace the Apple keyboard driver (in ROM). Easy Access (necessarily) uses a slightly modified version of this driver, which (unfortunately) is incompatible with the third-party hardware. _emt