Sony NEWS

Sony NEWS Keyboard Converter

Discussion: Sony NEWS keyboard converter

Source Code: https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard/tree/master/converter/news_usb

Preassembled converter is available here: https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=72052.0

Wiring

Use PD2(USART RXD) for 'Keyboard Data' pin and give power with VCC and GND. Other pins are optional and not supported at this point.

AVR     NEWS
------------------------
PD2     Keyboard Data
PD3     Keyboard Command
PD4     Mouse Data
PD0     BZ

Target microcontroller is Atmel ATMega32U2 by default but porting this project to other 8-bit AVR controllers would be easy.

Limitations

• LEDs on NWP-5461 is not supported.

• Mouse connection is not supported.

Keyboard

Connector Pinouts

NWP-5461
     -------------    1 VCC
     \ 1 2 3 x 5 /    2 BZ(Speaker)
      \ 6 7 8 9 /     3 Keyboard Data(from keyboard MCU TxD)
       ---------      4 NC
                      5 GND
                      6 Keyboard Command?(to MCU RxD via two schmitt triggers of Z8 74LS14)
                      7 Mouse Data(from Mouse Ext connector)
                      8 Power switch(directly to the switch via diode)
                      9 FG


 NWP-411A
    -------------    1 VCC
    \ 1 2 3 x 5 /    2 BZ(Speaker)
     \ x 7 x 9 /     3 Keyboard Data(from keyboard MCU TxD)
      ---------      4 NC
                     5 GND
                     6 NC
                     7 Mouse Data(from Mouse Ext connector)
                     8 NC
                     9 FG

Scan Code

Its scan code is one byte which consists of 1-bit release(break) flag at MSB and 7-bit code. For example 0x29 is sent when 'a' key is pressed and 0xA9 when released.

   MSB         LSB
    7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0   bit
    | | | | | | | |
    | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-- scan code(00-7F)
    +---------------- break flag: sets when released

/* NWP-5461
 * ,---.   ,------------------------, ,------------------------. ,---------.
 * |Pow|   | F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | | F6 | F7 | F8 | F9 | F10| | F11| F12| ,-----------.
 * `---'   `------------------------' `------------------------' `---------' |  *|  /|  +|
 * ,-------------------------------------------------------------. ,---. ,---------------|
 * |Esc|  1|  2|  3|  4|  5|  6|  7|  8|  9|  0|  -|  =|  \|  BS | |Hlp| |  7|  8|  9|  -|
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
 * |Tab  |  Q|  W|  E|  R|  T|  Y|  U|  I|  O|  P|  [|  ]|Del|   | |Ins| |  4|  5|  6|  ,|
 * |---------------------------------------------------------'   | |---| |---------------|
 * |Ctrl  |  A|  S|  D|  F|  G|  H|  J|  K|  L|  ;|  '|  `|Enter | |Clr| |  1|  2|  3|   |
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |-----------|Ent|
 * |Shift   |  Z|  X|  C|  V|  B|  N|  M|  ,|  ,|  /|   | Shift  | |PgU| |  0|  .| ↑ |   |
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
 * |Alt   |Cap|     |         Space     |          |   |   |     | |PgD| |Tab| ← | ↓ | → |
 * `-------------------------------------------------------------' `---' `---------------'
 * ,---.   ,------------------------, ,------------------------. ,---------.
 * | 7A|   | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 0A | | 68 | 69 | ,-----------.
 * `---'   `------------------------' `------------------------' `---------' | 64| 65| 52|
 * ,-------------------------------------------------------------. ,---. ,---------------|
 * | 0B| 0C| 0D| 0E| 0F| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18|  19 | | 6A| | 4B| 4C| 4D| 4E|
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
 * |  1A | 1B| 1C| 1D| 1E| 1F| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24| 25| 26| 27|   | | 6B| | 4F| 50| 51| 56|
 * |---------------------------------------------------------'   | |---| |---------------|
 * |  28  | 29| 2A| 2B| 2C| 2D| 2E| 2F| 30| 31| 32| 33| 34|  35  | | 6C| | 53| 54| 55|   |
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |-----------| 5A|
 * |  36    | 37| 38| 39| 3A| 3B| 3C| 3D| 3E| 3F| 40| 41|   42   | | 6D| | 57| 59| 58|   |
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------| |---| |---------------|
 * | 43  | 44 | 45 |       46          |    47    | 48| 49|  4A  | | 6E| | 66| 5B| 5C| 5D|
 * `-------------------------------------------------------------' `---' `---------------'
 *
 *  NWP-411A
 *         ,------------------------, ,------------------------.
 *         | F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | | F6 | F7 | F8 | F9 | F10|
 *         `------------------------' `------------------------'
 * ,-------------------------------------------------------------.  ,---------------.
 * |Esc|  1|  2|  3|  4|  5|  6|  7|  8|  9|  0|  -|  =|  \|  BS |  |  7|  8|  9|  -|
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
 * |Tab  |  Q|  W|  E|  R|  T|  Y|  U|  I|  O|  P|  [|  ]|Del|   |  |  4|  5|  6|  +|
 * |---------------------------------------------------------'   |  |---------------|
 * |Ctrl  |  A|  S|  D|  F|  G|  H|  J|  K|  L|  ;|  '|  `|Enter |  |  1|  2|  3|  ,|
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
 * |Shift   |  Z|  X|  C|  V|  B|  N|  M|  ,|  ,|  /|   | Shift  |  |  0| ↑ |  .|   |
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------|  |-----------|Ent|
 * |Alt   |Cap|     |         Space         |     |   |   |      |  | ← | ↓ | → |   |
 * `-------------------------------------------------------------'  `---------------'
 *         ,------------------------, ,------------------------.
 *         | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 0A |
 *         `------------------------' `------------------------'
 * ,-------------------------------------------------------------.  ,---------------.
 * | 0B| 0C| 0D| 0E| 0F| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| 17| 18|  19 |  | 4B| 4C| 4D| 4E|
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
 * |  1A | 1B| 1C| 1D| 1E| 1F| 20| 21| 22| 23| 24| 25| 26| 27|   |  | 4F| 50| 51| 52|
 * |---------------------------------------------------------'   |  |---------------|
 * |  28  | 29| 2A| 2B| 2C| 2D| 2E| 2F| 30| 31| 32| 33| 34|  35  |  | 53| 54| 55| 56|
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------|  |---------------|
 * |  36    | 37| 38| 39| 3A| 3B| 3C| 3D| 3E| 3F| 40| 41|   42   |  | 57| 58| 59|   |
 * |-------------------------------------------------------------|  |-----------| 5A|
 * | 43   |44 | 45  |       46              | 47  | 48| 49|  4A  |  | 5B| 5C| 5D|   |
 * `-------------------------------------------------------------'  `---------------'
 */

Protocol

NEWS protocol is a usual asynchronous serial communication. You can receive data from the keyboard easily with UART of micro controller.

• TTL level

• 9600bps(keyboard) / 1200bps(mouse)

• 1-start bit

• 8-data bit

• non-parity

• 1-stop bit.

Data is received as serial input at 9600 bps from the keyboard and 1200 bps from the mouse.

Commands

Found Commands

I found some commands below with brute force trials.

80      Reset?
        FB
81      replies whether LED command is enabled
        7B [00|01] FB
82      enable LED command
83      replies DIP switches status
        7B 00 0X FB

B0 0X   set LED status
        0000 xx00
             |`---- CapsLock
             `----- かな
B1      replies LED status
        7B 0X FB

`FB` means ACK probably.
`7B` indicates start of reply bytes.

Keyboard Buzzer

3-7-2. keyboard Buzzer

The NEWS series keyboard features a built-in buzzer which can be buzzed by a signal from the system unit. In the NWS-1500, the external oscillator circuit is activated when the keyboard buzzer port is accessed, producing the sound of a buzzer. The buzzer frequency is different depending on whether the port is read or write accessed. With READ, the tone produced is approximately 2.2kHz, with WRITE, approximately l.4kHz. A flowchart of this process is given below.

Buzzer can be drived with pulsing on BZ pin. With TMK firmware you can use tone() functrion to control the buzzer. https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard/commit/6d577b33b740d6a9cc407e1614ddb8f83b3b2d8d

Mouse

p.4-11 https://bitsavers.org/pdf/sony/news/Sony_NEWS_Technical_Manual_3ed_199103.pdf

Mini-DIN 8P, Serial output 1200 bps

data bit structure: start 1 bit, stop 2 bit, data 8 bit, no parity (transfered from LSB side)

	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
S	SW1	SW2	SW3	X7	Y7	0	0	1
X	X0	X1	X2	X3	X4	X5	X6	0
Y	Y0	Y1	Y2	Y3	Y4	Y5	Y6	0

Pinout

       ___ ___
      /  |_|  \
     / 8  7  6 \
    | 5    4  3 |
     \_ 2   1 _/
       \_____/
     (receptacle)

4 VCC
5 GND
6 mouse data

Input output level V (OL) =less than 0.4V (logic O) V (OH)= more than 2.4V (logic 1)

https://bitsavers.org/pdf/sony/news/NWS-3250/News_mouse_pcb.jpg

Buttons 3
Dimensions 62 x 29 x 100 mm 0N x H x D, not including cord)
Weight Approx. 200g
Resolution 8 count/mm (200 CPI)
Interface TIL level Serial Interface 1200 bps 

netbsd source reference:

https://github.com/NetBSD/src/blob/trunk/sys/arch/news68k/dev/ms.c#L69 https://github.com/NetBSD/src/blob/trunk/sys/arch/newsmips/dev/ms_hb.c#L118

Keyboard Variants

NWP-411A

https://deskthority.net/wiki/Sony_NEWS_NWP-411A

NWP-411?

http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/sony/news/NWS-841/

NWP-5461

https://deskthority.net/wiki/Sony_NEWS_NWP-5461

NWP-410

Thumb shift keyboard according to 'NWS-15xx Service Manual'

Keyboard layout

https://happyhackingkb.com/jp/special/kb_collection/#sony

Resouces

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_NEWS

• https://bitsavers.org/pdf/sony/news/

• Pics: https://imgur.com/a/JyMzw

• https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/SonyHistory/2-12.html#block3

• NWS-15xx Service Manual: http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/sony/news/1580/9-974-300-11_NWS-1510_1530_1580_EK_Model_Service_Manual_1989.pdf