Apple ii Keyboard setup
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@edmaul69 ok i will better explain
My pi3 is inside a NES with USB fronts.
I bought a USB adaptor for a vintage apple ii keyboardthis to be exact
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000067V8L/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1Works just fine when i edit text on the pi 3 in retro pie
but when i went to my apple ii games, for instance i opened up ALF
only 2 keys would function.make sense?
ps totally cool u did the build a pi inside a old mac!! big fan of that!!! props!!
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@briandamico that is not an apple ii adapter. It is a later model macintosh adb adapter. An apple ii computer has a built in keyboard. Adb came out about 10 years later. I use both a built in apple iie keyboard and an early mac keyboard on my pi. Both seem to work correctly.
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@edmaul69 this is the keyboard i bought
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@briandamico nice. i will get that same mouse and keyboard and adapter one day. so what keys are you having an issue with? the option key should function as the close apple button.
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@edmaul69 option didn't do anything in the apple ii game
all the keys work outside of the emulator on the pi.
esc key paused the game.
a few other keys did random things but nothing to actually play the game.but again, typing and editing text, perfectly fine
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@briandamico what game did you try to play?
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@briandamico funny. That's an Apple Keyboard II not an Apple II Keyboard!
Regardless, you should be able to map keys in AdvanceMESS.
Although you may need another PC keyboard attached temporarily so you can press scroll lock to get out of the virtual keyboard and press TAB. After that, you can navigate through the menu and map every key the way you want.
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@edmaul69 @caver01 well i specifically went for ALF, no reason, just first name that popped up at me.
But since per the keyboard i have now. do any of you feel that it will be a problem to map it. or do i need a extended ii keyboard with the F keys for more frequent key strokes? bc ill get one.
but if i can map my current older mac keyboard ill do that too. i thought i did good lol and now i feel i got the wrong thing.
i assume controls for these games are simply arrows, esc, enter, and occasional keys for other things?
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@briandamico f keys are used for emulator stuff. As far as exiting, instead of f10 you could open the dosbox config file and set an exit function to a controller. Now games dont neccessarily use enter and spacebar. They use letters all the time. I am going to check out alf and see what happens. Which emulator are you using?
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@briandamico You did fine. Your post caught my eye because I have been playing with key mapping for Apple II emulation in AdvanceMESS, and when I read you were using an Apple II keyboard I had to read more, since the Apple II had their keyboards built right into the computer chassis.
Anyway, if you are emulating an Apple II, the early models couldn't even do lowercase characters and certainly not F-keys, although the late model IIe had a numeric keypad. The F-keys can come in handy to access emulator functions.
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@edmaul69 I thought there was only one emulator for apple ii linapple
I guess my biggest concern is being able to use one keyboard for everything and obviously exiting a game back to the game list to change games or disks and obviously I need a lesson in what keys do what for most games.
@caver01 so would you recommend I get a apple keyboard extended ii then? I'm happy to do it if thats what will be best for me unless I can absolutely get by with the one I got?
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@briandamico said in Apple ii Keyboard setup:
@caver01 so would you recommend I get a apple keyboard extended ii then? I'm happy to do it if thats what will be best for me unless I can absolutely get by with the one I got?
No, not at all. My point was that if your goal is Apple II emulation, you don't need the extra keys for that system. Getting your setup configured, however, you might want access to F-keys, scroll lock, etc. to access emulator functions--but you may only need do that during setup. You could use an additional external keyboard to help you configure.
Ultimately, it just depends on what YOU want. Case in point: I am running Apple II games on an arcade cabinet I built with NO KEYBOARD attached. Now, to configure the games on first-run, I need a keyboard to map my joystick and buttons appropriately, but my goal was to be able to play the games with the arcade hardware. So you see, everyone has a different take on the best components to use.
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@caver01 so alf was a bad choice to test. When it starts, have to wait until scrolling stops. Then it asks if you want instructions y/n. If you choose n it goes to the game. If you choose y it goes through a bunch of blabbing and you keep having to hit a button to keep scrolling then eventually it tells you the controls and you can start the game then too. So choose no. Alf requires a joystick. Unlike many games that let you use the keyboard. Alf controls are this:
Joystick controls alf
Button 0 gets alf
Esc pause the game
Ctrl + r pauses the gameIf you are using linapple you probably want to change the
default values are 2 for Joystick 0, and 0 for Joystick 1
Joystick 0 = 2
Joystick 1 = 0To:
Joystick 0 = 1
Joystick 1 = 0Also in linapple if you enable joystick 1 your first player can only use button 0 and not button 1. So in games like lode runner you cant use both joystick buttons making the game pretty unplayable when using a joystick. However some games let you use the keyboard, some dont.
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@caver01 I understand what your saying
ok so I at least need a keyboard with f1 keys to get set up.
ill see what I can find if not get an apple extended with the f keysbut when I have all this ready to go. what would be my next steps then to set up properly.
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@briandamico read my last post.
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@edmaul69 haha I see I just missed your response.
ok so you say joystick is for this. but could this be mapped to be used on a keyboard?
using arrow keys?pac man is a pefect example of a joystick game that can be sued with d pad arrows.
and changing these values, what do they do, and where do u change them?
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@briandamico in linapple i have no clue. I use an apple iie joystick. If the game doesnt support the keyboard for controls. Most games give you an option to choose either a keyboard or a joystick. So i would test other games you actually want to play. There are multiple versions of some games and the controls can be different so test every version of that game to find one that works for you. You can also google the instructions for apple ii games and read the apple versions manual for controls. Sometimes if you look up a pic of the floppy disk, the instructions are on the label of the disk
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@briandamico said in Apple ii Keyboard setup:
@caver01 I understand what your saying
ok so I at least need a keyboard with f1 keys to get set up.
If you say so--it probably depends on the emulator you plan to use. I never use F-keys in AdvanceMESS, but I think Linapple will be easier if you have them.
but when I have all this ready to go. what would be my next steps then to set up properly.
Again, depends on emulator. For linapple, I think there is a config file for setting the keys, but I don't use it. Check the docs. If you want to try AdvanceMESS, you can maybe follow along with what I did in this post, but I was basically trailblazing there, making up my configuration as I went along. Of all of the possible ways to get Apple II emulation running, MESS is tricky.
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@briandamico i should note that the arrow keys werent commonly used for direction in games. The used letters in a pyramid pattern. Some games have versions listed as "modified keys"
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@edmaul69 said in Apple ii Keyboard setup:
@briandamico i should note that the arrow keys werent commonly used for direction in games. The used letters in a pyramid pattern
Yeah, and many used a combo: A, Z for up/down, and LEFT RIGHT arrows for left and right. Spacebar often was jump, shoot, etc. Also, ESC often paused the game.
Apple Panic for instance used IJKM for directions, and others use IJKL which is more like the WASD used in a lot of FPS games today.
I didn't realize linapple had two-button joystick limitations. One nice thing about MESS is that it lets you map keys to the analog joystick inputs.
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