Keyrah v2b slight problem

Bluesman67 · Oct 9th 2022

Hi guys, i'm getting a "Voltage Undercurrent" warning message with my Keyrah v2b board plugged into my Raspberry Pi 3b +. I'm actually using an official R/Pi power supply by the way and NOT an after market p/supply.

Can anyone tell me what the Keyrah v2b boards "Voltage & Amps" is please ?

Thank you for any help given.

Tobias · Oct 9th 2022

Jens can tell the exact specs perhaps...

but, a regular USB Keyboard works? Keyrah v2 is just that basically, and power consumption should be the same too.

Jens · Oct 10th 2022

Right, Keyrah V1 and V2(b) power consumption is negligible. If the RPi shows an error, please try a different cable and remove all LEDs for starters. The LEDs will actually increase power consumption considerable, which says a lot about the base power requirement

Bluesman67 · Oct 10th 2022

Is the Keyrah v2b 5v DC power rated and if so will a seperate Pi power supply be okay to power JUST the Keyrah v2b board and i'll power the Pi 3b + from my existing Pi P/Supply ?

Jens · Oct 10th 2022

Again, the power requirements are so low that we have never had any problem since introduction of the product in 2006. Something else is fishy here, and it's not Keyrah itself. You are looking in the wrong spot and you're working on the wrong end if you attempt to fix it on the Keyrah side.

Bluesman67 · Oct 12th 2022

A messege to Jens or anyone who can help me please.

I have completed my project build (a Raspberry Pi 3b +, along with a Keyrah v2b board and all cables, all fitted inside a brand new Amiga A1200 casing (made and produced by A1200.Net) and including an A1200 keyboard.

I was so very kindly donated the A1200 keyboard and the Keyrah board by a an awesome kind chap here in the UK, who has assured me that both the Keyrah and A1200 keyboard are perfectly working.

I've plugged everything up, made sure that the A1200 is slotted in the Keyrah's/A1200 keyboard slot and plugged in the USB cable from my Pi's USB port into "Pin Headers" that i soldered onto the Keyrah board.

Power it all on and booted and running Amibian (Amiga Emulator on my Pi) but i can't get any life from the A1200 keys at all, when i'm trying to assign a "Quit Emulator" shortcut key.

I've tried attaching photo's here to show you it all but i keep getting a messege that the file is "To Big". So i'm unable to post pictures of my build

Jens · Oct 12th 2022

Is the RPi seeing the USB device? Try "lsusb" on the command line.

Is the caps LED working if you press on caps?

The "file too big" doesn't keep you from posting pictures in general - it's only keeping you from posting too large pictures. There are numerous tools/apps that let you downsize pictures.

Tobias · Oct 12th 2022

I would try the keyrah at a regular PC first - does it even work?

Then if it does, open a console on the raspi and type:

Code

sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

now disconnect and connect the keyrah - it should show some log messages about the detected USB device.

Now you can type something one the connected keyboard and it should work. If not, check the connected keyboard and the jumpers on keyrah.

Bluesman67 · Oct 12th 2022

Panic all over lol. Found it was a loose connection on the USB cables VCC (red) wire, were i'd soldered on a Dupont wire.

Now my "Frankinstein" A1200/Raspberry Pi powered computer is all up and running.

Admin, please can you mark this as "Solved and fixed". Thank you ever so much.

Oh and the Keyrah board just rocks, i couldn't have done my dream project of this A1200 without one.

Jens · Oct 12th 2022

Good thing that Keyrah V3 is 'round the corner, so other people can replicate your project

Bluesman67 · Oct 13th 2022

Oooooooooooooo a Keyrah v3 now i do like the sound of that, Jens.

Please can i ask though if i can use either of my Keyrah v2's "Controller Ports" for an Amiga mouse or are they purely just for Joysticks ?

Jens · Oct 13th 2022

Keyrah V1 and V2 are strictly just keyboards. The joysticks will only generate key strokes for the computer. A mouse will not work, specifically because Keyrah V1 and V2 do not route power to the joystick ports.

Keyrah V3 is different, it will register game controllers with the host system (in addition to the keyboard - tech term is "USB composite device"), and it will even support paddles. Power is routed to the joystick ports. However, we have not planned to support Amiga mice for several reasons:

the quadrature signals are really fast. Keyrah V3 multiplexes these signals, so it has a sampling frequency limit. This may lead to jerky mouse behaviour if the mouse is moved very fast.
the right (and mittle) mouse button(s) require a pull-up resistor, which I haven't verified to be in the mouse. This may lead to the middle and right button(s) not working, but appearing "always pressed".
Original Amiga mice are ball-based. If there is one thing that new hardware has done better than 1980s hardware, it's mice. Optical mice are such an improvement over ball/mechanical mice that I don't see anyone seriously wanting to use the dirt collection devices that we loved and hated to much back in the days.
Last, not least: Auto-detecting a mouse won't be easy. Almost everything on Keyrah V3 is auto-detect (as few jumpers as possible), and I'd like the joystick ports to be the same. It would only feel right to me if you plug in the mouse, and then Keyrah will auto-register the USB mouse with the host computer. While *finding* the mouse may actually be possible, I don't have any idea how to detect that the mouse is disconnected and replaced by a joystick - if this doesn't work, you have no chance to play a 2-player joystick-based game. It wouldn't feel right.

As you can see, just "adding mouse support" is easier said than done. With the low utility that an original Amiga mouse would give you, I have a hard time justifying Tobias' time for the development work.