[hatari-devel] Proposal: use Atari keyboard with Hatari

[Vincent Barrilliot <vincent.barrilliot@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Hatari developers,


I have an STf which I don't use much. I'd like to add an option to 
Hatari so that instead of emulating the IKBD we would simply use that of 
a real ST through serial ports, so to get the feeling of using a real ST 
but with all advantages of Hatari.

For this want to I connect the ST to the PC using serial port, then I 
run a program on the Hatari that hooks into $118 and transfers all the 
IKBD's traffic to the PC's serial port (I've left MIDI out of the 
picture for now, as the 19200 line wouldn't keep up with the MIDI's 
31250bps). Of course the ST becomes unusable from that point because the 
TOS doesn't get any IKBD or MIDI event anymore.

Then I need to update Hatari, the configuration GUI etc.


 I would like to know:

* what you think about this idea

* (so that if I ever submit a patch achieving that you'll agree to merge 
it in)

* if you have any advice to give me for doing that, pitfalls, things to 
be cautious about etc.

I think I know the ikbd.c well now. I still have my patch to submit to 
improve keyboard support, in particular for characters requiring key 
combinations on either the PC and/or the Atari but there are other 
things in progress so I'm waiting for a better moment to bring that 
subject again.

Kind regards


Vinz