ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 1988 ^^^^^^^A REVIEW OF THE RAVE 99/105 KEYBOARD ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^by Charles Good ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Lima Ohio User Group In an article I wrote last year about expanding 99/4A systems cheaply, I stated, "Because of cost, I can't recommend the fancy (RAVE) keyboard..." Well, guess what? I bought one anyway! If you already have two double sided drives, a good printer, lots of Horizon Ramdisk capacity, and are still looking for additional ways to expand your 99/4A system then the RAVE keyboard deserves serious consideration. In terms of cost/benefit the question of whether the additional features of the RAVE keyboard justify the price of $199.95 (Why not be honest, RAVE, and make the cost an even $200?) only you can decide. INSTALLATION: You have to remove the existing keyboard from your console and install a circuit board in its place. Very detailed directions and illustrations for this procedure are in the RAVE docs. The process does not require any soldering, and took me about 25 minutes. Basically all you do is unscrew the console covering, unplug the internal components including the original keyboard, plug the circuit board into the motherboard in place of the keyboard, and screw everything back together again. You plug the keyboard into a connector on the circuit board. The keyboard attaches to the console with a very sturdy coiled cord that can extend about 5 feet. It can easily be unpluged if necessary. The general appearence of the console after the RAVE circuit board is attached is rather ugly. The circuit board is recessed about 1 inch below the top of the console and has lots of chips and a few wires exposed to view. You can, if you wish, spend $12 and purchase from RAVE an optional plastic cover that mounts flush with the top of the console. This seems rather expensive to me for just a piece of plastic. I have read in the newsletters of some users who have made their own home made covers. I choose not to use a cover. In my system the console is out of sight, so the ugly doesn't show. Also, I suspect that without a cover cooling is improved. Air can get in to the power supply from the side now in addition to the normal "in the bottom and out the top" convection cooling air. I realize that this means dust can get into the console, but I don't think dust by itself is much of a problem to electronics. Although the RAVE keyboard replaces the console keyboard, you still need access to the console and can't get away with hiding the console in some difficult to get at out of the way place. You have to get at the module port, and you have to use the console's on/off switch for correct system powerup and powerdown. For example, my GRAM KRACKER, sometimes loses part of its memory if I turn off the PE box without first turning off the console, which means I can't get away with using a switched plug box to turn on and off my entire system all at once with just one on/off switch. This GK memory loss can occur even after I first move the GK's NORMAL/GK OFF switch to the GK OFF position, which I always do. Use of the RAVE keyboard will significantly increase the footprint (required flat surface area) of your system, and potential purchasers should keep this in mind before purchase. RAVE keyboard owners can purchase an optional wiring harness that allows the keyboard's HELP button to act as a reset and load interrupt switch. Installation of this option requires some soldering. It is not necessary to solder or desolder chips, so the work probably isn't very delicate. Since I already have a reset switch in my system, I did not choose this RAVE keyboard option. THE KEYBOARD: The current version of the RAVE keyboard has 105 keys and is quite different from the original 101 key RAVE keyboard that was reviewed in the December 86 issue of Micropendium. Almost all operational details of the new keyboard are different from those described in the Micropendium review, so prospective purchasers will get a much better description of the current product by reading this review rather than referring back to the review published in Micropendium. The current model 99/105 keyboard is probably better than the original, and the cost is higher. What can you do on the 99/4A with 105 keys? Except for the load-interrupt/reset option mentioned above, and the rather unimportant ENHANCE key (described below), there is nothing you can do with RAVE's 105 keys that can't be done with the 99/4A's 48 keys. The RAVE keyboard does make things easier to do, in some cases much easier. Whether this extra ease is worth $200 only the reader can decide. Keyboard feel is softer than that of the keys usually found on black and silver consoles. The feel resembles that of the keys on the newer gray consoles or the exact replacement 99/4A keyboards now available at Radio Shack (See a review of these exact replcement keyboards in the October 88 BB&&P.) There is a numeric keypad on the right side which includes a decimal, all digits, *, -, and + but does not include an = key or a separate RETURN key. The following keys are enlarged on the RAVE keyboard for easy touch typing: ESCAPE, CONTROL, SHIFT, BACK SPACE (left arrow), ENHANCE, down arrow, RETURN (same as ENTER on the original keyboard), DELETE, and ZERO (on the numeric keypad). There are 24 numbered function keys that do with one keypress the same thing as FCTN/(top keyrow) and CTRL/(top keyrow) on the original keyboard. This still leaves extra function keys for more stuff such as F21 used for BEGINNING OF LINE (same as CTRL/V on original keyboard) in TI-Writer. Some of these function keys have additional labels that seem to describe word processing functions. However, these additional labels on the numbered function keys do not correspond to any 99/4A software that I know of, and I find these function key labels potentially confusing. For example the F4 key (same as FCTN/4 on the original keyboard) is labeled "PRINT". In TI-Writer this key rolls the display down one screen. In Multiplan this key moves the cursor back one character. Neither of these actions is a "PRINT". Users should ignore all the function key labels. There are also specific labeled keys that perform the named function in both TI-Writer and Multiplan, and sometimes in BASIC. Unlike the weird labels on the numbered function keys, when you press these dedicated labeled keys the action you get is exactly what the labeled name suggests. The dedicated keys often duplicate some of the numbered function keys. This means that of the 105 keys on the keyboard, more than one key will often do exactly the same thing. Labeled keys include SCRL/BREAK (scrolls right in TI-Writer as does F5 ... Breaks a program in BASIC as does F4), TAB (same as F7 in TI-Writer ... same as F12 or CTRL/2 in Multiplan), HOME, BACK SPACE, INS (insert, same as F2), DELETE (same as F1), HELP (same as F7), and ESCAPE (command/escape in TI-Writer, same as F9). I really like these plainly labeled dedicated keys. The four separate cursor movement keys are a real blessing any time full screen cursor movement is allowed, such as in T.I. Writer. The ALPHA LOCK does not affect joystick operation in either position. In the locked (down) position the quote is automatically selected when the "/' key is pressed. This is very useful when typing in or writing BASIC programs. One aspect of the ALPHA LOCK key I don't like is that when the ALPHA LOCK key is locked down to select all upper case letters and you press SHIFT, you get a small case letter. I find this confusing. I am used to the old keyboard and to typewriters where SHIFT gives you a capital letter irrespective of the position of the ALPHA LOCK. There are no little lights on the ALPHA LOCK, or on any other special key, to tell you that the special key is activated. It is easy to forget that ALPHA LOCK is activated (down). CONTROL and FCTN keys are provided and can be used in exactly the same way as the original keyboard, but this is seldom needed because of the numbered function keys. The FCTN key is a small key labeled "ALT" (alternate) on the keyboard, rather than "FCTN", and its use is almost never needed. Regular keys, which sometimes need to be SHIFTed, are provided for quote, question mark, back slash, underline, etc. I like this. FAST TERM users sometimes have to press three keys at the same time on the original keyboard (FCTN/SHIFT/P, T, or X). On the RAVE keyboard, these are reduced to two keypresses (CONTROL/F2, F3, or F4). The current keyboard has two modes of operation, not the rather confusing four modes described in the 1985 Micropendium review of the older model RAVE keyboard. The latest TENEX catalog shows a picture of the new keyboard, but states "four distinct modes of operation." I suspect TENEX bases this statement on the now outdated Micropendium review. The two modes are "MULTIPLAN/CLONE" mode 1 (SHIFT LOCK key up), and "TI-WRITER" mode 2 (SHIFT LOCK key down). The quoted names are from the docs. I have no idea what "CLONE" means. I prefer to call mode 1 "MULTIPLAN/EVERYTHING ELSE" because this is the mode the docs say should be used with any software that has a prompt strip. This includes either BASIC. The TI 99/4A console can recognize two key codes that cannot be created with the original keyboard. The RAVE keyboard can generate these "missing keys" with its ENHANCE key. One code is ENHANCE and the other is ENHANCE/SHIFT. Only ENHANCE is recognized in BASIC, and can be detected by a -1 in the "return variable" of CALL KEY. The docs state that, "you may be confident that these keys are truly unused key codes that have never been used in a program up to now." So what good are the ENHANCE key codes if only those with a RAVE keyboard can use them? Not much. The only use I can think of for these key codes is security. You could, for example, require the use of an ENHANCE key code in your personal checkbook program so that only users of a RAVE keyboard can read and alter your check records. Jim Peterson (Tigercub Software) has several methods to hide code in an XBASIC program so that the code is not obvious when LISTing the program. COMPATIBILITY: The Rave 99/105 keyboard is compatible with all software I have tried EXCEPT Gram Kracker Extended Basic (also known as GK UTILITY I). This "adds features to regular extended basic" software allows you to move the cursor up and down rows when editing a program line or in an INPUT statement from within a program with FCTN/SHIFT/E or X. You can also move instatantly to the beginning or end of a program or INPUT line with FCTN/SHIFT/S or E with GK extended basic. These keystrokes don't do this with the RAVE keyboard. I have discovered that when using the RAVE keyboard with GK extended basic CONTROL/F1 will move the cursor to the end of a program or INPUT line, and CONTROL/F4 moves the cursor down one row. I have not discovered the secret of moving the cursor up one row, or instantly to the beginning of the line. While not many T.I. users use GK extended basic, there are many who have purchased the SUPER EXTENDED BASIC (version 120) module from TRITON or TEX COMP. I understand that this module is an expanded version of GK extended basic. This probably means that SUPER EXTENDED BASIC module users will have similar problems with the RAVE keyboard. FINAL COMMENTS: I recommend to the manufacturer three changes to the 99/105 keyboard. First I would get rid of the meaningless labels on the numbered function keys. This requires a little paint on the existing keys, or different plastic keytops. Second, the incompatibility problem described above should be corrected. Finally, I would like to have a keyboard buffer, a small amount of RAM that remembers the previous 10 or so keycodes. This would allow you to avoid the occasional dropped letter that occurs at word wrap in the TI-Writer/FUNNELWEB editor. Since the RAVE keyboard already includes a separate circuit board, it seems to me that it wouldn't be too difficult to design such a keyboard buffer for the circuit board. I have gotten quite used to the RAVE keyboard. It indeed is easier to use and much nicer than the original keyboard, and I am glad to have it. From strictly a cost/benefit basis, the $200 cost of the RAVE probably doesn't justify the features gained. However, to many users such as myself, the 99/4A is a hobby. Such users sometimes crave the very best for their computer systems irrespective of cost. If you are such a user then the RAVE keyboard may be for you. For the 99/4A it definitely is the very best! .PL 1