Randnet Keyboard

I have now acquired the N64 Keyboard RND-001(JPN). The information I collect is publicly available for emulation authors and those that would like to create adapters, etc.

Personal Story - Imagine this conversation between you and your significant other and their responses:

Me: Babe, I'd like to buy a keyboard on ebay that normally lists for $1000.

Babe: That's alot of money what makes it special? (whew, didn't get a 'Hell! No!')

Me: It's for the Nintendo 64...

Babe: Ok ...

Me: There is this one cartridge that offered internet access...

Me: Dial-Up Internet ( Cell phone only household )

Me: in Japan ( we live in U.S. )

Me: 17 years ago

Me: that shut down after 12-15 months

Babe: Then what use is it?

Me: I want to sniff the protocol and share it with the world!

Babe: <priceless expression>

After the 'are you crazy look', it was still 8 months before the right deal came along. So when it came up again she realized I was serious and I bought it. I have an amazing wife!

I'm a player/collector of my games and accessories, but I really respect those dedicated collectors who are driven by either love or OCD to complete their collection. Once I've extracted and shared the technical information about the keyboard I do plan to get this keyboard to a true collector. Since there is little knowledge known I'll be including even more details than found on my other pages.

My process doesn't require removing screws or modifying the keyboard in any way. Although I may take some internal pics depending on my confidence in getting it back together correctly.

The keyboard is the collectible of collectibles for the N64, development carts and store demo carts and normal "Complete In Box" game cartridges are still very rare, but this was a "general release" type of item. Technically anybody could buy one, but not many people wanted it.

Of the estimated 35,000 64DD owners only a small percentage opted for the keyboard. It was only supported by the Internet access Randnet 64DD disk and Modem Cartridge and it was used for surfing the net and writing email. In addition to this limited release (based on demand, not a "limited edition") once the internet service was cancelled Nintendo offered to buy back all of the RandNET related hardware including keyboards. To be fair this was a nice thing for Nintendo to do, because the keyboards, modem and software were essentially useless once the dial-up internet service was discontinued.

It's unknown today how many are in collectors hands or lost in the back room of Japanese video game stores but only serious completion type collectors seek these out. Current ebay prices run $600-1500 USD (May/2018) when they can be found (generally only 2-3 times a year).

From the manual

• Part Number: RND-001

• Width: 287mm (11.3 in.)

• Height: 143mm (5.6 in.)

• Thickness: 28mm (1.1 in.)

• Weight: 700g (1.5 lb.)

In many ways it's not that different from a compact Laptop Japanese keyboard. Doesn't have an "N64" key in the place of a "Windows" key. ;) The real difference is what the data looks like going across the wire.

Keyboard Details - Qwerty Layout

• Num lock LED

• Caps lock LED

• Power LED

Dark Blue Keys

• Caps Lock

• Num Lock

• Tab

• Shift ( L + R )

• Ctrl

• Opt

• Alt

• Home

• End

• Backspace

• Arrow Keys (Up, Down, Left, Right)

• 8 Japanese Character only keys

Protocol Sniffing Configuration

• Modified controller extension cable

• North American N64 console

• Japanese 64DD

• RandNET 64DD Disk

• Nintendo Modem Cartridge

• Standard Tri-Wing Controller in port 1

• RandNET Keyboard in Port 3.

Supported Commands

The keyboard is fully functional without any LED's on.

The Power LED shows to the user that the keyboard was detected and is now active. This would be helpful during phone support or general trouble shooting.

The LED Status does not have to be refreshed. If the keyboard is not polled (0x13) the status LED's show their last state.

The response is always 7 bytes (56-bits). Each button sends 16 bits. I would of expected a more sequential pattern, but it appears to be literally a button matrix with one byte representing the X axis and the other byte the Y axis.

Key Sequence Left to Right, Top to Bottom

The 7th byte of the packet, is the keyboards opportunity to tell the console about state or errors.

Bit 4 was set high when 4 keys were pressed at the same time.

Note: NONE of the keys come across, just the error bit.

This is a lot of numbers so how about some example of what it looks like.