Bridge keyboards and mice with classic hardware!

- Connect modern USB keyboards and mice to a classic ADB-based Macintosh, Apple IIgs, or NeXT
- Connect legacy ADB input hardware to a USB-based computer running Windows, OSX, or Linux
No special software or drivers are needed – just plug it in and go.

Now you can finally use a modern optical mouse with your vintage Macintosh, or amuse your coworkers with a retro ADB keyboard on your work machine. ADB-USB Wombat is an indispensable tool for Apple collectors and enthusiasts.
Optional accessories for your Wombat:
ADB-USB Wombat is great for breathing new life into your vintage Apple hardware collection. If you love old Macs, you know ADB keyboards are expensive and hard to find, and ADB mice are sticky and trouble-prone. With the Wombat, you can substitute modern USB input peripherals instead. Or if you swear by your old Apple Extended Keyboard, you can use it with your modern computer. Visitors are sure to smile when they see you running 1980s Apple input peripherals on your current-year machine.
- No external power source needed
- On-board power key for remote turn-on
- Upgradable firmware
- Works with your favorite mice and keyboards
The Wombat was developed by Steve Chamberlin, here at Big Mess o’ Wires. See the blog archive for technical details on its software and hardware.
Compatibility
The Wombat hardware is compatible with all Apple computers, keyboards, and mice with an ADB connector (a 4-pin mini DIN), including most early Macintosh computers and the Apple IIgs, as well as some NeXT computer models. It is also compatible with standard USB keyboards and mice with a USB-A connector. When in ADB-to-USB conversion mode, it works under Windows, OSX, Linux, Chrome OS, or any other operating system that supports USB HID input peripherals.
Security dongles, joysticks, and other less common devices are not supported. The Macintosh Plus, Mac 512K, and Mac 128K computers use an older non-ADB connector for keyboards and mice, and are not supported.
USB to ADB

Connect USB keyboards and mice to a classic ADB-based Macintosh, Apple IIgs, or NeXT computer. Requires an ADB cable (not included). Set the Wombat board’s jumper to USB input mode, as shown on the diagram. Power will be supplied from the computer. Use an ADB cable to connect the board’s ADB port to the computer’s ADB port.
A single USB peripheral can be connected directly to the Wombat board’s USB-A port at CON1, or a standard USB hub can be used to connect multiple peripherals at once. When in this mode, the Wombat supports one USB keyboard and one USB mouse, as well as any number of ADB keyboards and mice, all used simultaneously.
Standard bus-powered USB hubs are recommended. Some externally powered USB hubs (with their own independent power supply) can backfeed power into the Wombat even when it’s off, causing problems.
Right Click Behavior – Most ADB mice had only one button, so the USB mouse’s right button is handled one of two ways. Macintosh mode sends a control + click event to the host, which opens context menus in Mac OS 8 and later. NeXT mode sends a true right click event to the host. The default is Macintosh control + click mode. Toggle between the two modes by clicking the USB mouse wheel button (button 3).
Mouse Wheel Behavior – ADB mice did not have a mouse wheel. USB mouse wheel movements will send up/down arrow key events to the host. This works well for document scrolling and file dialogs. If necessary, this “mouse wheel arrow keys” behavior can be disabled using the custom key mapping tool, described below.
Beginning in firmware 0.3.9, a long press of the mouse wheel button (more than half a second) will change the Wombat’s built-in mouse movement hardware scaling. Each long press increases the scaling by a factor of 2. This is helpful when using certain USB mice whose tracking speed is too slow or too fast even after making adjustments in the host OS’s mouse control panel.

ADB Power Key
Power Key – Original ADB keyboards had a power key – a square or rectangular key with a triangle logo that could be used to turn on some later models of ADB Macintosh computers. There’s an equivalent button on the Wombat board that will function as a substitute power key, even when the computer is off.

Connections for Standby Power
Standby Power – If the Wombat is powered from an auxiliary source (optional), it can continue working even when the computer is off. In this case, the PRINT SCREEN key or F13 key on a USB keyboard will also function as the power key to turn on the computer. To use this configuration, set the board’s jumper to USB+PWR mode, as shown on the diagram (board version 1.1 or later only), and connect a standard USB charger to the board’s USB-B port at CON2. For correct operation, an auxiliary power source must always be present when the jumper is set to USB+PWR mode.
ADB to USB

Connect ADB keyboards and mice to a modern USB-based computer. Requires a USB-Mini-B cable (not included). Set the Wombat board’s jumper to ADB input mode, as shown on the diagram. Power will be supplied from the computer. Use a USB-A to USB-Mini-B cable to connect the board’s USB-B port at CON2 to the computer’s USB port. This is the same cable commonly used to connect mobile phones and other devices to a computer. In this mode, nothing should be connected to the Wombat board’s USB-A port at CON1.
A single ADB peripheral can be connected directly to the Wombat board’s ADB port, or multiple peripherals can be daisy-chained, using the ADB pass-through connector found on all Apple ADB keyboards. When in this mode, the Wombat supports one ADB keyboard and one ADB mouse, as well as any number of USB keyboards and mice, all used simultaneously.
The ADB peripherals will appear as standard HID input devices to modern Windows, OSX, and Linux computers. No special drivers or other software are needed.
Firmware Updates

The Wombat firmware can be updated to fix bugs and add new features. Download the firmware.hex file from the downloads section below, and copy the file to the top-level directory a USB flash drive. The USB drive should be formatted with the FAT32 filesystem. Most USB drives already come preformatted this way.
During the firmware update process, the Wombat board can be powered from an ADB-based computer and ADB cable attached at CON3, or from a standard USB charger and USB-B cable attached at CON2. If powering from an ADB cable, set the board’s jumper to select USB input mode. If powering from a USB-B cable, set the board’s jumper to Standby Power mode (USB+PWR).
Disconnect all power from the Wombat board. Plug the flash drive directly into the board’s USB-A port CON1 – do not use a hub. Hold the board’s power key button while you connect the power source to turn on the board. Continue to hold the button for a few seconds, until the A and B status LEDs begin blinking rapidly. The update process takes about 10 seconds. When finished, the LEDs will blink slowly together, once per second.
During a firmware update, both LEDs are used to indicate update status:
slow alternating blinks of A, then B (1 blink/sec) – bootloader is searching for a firmware file
fast alternating blinks of A, then B (8 blinks/sec) – bootloader is updating the firmware
slow synchronized blinks of A and B together (1 blink/sec) – bootloader finished successfully
If B blinks several times while A remains off, it indicates a bootloader error:
2 blinks – no valid firmware exists on chip, can’t start main Wombat program
3 blinks – no firmware files found on USB drive
4 blinks – error in firmware file (checksum mismatch or illegal data)
5 blinks – error while updating firmware in chip memory
LED Status Codes
The A and B LEDs on the Wombat board display status and error information. (The A LED is labeled RUN on some boards). During normal use, the A LED will turn on when the Wombat has a working data connection (ADB or USB) to the host computer. The B LED will blink whenever there’s keyboard or mouse activity.
Help Commands
You can interact directly with the Wombat by typing help commands on an attached ADB or USB keyboard. Open an empty text document or command prompt on your computer. The Wombat will “type” its responses to your commands, so they appear on the screen.
Control-Shift-Capslock-T – Cycles between key mapping types US-GENERIC (ANSI QWERTY), ISO-GENERIC (UK and other non-US QWERTY), ISO-FR (AZERTY), and ISO-DE (QWERTZ)
Control-Shift-Capslock-G – Shows the currently active key mapping type
Control-Shift-Capslock-V – Displays the firmware version number
Control-Shift-Capslock-I – Displays the USB vendor and product ID or ADB handler ID of the keyboard and mouse
Control-Shift-Capslock-C – Enters keydump mode. While in this mode, the USB key code is displayed for each key that you press, along with the corresponding ADB key code it’s mapped to (or vice-versa). This can be helpful for troubleshooting key mapping problems.
Control-D – Exits keydump mode.
International Keyboards
Non-US international keyboards are supported by the Wombat. These include country-specific keyboard layouts like British, Canadian French, Danish, Greek, AZERTY variants, QWERTZ, and others. You’ll need to select the appropriate keyboard type in your operating system’s keyboard control panel, in order for the key mappings to work correctly.

System 7 Keyboard Control Panel
Two specific keys on ISO keyboards may require extra attention. If the key above TAB incorrectly behaves like the key to the right of LEFT SHIFT, you can switch ISO mode on/off to correct it. See details in the Help Commands section.

ISO Keyboard Key Swap
USB-to-ADB – Best results are obtained with Apple-brand country-specific USB keyboards, or any brand US-layout USB keyboards. In many countries, the country-specific PC-type USB keyboards have a different symbol layout than Apple ADB keyboards. These PC-type USB keyboards may be used, but key mappings for some symbols will be incorrect where differences exist between the Apple and PC-type layouts.
ADB-to-USB with Mac OSX – The first time you connect the Wombat to a modern Mac, a wizard will appear and attempt to detect the keyboard type. For non-US keyboards, you should select an ISO keyboard type from the wizard. If the key above TAB incorrectly behaves like the key to the right of LEFT SHIFT, even when the Wombat is in ISO mode, you may need to delete the OSX keyboard preferences to force the wizard to run again. Set the Wombat to ISO mode, delete the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist, restart the computer, and follow the wizard steps when it reappears.

Windows 7 Text Services and Input Languages Control Panel
ADB-to-USB with Microsoft Windows – Under Windows, when using country-specific ADB keyboards, you’ll need to select an Apple keyboard sub-type when choosing the keyboard type in the Windows preferences. The keyboard type is selected in the Text Services and Input Languages control panel. E.g. select a keyboard type of United Kingdom (Apple), French (Apple), or German (Apple) rather than the default United Kingdom, French, or German. If you don’t see the Apple sub-types listed, you’ll need to install the Apple keyboard driver applekeyboardinstaller64.exe.
Custom Key Mappings

With firmware version 0.3.0 or later, you can create your own customized key mapping tables. Change which keys behave as Command and Option, reassign the function keys to new purposes, or design other custom mappings. See the Wombat Keymap Tool for details.
What are ADB and USB?
ADB connector
From 1986 through 1998, ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) was the standard system for connecting peripherals like keyboards and mice to Apple computers. It was used by the Apple IIgs, as well as all early Macintosh models except the Mac Plus, 512K, and 128K. The ADB connector is a round mini DIN 4-pin, and is physically identical to the S-Video connector.
USB-A connector
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is the dominant standard today for connecting keyboards, mice, and other peripherals to a computer. Nearly everyone will recognize the familiar rectangular USB-A connector that’s used to plug a device into a host machine. USB replaced a variety of earlier standards like Firewire, ADB, and PS/2. Every Apple computer since 1998 has used USB for its input peripherals.
Converting between the two systems involves more than just a physical plug adapter. ADB and USB high-level protocols are fundamentally very different, and also have different signal speeds, signal formats, and voltages. ADB and USB input peripherals have different communication behaviors too. ADB keyboards and mice use event-based reporting, and only communicate when something has changed, whereas USB keyboards and mice communicate their full current state whenever asked.
Documentation

Downloads
Older firmware versions: (try these if the latest version gives you problems)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.9 (August 9 2023)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.8 (October 21 2022)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.7 (September 11 2021)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.6 (June 25 2021)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.5 (April 8 2021)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.4 (April 8 2020)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.3 (September 19 2019)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.2 (September 9 2019)
3D-printable enclosure (contributed by James Kelly, Creative Commons license with attribution)
Get One Now
Check out ADB-USB Wombat at the BMOW Store.
301 comments 301 Comments so far
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xboxown - February 29th, 2020 10:22 am
Thank you. Next week I am ordering it official. I want it for my Apple //s. I have literally one keyboard and mouse on the table and I do not have space to fit more keyboard mouse. Ones I buy a KVM switcher…third party….and with this device I can then use only one keyboard and mouse for my PC, my Apple //gs, and even for my third device. Next week I am ordering it.
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xboxown - February 29th, 2020 10:33 am
I will be buying this device https://youtu.be/VfA1SgG35Sg?t=64 so I have one keyboard and mouse to control my PC and my Apple //gs at the same time.
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Jon - April 7th, 2020 2:56 pm
I know this was asked in the past with the answer being \”possible\” but there may be technical difficulties. Using the Wombat in ADB mode, I would like to be able to map the \”Power Key\” to something, such as an additional function key, but I don\’t see a way to do this with the mapping tool. Keycode dump simply states \”0x7F7F is not mapped\”.
Any progress on if this is possible?
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Steve - April 8th, 2020 6:32 am
There haven’t been any changes to the Wombat firmware for a while, but I’m still thinking about the power key and a few other possible items.
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Anonymous - April 7th, 2020 4:36 pm
Steve
Thank you for the Wombat! It has worked for me flawlessly, for the last two years! I have tried many similar products, and yours works with no problem as soon as I plug it in!
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Steve - April 8th, 2020 12:02 pm
Firmware 0.3.5 is now available. It adds support for remapping the Power Key for ADB-to-USB mode, adds an option to disable ‘mouse wheel arrow keys’ behavior for USB-to-ADB mode, enables separate keycodes for left/right side modifier keys for Apple Extended Keyboard II, and hopefully resolves a user-reported problem with the Appledesign keyboard (unverified).
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Richard Moore - April 8th, 2020 12:54 pm
This firmware update looks good for me. I was able to stop the wheel scrolling the mouse, which helps with inadvertent presses.
One very picky, small detail. I did the Control-Shift-Capslock-V command, while having the IIGS teach app open, to ensure the firmware update took, and it gave me
ADB+uSB ombat firmware 0.3.5
I guess there was a slight miscode with the lowercase u, and the W missing in the response?
I would love one other change, but it may not be possible. I would love to reconfigure the apple eject key as a power key, but it appears to not be recognized by the wombat at all (no response in output mode, on both a wired apple keyboard, and the magic keyboard.) Is the eject key on an apple keyboard so nonstandard that it can’t be read by the wombat?
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Richard Moore - April 8th, 2020 12:56 pm
One more thing to close out a previous post, since putting a logitech universal receiver in the left usb socket of my apple wired keyboard, I have not had any of the weird skipping issues that I had when the same dongle was in the right usb keyboard socket. Very odd, it may be my particular keyboard, or maybe something with this particular model. Hopefully it does not reoccur, but so far so good.
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Steve - April 8th, 2020 1:55 pm
The missing Shift-U and ‘W’ keys you’re seeing in the firmware version string are likely due to slow keyboard polling speed of the IIGS when running GS/OS. It can’t keep up with the super-human typing speed of the phantom typist that writes out that text. Try it in built-in BASIC (not with GS/OS) and you’ll see the response is much faster.
USB key translation is provided for USB HID group 7 (standard keyboard) as shown here: http://www.freebsddiary.org/APC/usb_hid_usages.php The Wombat isn’t designed for USB consumer media controls, game controllers, or other similar input, sorry.
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Richard Moore - April 8th, 2020 2:36 pm
You are correct, I went to the basic prompt (instead of Teach on my unaccelerated IIGS) and it displayed fine.
I didn’t know that the eject key was non-standard for USB devices, I guess I am so use to apple products by now I just assumed it was a standard and not a media control.
I previously configured the f12 key as the reset/power key, so it works well enough for the open apple-control-reset command.
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Chris Willis - April 27th, 2020 5:03 am
Being the silly person I am; I got so excited to order the Wombat and Floppy Emu that I forgot to order an ADB cable. When I came back to order the ADB cable I notice a Wombat case that is out of stock. Will there be supplies in the near future? I prefer to order the cable and wombat case together if that will be an option. Thanks
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Steve - April 27th, 2020 6:26 am
I’ll hopefully have more soon, but I don’t know exactly when. The supplier that I use is prioritizing medical orders for Covid-19 equipment and hasn’t processed my order yet.
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Chris Willis - April 27th, 2020 12:15 pm
That is fine by me. That’s a legitimate priority. I will keep an eye on the site and place an order for both when available. Thank you for the response.
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Hauke - May 15th, 2020 8:27 am
Putting my freshly-delivered Wombat to use, I plugged it between the KeyboardIO M01 and my Quadra 650. The M01’s LEDs came on, but – no input on the Mac.
Reading through the keyboardio threads, I came across the distinction between USB’s Boot Protocol and Report Protocol. The story appears to be that a keyboard or mouse will start up talking (full-featured) Report Protocol, and will on demand switch back to the simpler Boot Protocol. The M01 lets you switch modes with “left fn + left shift + esc”, and once I did that, my Quadra read my typing just fine (modulo a few layout differences, which I will probably handle with a custom keyboard map on the Mac).
My question: Does the Wombat firmware attempt to switch USB HID devices to Boot Protocol (which it appears to require)? Could it grow the ability?
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Steve - May 15th, 2020 8:57 am
Sorry to hear you’re having some trouble. It looks like the KeyboardIO M01 is a DIY keyboard with customizable firmware? There are several discussion threads on the web about problems with that keyboard not working with the BIOS on a variety of computers:
https://community.keyboard.io/t/getting-the-model-01-to-work-correctly-on-a-mac-in-efi-boot-mode/2128
https://github.com/keyboardio/Kaleidoscope/issues/220
https://github.com/keyboardio/KeyboardioHID/issues/59I think the KeyboardIO handles this somewhat differently from most other keyboards. It appears this issue may have been fixed in a later KeyboardIO firmware version, or you can compile your own firmware that defaults the keyboard to boot protocol. Or use the key combination to manually switch modes, as you’re doing now.
The Wombat’s low-level USB communications are part of the software library provided by Microchip for the PIC32 – I didn’t write them, so it’s difficult to determine exactly what they’re doing and more difficult to change them. It does support the report protocol (it reads report descriptors, rather than assuming a hard-coded report format). But it’s possible that its keyboard report descriptor parsing is buggy or limited in some way related to N-key rollover. That might explain the behavior you’re seeing. A nice overview can be found at https://deskthority.net/wiki/USB#Protocol_problem
In theory this could be addressed with a Wombat firmware change, since it’s all at the software level. But without more knowledge of the Microchip USB code and access to a KeyboardIO M01 for testing, it would be very difficult.
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Chris Willis - May 20th, 2020 1:11 pm
I just received my Wombat case in the mail today. The case is actually smaller than my wombat and the screw holes do not line-up. Has anyone else had this issue? Did the Wombat itself recently get a new smaller design? I have only had mine for a few weeks.
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Steve - May 20th, 2020 1:21 pm
Some wrongly-cut cases got out recently, sorry. Please send me an email to arrange a replacement or refund.
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Chris Willis - May 20th, 2020 2:50 pm
That’s too bad. Has to be pretty annoying to you. I just sent you an email. A replacement would be great. Appreciated.
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Rob Blessin - May 23rd, 2020 10:06 am
Hello Steve: A customer had a question for me, I perused through the previous enquiries above and did not see this specifically. Apologies in advance if I missed it and perhaps there is a way to set this in firware…appreciate your time. Best regards Rob Blessin Question below…
Is there a way to keep the caps lock state and keyboard light in sync with the caps lock key?
Apple Extended Keyboard M0115 to Wombat 0.3.5 to iMac 10.15 via USB-B
The light reflects the state but the key position is inverted. Unplugging etc can get it right but it gets out of sync.
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Steve - May 23rd, 2020 2:20 pm
Yeah, the Wombat can get confused if your keyboard has a locking caps lock key, and you boot the system with caps lock already on. I don’t have a great solution for that, but as an alternative to unplugging the keyboard you could use one of the help commands like Control-Shift-Capslock-V. This has the side-effect of changing the caps lock state.
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Hauke - May 24th, 2020 1:01 am
Don\’t sweat it…
I have in the meantime udated the M01 to the latest firmware, no difference.
On the other hand, I found that my layout problems were based on a misunderstanding – the 3rd level characters printed on some keys are accessible with Fn, not opt/alt gr. So, after switching to US layout, the mapping works perfectly as-is.
Which leaves manually switching the M01 into boot mode (left Fn – shift – esc) when I start using it with the Wombat, which I can manage. 😉
Amazing little box that bridges thirty years of technological change!
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toasterking - June 12th, 2020 4:04 pm
This could be a new FAQ item:
Q: What should I do if the PWR LED lights dimly and the Wombat does not respond when connected to my computer via ADB?
A: Check that jumper block is set to USB. Check the ADB input voltage. Check PSU voltages. Check motherboard power capacitors.With the input jumper block set to USB, I connected my Wombat to a PowerBook 190 and powered up. The PWR LED lit dimly, A and B LEDs stayed off, and the Mac didn’t recognize the USB mouse I was using. I wish I had checked Vcc at the Wombat then, but I didn’t. I tried setting the jumper to USB+PWR and connecting a USB charger and it worked fine, for a while. Some days later, the PB190 failed to power on. It was then that I realized the SMD electrolytics were leaking barely visible electrolyte fluid onto the board. After a swap to a motherboard without that problem, the Wombat worked perfectly off ADB without the USB charger. I’ve ordered parts to recap both boards. I’m kind of amazed the old one was working at all. While not technically a Wombat problem, with Macs of this vintage, I’m sure I’m not the only one who will have this issue.
The Wombat is amazing! I tried it the other way around with an Apple Extended Keyboard (ADB) on a USB KVM switch. Buggy nightmare on both Windows and Mac prior to the firmware update, but an absolute dream after.
I freed up some space in the PB190 by swapping the hard drive for an SSD, so I plan to remove some connectors from the Wombat (to save space) and install it plus a USB RF transceiver for my wireless optical mouse permanently inside the PB190.
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Matt - August 15th, 2020 5:31 pm
I just bought this and it seems to work well with my PowerBook 5300 on system 7.6.1 and 8.1, except if I try and cycle between programs too quickly (I.e. between Netscape Navigator>Stuffit Expander>Finder] the mouse often slows down to a crawl; only remedied by restarting the 5300. I did check firmware and I’m a few revs behind (0.3.2 or 0.3.3 I think). If I update to 0.3.5 will it fix this issue? I’m also using a USB 3.0 hub, though I’ve tried a 90s USB 1.1 hub and had the same problem. Logitech mouse is M705 v1 and keyboard is a backlit Drevo Calibur. I wonder could the backlight on the KB be problematic? I’ve not yet tried powering the Wombat from the wall, maybe that might help?
Thanks. -
Steve - August 16th, 2020 7:39 am
Matt, this sounds like a possible hardware problem. Send me a direct mail (see Contact at the page’s upper-right) and I can help you troubleshoot.
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Greg Vander Rhodes - August 30th, 2020 7:22 am
I excitedly bought a Wombat in the hope that I could finally make full use of my Apple Adjustable Keyboard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Adjustable_Keyboard). I’ve used a Griffin iMate in the past, but was always bummed out that I couldn’t use the special volume keys, and thought it would be fun to be able to make the microphone key to Siri.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the Wombat sees any of these special keys. Is there something special about them? Anyone else know anything about it? Could it, perhaps, be fixed with a Firmware update? (I’m not 100% sure what firmware I’m running, since the Caps lock key on the Apple Adjustable Keyboard doesn’t seem to be recognized either, but I just bought it my Wombat a week ago).
Thanks!
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Greg Vander Rhodes - August 30th, 2020 8:02 am
A bit more information– I did get it to get into key dump mode, and the volume up / volume down / microphone / mute keys are absolutely not picked up at all.
Was this some sort of weird alternate ADB mode that was only ever used for the Apple Adjustable Keyboard?
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Steve - August 30th, 2020 8:04 am
Hi Greg, you can see the list of Wombat-mappable keys in its Keymap tool here: https://www.bigmessowires.com/wombat-keymap.html Key translation is provided for USB HID group 7 (standard keyboard) as defined here: http://www.freebsddiary.org/APC/usb_hid_usages.php The media keys are a separate category of USB HID input, rather than simply being additional keys on a standard keyboard. The Wombat isn’t designed for USB consumer media controls, game controllers, or other similar input, sorry.
Is it possible there’s a problem with your keyboard’s caps-lock? I’ve heard from other people with the Apple Adjustable Keyboard who did not mention any issue with caps-lock. If there’s a hardware problem, please use the Contact link at upper-right to send me the details, and we’ll sort it out.
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Mouse 6502 Kelly - September 11th, 2020 11:32 am
Hello, I wanted to first thank you for your product. I’ve been using Wombat with my ADB keyboard (the original, the one that came with the Apple IIgs) with my Macbook for a year or two now and it has been fantastic.
I do want to drop a tip off to everyone here – the Caps Lock is a toggle key but it only activates when you depress it to the on position (it does not send a keycode when it is untoggled. HOWEVER! if capslock is off, and you accidentally lightly brush it with your finger, sometimes it sends the capslock on, meanwhile you haven’t actually clicked it.
So you can turn caps lock off by simply brushing your finger against it a second time. It’s hokey but it works, (until I decide to permanently desolder that pesky critter!) 😀
Now is my question.. This keyboard is phenomenal for me but there is an obvious lack of function keys. I was able to use the Macbook’s function keys when necessary since they happened to be right there, but I am moving this setup to a Windows environment where they use function keys more often. I see in a comment above a request to use the power key as a “Fn” or additional modifier key. I was wondering if there was any movement on that or if it was possible at all.
For example, Power-1 could be F1, Power-2 could be F2, .. up to F12 if you count the – and = keys on the top number row. Power-Numpad-+ and Power-Numpad– and Power-Numpad-* could be volume up/down/mute, and there’s other mappings like brightness, lock, search, printscreen, scrolllock, play/pause/forward/backward, etc etc, all those fun keys, that could be mapped to user specification.. So Option-Power-4 would for example be my Alt-F4 to close the window.
Please let me know if this is possible. Thanks again!
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Steve - September 11th, 2020 2:23 pm
Caps lock is deceptively complicated. Some keyboards have a locking mechanical key – they send a keydown event when pressed and locked, and send a keyup event when pressed a second time and released. Other keyboards have a caps lock that behaves like any other key, sending keydown and keyup events every time it’s pressed, and letting the OS handle the caps toggling behavior. The Wombat tries to gracefully handle both types.
Support for mapping the ADB power key was added in firmware 0.3.5. If you want it to behave like a special modifier key, then you could use key mapping software on your computer to configure the desired behaviors for each key combo.
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Bart - October 19th, 2020 3:22 am
Hi Steve,
Do you have any indication about the expected input delay in ADB to USB mode? For typing it won’t matter much, but every now and then I like to play rhythm games where input delay does matter.
Could you let me know the expected delay in miliseconds and if this varies and if it is a (somewhat) predictable set amount of time? That way I could calibrate the settings to work with the input delay.
Cheers
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Steve - October 19th, 2020 6:29 am
I haven’t attempted to measure that, and it’s a complicated question to answer. If I had to guess, I’d say a variable delay somewhere around 1-25 milliseconds. USB keyboards operate on a polling basis – typically the computer polls the keyboard every 8-10 milliseconds, so even without a Wombat converter there won’t be a fixed interval between a USB keypress and when the computer becomes aware of the keypress.
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Bart - October 23rd, 2020 4:42 am
I guess it would depend on what polling rate the Wombat functions at then right?
I think most high-end keyboards use the maximum USB polling rate of 1/1000s, cheaper ones may use 1/125s or maybe 1/250s.
Maybe I’ll just have to witness it myself, I think ADB has some delay as well (I don’t remember if it used polling, I think it does right?) so your estimate of around 1-25ms is likely close to the truth. If I’m really bored I may grab the scope and figure it out haha.
Thanks!
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SoluS - November 11th, 2020 7:44 am
Hi!
When it will be available? -
Jenna W - November 23rd, 2020 5:59 am
Just posting to subscribe for the next batch notification. This looks like it’d be an awesome addition to my old PowerMac.
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Ruben - November 23rd, 2020 9:23 am
Hi, I love my Wombat and how it has been improving these years. I wish there was something similar supporting PS2. Is there anybody aware of a Wombat like adapter for the PS2? I mean an adapter that can accept (non PS2 supporting) USB keyboard entry (therefore the adapter behaving as usb host) and send the PS2 signals to a PC?
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adbj - November 23rd, 2020 9:38 am
@Ruben yes, those devices exist. They’re fairly expensive since they’re designed as you described. One option is the Tripp lite Minicom. I’ve seen a couple of others but can’t vouch for how well any of them work. Another option is a KVM switch that supports both PS/2 and USB. That’s a bigger, more expensive solution, but sometimes they can be obtained cheaply as old data center equipment.
To bring it back to topic, I use a type of USB KVM switcher with multiple Wombats, which allows me to not only control more than one Apple IIgs from the same keyboard, but send them commands via serial to USB HID device to remote control them from a modern PC. The only drawback is that the Wombat doesn’t seem to like the USB mouse output from the switcher, though I haven’t been able to determine why.
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Steve - November 23rd, 2020 10:07 am
@adbj the USB HID report descriptor from your KVM might be in some unexpected format that confuses the Wombat. The report descriptor parser in the Wombat firmware isn’t as robust as what you’ll find in a full-fledged OS like Windows. If you dump the descriptor and send it to me, I can take a look at it. https://web.archive.org/web/20180703143648/https://github.com/tmk/tmk_keyboard/wiki/HID-Report-Descriptor
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Anonymous - November 23rd, 2020 10:02 am
is there any way to upgrade the firmware to be able to recognize more devices by their hardware PIN. as-well as add support for joysticks & their unique product ID # there are alot of joystick specifically for a mac ADB i would like to use.
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Chris - November 24th, 2020 9:56 pm
I’ve been playing with using a YubiKey with the Wombat. My use case is authenticating against a netatalk-classic server that is configured to use the YubiKey PAM module for network shares.
I noticed that the Wombat will only use key events from the last-plugged-in USB keyboard (which the YubiKey emulates). This isn’t a huge problem — I plug in the YubuKey, press the button for auth, then unplug it after I’m done.
Being forgetful and constantly misplacing the YubiKey on the desk, though, I wonder … is it possible for the Wombat to handle key events for all attached keyboards?
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Steve - November 25th, 2020 8:21 am
@Chris maybe try a USB hub with built-in on/off switches for each USB port. That should support what you’re doing without needing to constantly unplug and replug devices. I would have to look at the firmware to see about supporting multiple USB keyboards simultaneously by the Wombat hardware. I’m not sure how the presence of multiple keyboards would be handled by classic Apple operating systems like System 7 or the Apple IIGS.
@Anonymous what do you mean by hardware PIN? Please see the “compatibility” section above. Security dongles, joysticks, and other less common devices are not supported, sorry.
Because several people have asked about joysticks, I’ll expand on this. ADB defines standard communication protocols for keyboards and mice, and support for these two ADB devices is built into the ROM of classic Macs and the Apple IIGS (and presumably ADB-equipped NeXT computers too). There’s no standard protocol for joysticks. Back in the 80s and 90s you would have installed some control panel software (essentially a driver) on your Mac for your specific brand and model of ADB joystick. This software would support a custom ADB communication protocol, as well as configuration of the joystick options. I think the Gravis Gamepad control panel also had a menu of popular contemporary games, which you could choose from in order to make the Gamepad compatible with those games. I’m not sure what that did under the hood. As far as I know, the joystick communication protocols were vendor- and model-specific, and undocumented.
In practice, most of the popular ADB joysticks were made by Gravis. They made the Gamepad, Mousestick II, and Blackhawk.
In theory, one could get samples of each of these joysticks, connect them to an old Mac, install the appropriate control panel software (if you can find it), and sniff the ADB bus with a logic analyzer. With work, it might be possible to reverse-engineer the communication protocols used.
But even if you did all that, what then? If you’re wanting to use the Wombat to connect an ADB joystick to a USB computer, where does the equivalent of the control panel software go? How would you configure the Gamepad settings? And can something like a Gamepad with its digital direction pad mimic the behavior of a USB joystick, which is normally an analog device?
Similar challenges exist if you’re wanting to use the Wombat to connect a USB joystick to an ADB computer. The Wombat would need to choose a specific brand and model of ADB joystick to mimic, and you would need to install a control panel on your Mac. The Apple IIGS and NeXT would probably have to be excluded. And then what about the driver or configuration software for the USB joystick? Where would that go? There’s no simple answer.
There may be solutions to all of this, but hopefully I’ve explained why it’s much more complex than basic keyboard and mouse conversion. At best, any joystick conversion would likely still be tied to specific vendor/model assumptions and would lack the normal configuration software. Without the configuration software, it might be awkward or impossible to set up the joystick as needed for any given game.
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Götz - December 26th, 2020 1:40 pm
> \”I’m not sure how the presence of multiple keyboards would be handled by classic Apple operating systems like System 7\”
On my Mac II and SE/30 I could use two keyboards at the same time on ADB, an Apple Keyboard II and an Extended II. Worked perfectly fine. If you think over it, it has to work, as early Powerbooks had ADB, and you could use both the internal and external keyboard simultaneously (same with mice). I’m quite sure that the internal keyboards of early PowerBooks were attached via ADB internally.
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Götz - December 27th, 2020 12:43 pm
Ah, and there even was an official Apple keyboard that was 2 keyboards: the Ergonomic. It consists of a main keyboard, and attached via ADB, a number/cursor pad. So Mac OS should support 2 keyboards in general.
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adbj - February 4th, 2021 8:27 am
Steve,
Does using the wombat in usb power mode effectively relieve the adb port of whatever power it would normally be providing to the device? I’m thinking of scenarios where i have split the adb port into two, with the wombat plugged into one port, and traditional adb device(s) plugged into the other. -
Steve - February 4th, 2021 8:51 am
That’s right, in that situation the Wombat will draw power from the external USB supply rather than from the computer.
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Götz - February 4th, 2021 9:01 am
And how much could the Wombat pass through? Because I have a chain like 68kMac Wombat RaspberryPi4 OTG port. And the Pi consumes up to 7W via its combined OTG and USB-C port.
(Why I do this? PiKVM. KVM in “software”, where I attached an 68k-Mac to have Audio/Keyboard/Mouse over IP)
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Steve - February 4th, 2021 9:59 am
I don’t have a spec for that. The power and ground traces are 16 mil on 1 ounce copper. 7 watts is 1.4 amps continuous, which is maybe OK for those traces but I wouldn’t want to go any higher. It’s probably better to connect your Pi to a good quality powered USB hub, and plug that into the Wombat.
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Mart - February 19th, 2021 2:48 pm
Any plans for a converter for the 512k? Or does anyone make one?
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Tony K - March 3rd, 2021 6:55 pm
Firstly – I love my Wombat!! Thank you for such an awesome project!
I\’m using my Wombat with a \”PiKVM\” (https://github.com/pikvm/pikvm) to remotely control my Mac. The Wombat currently reports itself as a \”relative\” device type, which normally what a mouse uses. PiKVM defaults to using an absolute type (like a tablet) since it makes the mouse a lot easier to use through remote control. PiKVM can be reconfigured to work in relative mode, but its pretty laggy and annoying.
What is the feasibility of adding an \”absolute\” mode to Wombat so have it emulate a tablet interface if the USB device uses absolute positioning? Is this something you would consider implementing?
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Steve - March 3rd, 2021 8:51 pm
I don’t think so, sorry. Both USB and ADB mice are relative position devices.
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Andrew - March 25th, 2021 6:49 pm
FYI The Ultimate Hacking Keyboard (uhk.io) does _not_ seem to be compatible with the Wombat at this time. I’m not sure if this is related. but may be helpful: https://github.com/UltimateHackingKeyboard/firmware/issues/70
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Steve - March 26th, 2021 7:05 am
The link mentions something about the UHK key rollover behavior, but I don’t think that should matter for the Wombat.
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Alex Jacocks - April 9th, 2021 1:53 pm
Any idea when the Wombat will be back in stock? Thanks!
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Steve - April 9th, 2021 2:55 pm
Looking at mid to late April for Wombat restock.
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J.Oyama - May 2nd, 2021 4:54 pm
This is a great product!
Wombat has been announced as temporarily out of stock, but is it late?
When it arrives, I will purchase it from Japan at the same time as Floppy Emu and Mac ROM-inator II 🙂
Thanks. -
Steve - May 3rd, 2021 6:03 am
It’s been delayed, but I’m hoping to take delivery this week.
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Michael Brown - May 3rd, 2021 9:06 am
Hi There, would it be possible to get an email, when this is back in stock please? Thanks in advance
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Steve - May 8th, 2021 1:33 pm
Sorry for the continued Wombat delay. I’m now expecting to have more stock available next week. I’ll send a notice to those who’ve requested it when they’re restocked.
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Paul - May 10th, 2021 2:29 am
Hi Steve,
Great Product! It was somewhat magical to see my new Logitech mouse working on a computer that is more than 30 years older than it!
Unfortunately, I have not been able to get my keyboard to work with it. 🙁 I\’ve tried a few different firmware revisions (0.3.5, 0.3.3 & 0.3.0) and both with & without a hub but had no luck so far. Both \”ON\” & \”A\” light up nicely but \”B\” refuses to light up no matter what key I press…
The keyboard in question is Feenix Autore with an ANSI layout. The system that I am trying to control is a Macintosh SE running Mac OS 7.5.3. I\’ve had no problems with it on Mac OS 9 (over USB on iMac G3) or the latest Windows/macOS versions, so I found it a bit odd that it does not respond over ADB at all.Do you have any tips/tricks that I could try? I am happy to provide any additional information that might help solve the problem! 🙂
– Paul
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Steve - May 10th, 2021 6:38 am
I’ve heard the same from other VidHD users. It appears to be an incompatibility caused by how VidHD holds the computer in reset for a long time at power-up. A work-around is to press the Emu’s reset button after the computer starts up.
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Steve - May 10th, 2021 8:51 am
Hi Paul, for customer support problems, please use the Customer Support link to get 1-on-1 help. This sounds like a possible incompatibility with that specific model of keyboard.
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Kevin - May 14th, 2021 12:57 am
Hi Steve, any updates regarding the restock? Thank you!
Leave a reply. For customer support issues, please use the Customer Support link instead of writing comments.

