# My plan

My plan is to convert this console to be useful in the context of a modern pc. How to achieve this depends on whether I can work with the original guts.

## Do I keep it original, or rip out the guts?

Keeping the original hardware functional could be a nice touch -- although this thing is unlikely to ever again see the inside of an editing suite. The sentimentalist in me says to keep it original; the realist says screw it.

To keep it original, I would need to write a bespoke interface driver/daemon/service on the pc end of things. Originally, the control panel communicated with the chassis via an RS-422 connection, and some very good people at Stack Exchange helped me get started on deciphering what it's saying. However, given that I have access to only one half of the communication, this is not going to be particularly straightforward. It could be interesting to figure out how to talk to it, and see how much I can control. However, it's doubtful to be worth the time: Even in the most optimistic scenario, many of the functions (and all of the VFD controls) would make zero sense to an office-bound desktop user.

Alternatively, I'll end its life as an editing console and give it a whole new purpose. Somehow interface with the existing inputs and outputs, and use a microcontroller to convert this console into a regular USB input device.

Either way, I am most likely keeping the original circuit boards (if not their traces) because they provide excellent mounting for the hardware. I'm not inclined to re-do all that structural and precision positioning work.

## Am I building a keyboard or a computer?

The control panel needs to work as an input device in either case, so it's more a question of whether I want to make use of the internal space to put a self-contained computer in there. Hey, it might even be an option to give the keyboard an external connector ... which can be looped back to a built-in computer.

For now, the goal is to make an input device for a separate computer.

## Additional functionality

This thing has a lot of blinkenlights, and it would be a shame to not use them! Just off the top of my mind, the display and those dials could be used to select audio in/out devices and adjust volume levels; per-app tool setting adjustments; media center integration; home automation; etc.

I expect to need some form of configuration tool so that keys can be mapped to keystrokes or macros, and dials to various scalar controls. Hopefully, I'll be able to use the VFD to offer on-device management of macros and configuration, because that section just begs to be used for that purpose. Wouldn't that be something?

I also expect to need a small (desktop/cli/daemon) program running on the pc in order to provide whatever data might be useful to indicate on the VFD and lighted keys.