keyboard

• Arduino sketch that works ok for windows and menu keys
  • they occasionally miss the release so I'll have to make the code better later
    • or give up and switch to qmk
• used kailh choc brown switches cause theyre low profile to sit on the plastic
  • maybe I should have used a clicky switch since it's not like the tactile switches match the buckling springs in any way

procedure

• first routed wires from around the backplate thingy so they come up out the top to the left of each missing key area
  • I used some speaker wire which was convenient because it kept the wires together and organized
  • hot glued the wires in place on the inner back board
• measured the distance needed for the keyswitches and cut the wire to length
  • the wire comes out the corner towards the front left and turns up to the switches on the key
• soldered the wires to the switches
• pulled the wires through on the back, staying out of the way of supports
• met the wires together over the hole thingy that looks like its for a speaker or something
• cut the wires to length to fit in the arduino
  • accidentally did this upside down
• soldered the wires into the correct pins
  • here I used pins 2 and 3 becuase they are interrupt pins and then connected the other pins to gnd
• cut a usb cable in half beyond the distance I needed to fit it in the keyboard
• my usb port was facing towards the back so I looped it 360° to go through the slots
  • in my case the usb wires bunched into a square fit perfectly through
• solder the usb wires back together and jankily electrical tape it cause you didn't buy heat shrink
• the 3-D model here supports the keyswitches so they don't wobble since they were designed to be inserted in something
  • this model leaves just enough room for the wires go go through the gap between the pegs on the side with the pins so it works alright
• at this point I just hot glue the switches on top after making sure the wires don't interfere with the keys next to it

Next

• I need to figure out painting or somethinging logos on the keyswitches
  • definitely want a Tux the Linux penguin one
  • a windows 2.0 logo would be interesting cuase the era is roughly right, it was able to run on the ps/2
    • I guess unicomp made the model M with a windows key that looks like windows 3 or 95 something
  • maybe the ibm ps/2 logo since this was used for the ibm ps/2
    • os/2 I guess is the os it ran
• upgrade to M-Star