- ADB Chording Keyboard
- A Chording Keyboard
- This is a chording keyboard I built, its based on an Alps electonics board from a Apple Design Keyboard, its only the first revision as I plan to make it more functional but more on that later, since it is for a wearable mac idea I have been developing for the last few months (read: years). I did this because I don't want to pay $200 for a commercial product that won't work on many of my Macs.
- The Inspiration
- My main scorce of inspiration was a Twiddler 2 chording keyboard, a $200 device that works on a USB interface. I was also inspired to do this by a how to make a chording keyboard guide written by Steve Mann, a pioneer in the field of wearable computers.
- The Work
- Here is a page filled with the lists of the tools and parts used. But the procedure is here but be warned it is a little large for slower modems(~800k)
- But Problmes
- When I finished builing the elctronics I hooked it up to my computer and open keycaps, and after a couple of seconds it loaded up and I hit a key, and then another, and another until I had used all 18 keys, working keys O, non working keys 18. Since I had used a keyboard with what looked like a bad membrane I was expecting the IC to work fine but it wasn't. I then started jumping connections that should have produec a key and none of those worked. When I checked the power line to the ground like it was in the Alps board I got a glow. I fliped the board over and jumpered the same spots to see a wire glow orange, it was a bad connection, one wire strand carrying a decent amount of electricty. When I fixed it I came back to the system and tried to jumpper the connection that would work as the power key and it worked. At least the mac wasn't fried. But when I tried again it still didn't work, so I got to thinking maybe a bad IC o the power isn't right.
- That gets me up to where I am now, a case and most of the electronics done, but with a bad IC. I decided to post what I have incase someone want to help me, either by helping me aquire a new IC or looking over my design to see if I missed something. I plan to add to start a topic in the Applefritter Fourms to try and get this working or adding a page somewhere on my iDisk.
- The board I need-
The IC I need came from an electonics board made by Alps electonicsfor Apple computer. It specificaly can be found in some (not all) Apple Design keyboards. There is only one way I know of to know about the board for sure, but a simple one as well. The simple one if to flip over the keyboard like a book cover (right edge over the left edge) and on the back of the keyboard there is information indented into the keyboard plastics. If the information is there saying its an Apple Design Keyboard Model M2980 your close. This is the right model but there were several revision with electonics from different manuactures. The one I need has only been found in keyboards where the information is to the Right of the ADB port. If you go strait though the keyboard the information would be on the same side of the keyboard as ASDF and the escape key. The only sure fire way to know if its the right board is to crack the keyboard open and take a look at the electonics and look for a manufacture's name. If you have a working board that has the Alps electonics, I could do a strait trade ADB keyboard for ADB keyboard, I have several Apple Design keyboards that don't have the board I need, but are in working condidtion. Thanks in advance Mark Welker- Live and learn (update: 2/15/04)
- Well a couple years later and a good deal of reseach for a second revision ACK build with a Keywarrior IC I've learned that the reason I failed the first time was because I dropped all of the supporting electronics. The osciallator, the resistors, diodes capacitors, all of whcih were needed. Live and learn I suppose. At least the keywarriors will allow me to have some real fun (I've got two other ideas for keyboards that would need to be build from scratch with construction methods that I haven't tried yet.)
